should either be government regulated or co-op adventured. Like treasury bonds with a fixed but guarrantied return life(style) sustaining commodities cannot be left to the unregulated market. The Money supply is another example. Co-ops seem a good way to go, consumers own the power plants co-operatively by market and will issue bonds to assure supply that will guarranty rates to repay the bonds. Any defaults and the government steps in, manages it for them until chapter 11 has been resolved. Gas and heating oil dont lends themselves redily to co-ops so regulation of rates over private companies is essential. If you guarranty a 10% return on investments and make sure the refineries are up to snuff, sufficient capacity and long term supply contacts are in place safe money will be attractive there. The spot market of oil will always fluctuate so we must secure an adequate supply as much of that US controlled. R&D is not welfare to energy companies. Any and all R&D must be deductable but they must be forced to publish results so stuff isnt hidden because of inroads on traditional technologies.
Should we deregulate water so companies sell raw sewage to slumlords instead of clean drinkable water? of course not electricity and the others are the same.
thanx,
bill