"Never let a crisis go to waste"Large-scale shocks — natural disasters, economic collapse, terrorist attacks — become ideal moments to smuggle in unpopular free-market policies that tend to enrich elites at everyone else’s expense. Crucially, the shock doctrine is not about solving underlying drivers of crises: It’s about exploiting those crises to ram through your wish list even if it exacerbates the crisis.
To explain this phenomenon, I often quote a guru of the free market revolution, the late economist Milton Friedman. In 1982, he wrote about what he saw as the mission of right-wing economists like him: “Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”
I'm reluctant to conclude that Gilded Age II has ended. But it has certainly been battered by a lot of crises, with no hint of how to solve them within its dominant political, economic, and social paradigm. Donald Trump's Presidency, the coronavirus pandemic, and now the Texas great freeze are only the latest of them.All that Texas’s Republicans have to offer, in contrast, is continued oil and gas dependence — driving more climate disruption — alongside more privatizations and cuts to public services to pay for their state’s mess, which we can expect them to push in the weeks and months ahead.
Will it work? Unlike when the Republican Party began deploying the shock doctrine, its free-market playbook is no longer novel. It has been tried and repeatedly tested: by the pandemic, by spiraling hunger and joblessness, by extreme weather. And it is failing all of those tests — so much so that even the most ardent cheerleaders of deregulation now point to Texas’s energy grid as a cautionary tale. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, for instance, called the deregulation of Texas’s energy system “a fundamental flaw.”
In short, Republican ideas are no longer lying around — they are lying in ruin. Small government is simply no match for this era of big, interlocking problems. Moreover, for the first time since Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s former prime minister, declared that “there is no alternative” to leaving our fates to the market, progressives are ready with a host of problem-solving plans. The big question is whether the Democrats who hold power in Washington will have the courage to implement them.
“Everyone in Texas is about deregulation, and Griddy as a wholesale electricity provider is the most deregulated you can get,” said Nicholas Milazzo, who received a $3,000 bill. “And this just goes to show why regulation is important, because, sure, in the short term it’s great, but then situations like this arise where it just gets out of control.”
People with exorbitant bills have demanded solutions. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced that he is opening an investigation of the power failures, including the high prices.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "One last update (I think!): We just hit $5 million raised for Texans across the state.U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) visited Houston at the invitation of fellow congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) on Saturday, February 20, 2021 as Houston defrosts from a winter storm earlier that started earlier in the week. Ocasio-Cortez raised more than $3Million for Texas relief in less than a week. She and Rep. Garcia were joined by other representatives as they visited the Houston Food Bank and toured homes in Garcia’s district that were damaged by the storm. (Photos by @egconley / Houston Chronicle) #aoc #winterstormuri #winterfreeze #houstonweather #eastend
Beto O'Rourke, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez helped Texans in crisis while Ted Cruz was traveling - CNNPoliticsAccommodations at the five-star luxury hotel start at over $300
- Sen. Ted Cruz visited a Ritz-Carlton hotel amid the Texas storm last week.
- The five-star resort has 9 dining options and a panoramic ocean-front view.
- Amid backlash, Cruz stayed at the hotel for one night before returning home.
The Mexican resort has a sweeping ocean view. All the rooms at the hotel look out on the Caribbean sea and feature private balconies and terraces.
The luxury resort also has one of the largest hotel beach fronts in Cancun - 1,200 feet of prime beach real estate.
Forbes' Travel Guide ranks the Ritz-Carlton as one of the top luxury hotels in Cancun.
...
The resort has one of the top spas in Cancun
While Cruz was facing criticism, his fellow Republican Sen. John Cornyn was tweeting and retweeting news and guidance for Texans to follow, including a message from the right-leaning R Street Institute, which at one point during the height of the scandal Thursday tweeted, "Meanwhile, @JohnCornyn's Twitter feed is full of helpful news and resources for Texas." Cornyn's office denied that it was trying to draw a contrast with Cruz's handling of the crisis.
