First, I have to apologize for a lack of posts this week as I have been under the weather.
Now, on to more important issues.
Seeing the fires being fanned by the Santa Ana winds, more blame is being heaped upon PG&E by Governor Newsom and the various climate alarmists infesting state government. One fix being proposed by the increasingly irrelevant governor?
Enticing multi-billionaire Warren Buffet to by PG&E.
Once again we have a socialist proposing an old solution: Capitalism solving socialism’s many problems.
There’s only one problem with this solution, that being that no capitalist in their right mind would go anywhere near such a self-destructive solution. Why would anyone want to buy an asset that has multiple lawsuits filed against it and is going through bankruptcy in order to protect itself from those same lawsuits? Why would anyone in their right mind want to take up ownership of a utility that is so hamstrung by overregulation and profit-killing state mandates that there’s no way the utility will be able to meet the needs of its customers, maintain its facilities, and not lose millions of dollars in the process?
Warren Buffet isn’t that insane. I can’t picture any other financier doing anything like that…except maybe Tom Steyer. After all, he’s always talking about bring back “power to the people”. Maybe it’s time for him to put his money where his mouth is. But the chances of that happening are…umm…zero. Even Steyer, Progressive as he is, isn’t that stupid.
Maybe.
PG&E has been stuck in a lose-lose situation for some time. As I have written before, PG&E has been fighting California environmental roadblocks that have made it difficult, if not impossible to cut back brush and tree limbs away from their power lines. Those same roadblocks have made it difficult for the utility to maintain their powerlines because they cannot get easy access to them. Then there’s the state mandates requiring PG&E to invest funds in “green” energy projects and rebates, funds that would have been better spent maintaining and upgrading their facilities.
Who ends up paying the price for these problems? Everyone except those in power.
