A silver lining in a dark cloud of socialism

[canpakes]

The utility bill wss due to a failed biomass plant, an example of expensive green energy. But it was also due to the covid lockdown and many people being unable to pay. And also due to the leftist policies of urban southern cities.

Smirk away. What goes around comes back around whether ypu understand the consequences of your policies or not.

When everyday market capitalism results in shelved or discontinued energy plant projects, who or what do you blame?

See this example:
https://www.powermag.com/west-virginia- ... t-shelved/

A developer has shelved a 920-MW natural gas-fired power plant planned for Brooke County, West Virginia, citing “changing conditions in the energy and financial markets” and alleged coal industry interference.

Energy Solutions Consortium (ESC), a single purpose entity engaged in developing natural gas-fired power plants in West Virginia and Pennsylvania that has been active since 2011, said in an Oct. 9 news release that it would not move forward with a $5.6-million loan guarantee that the West Virginia Economic Development Authority (EDA) approved for the project on Sept. 9.

“Due to changing conditions in the energy and financial markets, the company has decided that it is not prudent and in the best interest of all stakeholders, including the state, to move forward with the state’s lending and therefore will not complete the loan that was approved this summer,” the company said on Friday.
...

(T)he project was fiercely opposed, by the West Virginia Coal Association, a trade group that this August endorsed Gov. Justice for re-election. In a letter to the EDA on Sept. 8, the group’s senior vice president, Chris Hamilton, said the proposed Brooke County plant would displace coal mining jobs. “It makes no sense to us and fails to make sound economic policy to simply trade one state energy job for another or worse yet, to trade one state energy job for several others,” he wrote.

The coal association has backed the development of natural gas resources, including advocating for the construction of a storage hub, pipelines, liquefied natural gas exports, fracking, and natural gas–based legislation, Hamilton wrote. “Frankly, where we draw the line is when gas projects or renewables serve to displace active coal production, coal miners or others within the broader coal economy.
....

The project had the backing of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the West Virginia Independent Oil and Gas Association, as well as the Affiliated Construction Trades. These groups suggested that the project would have boosted demand for West Virginia natural gas production—the Brooke County Power project was slated to become the largest downstream user of natural gas in the Mountain State—and driven economic development in a region, where coal production fell 10% in 2019 compared to 2018.

[ajax18]

I don't know Gad, what's your theory on why my utility bill went from $250/month to $750/month compared to last year?

[Nomomo]

I don't know Gad, what's your theory on why my utility bill went from $250/month to $750/month compared to last year?

Provide me the name of your utility company, and I will be glad to bone up on it and give you the answer to that question. If you want me to keep that information private PM me.

Without the name of your utility company no one can actually obtain any worthwhile information to base a knowledgeable explanation as to why your monthly utility bill rates have, as you (likely falsely) claim tripled in one year.

I suspect your claim that your monthly utility rates have tripled in just one year to be an outright lie. Prove me wrong. I suspect you can't.

Prove to us that you are not lying!

[Res Ipsa]

I don't know Gad, what's your theory on why my utility bill went from $250/month to $750/month compared to last year?

Tell us the name of your power company, and we’ll explain it. And I’ll bet it has more to do with capitalism than socialism.

[Nomomo]

I don't know Gad, what's your theory on why my utility bill went from $250/month to $750/month compared to last year?

Tell us the name of your power company, and we’ll explain it. And I’ll bet it has more to do with capitalism than socialism.

This! Without doubt. (if in the unlikely event that ajax's claim is actually true)

[ajax18]

Provide me the name of your utility company, and I will be glad to bone up on it and give you the answer to that question. If you want me to keep that information private PM me.

I wish I could share that with you but this is a very hostile environment and I've already shared too much in real life information. But I'm not making these numbers up and it wasn't just my house but most of the people I've talked with in the neighborhood. It's also interesting that both liberals and conservatives hate this company though I'm sure we'd disagree over why the fees went up so much. It is strange that on a local level my Trump hating tennis opponent seems to get how badly the liberal city government has mismanaged this. It's just odd how people understand things on a practical level but it doesn't effect their national political ideology on environmentalism, lockdowns, and well socialism. The reason explained to me on a Facebook page dedicated to the community hatred of this city "service" was wastewater. That put us over the limit upon which a $150 surcharge and tax was added. It was summertime down here which means the A/C will make electricity soar but when you look at the nuts and bolts of the bill, it was wastewater where they jacked up the bill.

[Some Schmo]

I'm going to try something new with you, ajax. I'm going to honestly reach out to you and try to understand where you are coming from.

