Texas electric bills soar under deregulation

This is yet another entry in the "regulation for thee, not for me" department - a trend that's longhand for corporatism and price gouging.

Folks in Texas used to enjoy some of the most affordable electricity in America. But now it's some of the costliest.

The culprit? Deregulation! In 1999, then-Gov. George W. Bush signed a deregulation bill into law, which took effect in 2002. The new law gutted regulations that used to rein in spiraling energy costs. It remains the country's most extensive experiment in utility deregulation.

Bush of course boasted that the law would lower electric rates. Anyone with more than 5 neurons firing in their cerebrums could see it wasn't true. That's like saying removing the ceiling from your kitchen will keep the kids from bouncing a ball higher.

Deregulation is such a broken promise that on one day in May the cost of electricity of Texas soared to 40 times the national average!

But public officials refuse to reinstitute the old rules. State Rep. Phil King (a Republican, naturally) boasted, "The system is working the way it is supposed to work." Oh, you mean it was supposed to jack up prices? Obviously it was, because Bush has always been willing to do the bidding of powerful corporations. So thanks for the honesty, Phil.

Not only that, but the Lone Star State's deregulation law also forced smaller power companies to fold into larger corporations.

Meanwhile, it remains illegal in Texas and most other American locales for glaucoma patients to use marijuana for medical purposes. See what I mean about "regulation for thee, not for me"?

(Source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3399054&mesg_id=3399054)