6 ms·

So? The power companies makes money by delivering electricity. This sounds like a problem they want to solve.

by Cort3z 4y ago

AlexandrB 4y ago
Power companies have a monopoly and make money by doing the least amount of work possible to continue collecting (effectively) rent on the lines they own. The kind of capital investment necessary to upgrade the power grid for EV will require public funding.
- zamnos 4y ago
  Public funding you say? For infrastructure? Wasn't there some sort of thing the US President did at the end of 2021? For like a trillion dollars?
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
  Gee, its almost like a private company is a useless middleman in cases like this and the government should just do it themselves.
  - Clubber 4y ago
    Why do you think the government would do a better job? Perhaps in other countries, but in the US, the government is largely seen as incompetent at best, corrupt and captured at worst. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/06/m-16-a-bureaucratic-horror-story/545153/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/06/m-16-a-... This was during a war where lives were at stake.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
      The government can be held accountable directly. A corporation with a monopoly can only be held accountable via the government.
      - Clubber 4y ago
        >The government can be held accountable directly. By whom, itself?
        AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
        By the people who vote for it. Let me turn this around: who holds a monopoly corporation accountable? If your government is too corrupt to fix, what hope in hell does a corporation running a utility get you?
        Clubber 4y ago
        I don't think either is held accountable. Who was held accountable for Flynt? Who was held accountable for East Palestine? Usually, the only people held accountable are citizens when they make even the slightest mistake.
        AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
        Ok, so my statement that a monopoly corporation is a useless middleman and the we're better off if the government does it because at least they're one fewer link in the chain is negated by neither being very good, so we do nothing. And we wonder why shit sucks in this country.
        Clubber 4y ago
        The government and large corporations are parts of the same machine. The corporations fund the campaigns of the elected government officials and in turn, they pass legislation favorable to the corporations. The legislation is often written by the lawyers of those very corporations. Further, the bureaucrats who head the government agencies responsible for regulating the corporations are often hired by those very corporations after their tenure. The only way out is to vote out the incumbent every election until we get the government we want. If and when we actually start doing this, it will probably take at least a generation because so many people are largely ok with it, or too busy surviving to pay attention. Sorry to paint such an unpleasant picture, but it's what it is. I'm optimistic because people are starting to wake up to it quite a bit.
- schiffern 4y ago
  >will require public funding. Truly astounding that you acknowledge that the power companies are (at this point) just rent-seeking monopolists, and your response is "Gosh, I guess we'll just have to subsidize them with a massive corporate welfare check! No other options are possible!" We've seen this game play out with telecom before. Spoiler: the monopolists just pocket the money and don't build the infrastructure.
KyeRussell 4y ago
This is a simplistic view and it’s a problem that many businesses on many sectors face.

So? The power companies makes money by delivering electricity. This sounds like a problem they want to solve.

by Cort3z 4y ago

So? The power companies makes money by delivering electricity. This sounds like a problem they want to solve.

Power companies have a monopoly and make money by doing the least amount of work possible to continue collecting (effectively) rent on the lines they own. The kind of capital investment necessary to upgrade the power grid for EV will require public funding.

zamnos 4y ago
Public funding you say? For infrastructure? Wasn't there some sort of thing the US President did at the end of 2021? For like a trillion dollars?
AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
Gee, its almost like a private company is a useless middleman in cases like this and the government should just do it themselves.
- Clubber 4y ago
  Why do you think the government would do a better job? Perhaps in other countries, but in the US, the government is largely seen as incompetent at best, corrupt and captured at worst. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/06/m-16-a-bureaucratic-horror-story/545153/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1981/06/m-16-a-... This was during a war where lives were at stake.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
    The government can be held accountable directly. A corporation with a monopoly can only be held accountable via the government.
    - Clubber 4y ago
      >The government can be held accountable directly. By whom, itself?
      - AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
        By the people who vote for it. Let me turn this around: who holds a monopoly corporation accountable? If your government is too corrupt to fix, what hope in hell does a corporation running a utility get you?
        Clubber 4y ago
        I don't think either is held accountable. Who was held accountable for Flynt? Who was held accountable for East Palestine? Usually, the only people held accountable are citizens when they make even the slightest mistake.
        AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
        Ok, so my statement that a monopoly corporation is a useless middleman and the we're better off if the government does it because at least they're one fewer link in the chain is negated by neither being very good, so we do nothing. And we wonder why shit sucks in this country.
        Clubber 4y ago
        The government and large corporations are parts of the same machine. The corporations fund the campaigns of the elected government officials and in turn, they pass legislation favorable to the corporations. The legislation is often written by the lawyers of those very corporations. Further, the bureaucrats who head the government agencies responsible for regulating the corporations are often hired by those very corporations after their tenure. The only way out is to vote out the incumbent every election until we get the government we want. If and when we actually start doing this, it will probably take at least a generation because so many people are largely ok with it, or too busy surviving to pay attention. Sorry to paint such an unpleasant picture, but it's what it is. I'm optimistic because people are starting to wake up to it quite a bit.
schiffern 4y ago
>will require public funding. Truly astounding that you acknowledge that the power companies are (at this point) just rent-seeking monopolists, and your response is "Gosh, I guess we'll just have to subsidize them with a massive corporate welfare check! No other options are possible!" We've seen this game play out with telecom before. Spoiler: the monopolists just pocket the money and don't build the infrastructure.

KyeRussell 4y ago

This is a simplistic view and it’s a problem that many businesses on many sectors face.