Here's your chance. Explain to me in simple, easy to understand terms, what socialism is and what you think Biden's going to do to “F” up this country. Give it to me straight. What exactly do you fear?

[ajax18]

I'm going to try something new with you, ajax. I'm going to honestly reach out to you and try to understand where you are coming from.

Here's your chance. Explain to me in simple, easy to understand terms, what socialism is and what you think Biden's going to do to [vulgarity] up this country. Give it to me straight. What exactly do you fear?

Schmo I don't think I'll ever understand people who want to see more lockdowns. I don't think it's possible to quarantine COVID into nonexistence once it's deeply seated as it is in the US, Europe, and pretty much every country but New Zealand. I understand the left's desire to use COVID to take down Trump. But now that you've got that, it looks like Biden and his supporters would be happy to see the economy running at 70% or worse indefinitely. And it's not just the US. I heard they're locking down in Great Britain again. To me the world has gone crazy. How many foreclosures, evictions, cars repossessed for a virus that only kills only 0.04%. And it doesn't disable 20% of the people who get it like the "scientists," have tried to claim. I don't know if those who want to see it shutdown are relatively unaffected by it financially. Perhaps they can work from home. Perhaps they're retired but even my retired patients are fed up with it. Maybe they just live off a combination of stimulus checks and black market hustle. Nobody I know who got COVID suffered more than a mild cold. But I've sure met a lot of people who lost their job because of it or got tested and sent home on unpaid leave due to it.

And from what I am starting to understand about COVID, you're not immune to it once you've had it once. Vaccines will likely not work after 6 months and then you'll need another just like the flu. You won't know if you had it 6 months ago if you're tested now. I'm worried we'll be sending "nonessential" workers to the welfare line 3 months every year! I fear that's what people like Nancy Pelosi want. They're using Covid relief to strongarm their socialism into law.

We achieved energy independence. Now gasoline is going to get really expensive. I understand your fears about climate change but I don't believe a nonglobal set of climate rules is going to change how hot the earth gets one way or another. What it will hurt and hurt right now is the American standard of living.

What we have are irreconcilable differences. If only it were as simple as when Nephi just gathered those who were like minded and picked up and left. But when a country becomes communist, they don't just let people leave, unless of course it's corporations fleeing American tax hikes. You call that corporate welfare. I say it's one more reason you're going to collect less in taxes and further hurt the American economy.

[Jersey Girl]

Schmo I don't think I'll ever understand people who want to see more lockdowns. I don't think it's possible to quarantine COVID into nonexistence once it's deeply seated as it is in the US, Europe, and pretty much every country but New Zealand.

The point of the lock downs isn't to drive Covid into nonexistence. It's to hold the virus at bay until vaccines roll out.

And from what I am starting to understand about COVID, you're not immune to it once you've had it once.

True. It's kind of looking like that but we don't know for sure. I read something about T cells that indicated a person could still fight the virus. Sorry, I don't remember where that was or I'd link to it.

Vaccines will likely not work after 6 months and then you'll need another just like the flu.

I am more than certain that the vaccines coming down are only the first. There will be more once Covid is better understood. I have no problem getting shot up even every 3 months if I have to. A woman takes birth control pills every day of her life and does so for years on end. There's a whole ton of other things women do regularly and for decades. I won't go into them. You think 6 month intervals between the first vaccines is asking too much?

You won't know if you had it 6 months ago if you're tested now.

I don't know exactly what that is supposed to mean.

[Gunnar]

I don't know Gad, what's your theory on why my utility bill went from $250/month to $750/month compared to last year?

Tell us the name of your power company, and we’ll explain it. And I’ll bet it has more to do with capitalism than socialism.

I would bet the same thing. If Ajax's utility bill tripled since last year (assuming no corresponding increase in his power usage) it has almost certainly a lot to do with serious malfeasance, incompetence and/or greed on the part of whatever entity, whether publicly or privately run, that is providing the power. I would also bet that even in West Virginia, with utility bills as high as he claims, Ajax would find it of tremendous economic benefit to invest in a solar power retrofit of his home, if he were not stubbornly and irrationally opposed to admitting to the rationality and benefits of converting to green, renewable and sustainable energy sources.

As a couple of others have suggested, capitalism and corporate greed probably have more to do with Ajax's increase in energy bills than socialism. Here in California, most of the power is provided by huge, commercial corporations like PG&E. But there are some communities that are served by publicly owned utilities like SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District). These few publicly owned electricity providers (especially SMUD) generally provide more reliable and less expensive service than PG&E, and with better Customer satisfaction and fewer public complaints. So much for the supposed evils of the much maligned and dreaded Socialism!