Deregulation and the Blackout
If you take the headlines of our media seriously you would believe that deregulation is bad, which implies that government regulation is a good thing. Hoever, you would be wrong. (This writer doesn't blame the average reader for making this mistake. He or she is too busy with everyday necessities of survival to pay attention to such seemingly esoteric concerns.) The real problem has been created because the power industry has been only half deregulated. The price of generated electricity has come down because this part of the industry was freed from government regulation of prices. On the other hand,the transmission of power remains regulated, and thus there is no incentive to build adequate distribution systems. This inadequacity of the transmission system was the main cause of the blackout. Therefore, the real problem is regulation, not deregulation. Regulation in this country creates horrendous inconviences and costs citizens and businesses hundreds of billions of dollars.