The TV station didn't get numbers from other charities.The Central Texas Food Bank said so far it’s received $297,303.55 from the fundraiser she launched last week. It can provide four meals for every dollar it receives, which translates to 1,189,214 meals.
“We are so grateful to the Congresswoman and all those who have contributed to these relief efforts,” the food bank said in a statement.
That company charges you what THEY pay for power. So, when they make power, you get it cheap.I seriously don't get their electricity thing. Where I live you call the utility and they connect/disconnect/troubleshoot/etc. Sure sounds overly complicated and fucked up in texas. So customers are supposed to disconnect so that they don't get bills that are astronomically high? Something seriously stinks.
That looks like a really bad system. Do you have a link?lpetrich said:Also, some electric-power companies are recommending that their customers disconnect to avoid grotesquely high power bills.
That looks like a really bad system. Do you have a link?lpetrich said:Also, some electric-power companies are recommending that their customers disconnect to avoid grotesquely high power bills.
That looks like a really bad system. Do you have a link?lpetrich said:Also, some electric-power companies are recommending that their customers disconnect to avoid grotesquely high power bills.
The 2nd post in this topic has a link to a good summary
Texas, demonstrating Isolationism working most of the time isn't as good as things working all of the time.
CBS News said:The family tried to wake up Pavon on Tuesday afternoon but he was unresponsive.
I guess learning English in two years was too much to ask for.The family told KHOU that they tried calling 911 but were waiting on a Spanish-language operator.
That looks like a really bad system. Do you have a link?lpetrich said:Also, some electric-power companies are recommending that their customers disconnect to avoid grotesquely high power bills.
The 2nd post in this topic has a link to a good summary
Thanks, though it does not seem to say anything about companies recommending that their customers disconnect to avoid very high power bills. Or do you mean the video, not the text? I'll see if I can watch the video. Nope, nothing in the video, either.
Bloomberg said:Some retail power companies in Texas are making an unusual plea to their customers amid a deep freeze that has sent electricity prices skyrocketing: Please, leave us.
One power supplier, Griddy, told all 29,000 of its customers that they should switch to another provider as spot electricity prices soared to as high as $9,000 a megawatt-hour. Griddy’s customers are fully exposed to the real-time swings in wholesale power markets, so those who don’t leave soon will face extraordinarily high electricity bills.
“We made the unprecedented decision to tell our customers -- whom we worked really hard to get -- that they are better off in the near term with another provider,” said Michael Fallquist, chief executive officer of Griddy. “We want what’s right by our consumers, so we are encouraging them to leave. We believe that transparency and that honesty will bring them back” once prices return to normal.
This is a galactic level stupidity I have never heard before.
That looks like a really bad system. Do you have a link?
The 2nd post in this topic has a link to a good summary
Thanks, though it does not seem to say anything about companies recommending that their customers disconnect to avoid very high power bills. Or do you mean the video, not the text? I'll see if I can watch the video. Nope, nothing in the video, either.
Texas Power Retailers to Customers in Face of Freeze: Please, Leave Us
Bloomberg said:Some retail power companies in Texas are making an unusual plea to their customers amid a deep freeze that has sent electricity prices skyrocketing: Please, leave us.
One power supplier, Griddy, told all 29,000 of its customers that they should switch to another provider as spot electricity prices soared to as high as $9,000 a megawatt-hour. Griddy’s customers are fully exposed to the real-time swings in wholesale power markets, so those who don’t leave soon will face extraordinarily high electricity bills.
“We made the unprecedented decision to tell our customers -- whom we worked really hard to get -- that they are better off in the near term with another provider,” said Michael Fallquist, chief executive officer of Griddy. “We want what’s right by our consumers, so we are encouraging them to leave. We believe that transparency and that honesty will bring them back” once prices return to normal.
There was a follow-up Letter from Griddy about the storm and prices sent on the 15th that indicated other power companies weren't going to accept new customers right away, so some folks were going to be paying jacked up rates for a while.
There was a follow-up Letter from Griddy about the storm and prices sent on the 15th that indicated other power companies weren't going to accept new customers right away, so some folks were going to be paying jacked up rates for a while.