[Superman]

Teach me about economics, Chris. I'll dispense with the sarcasm and make my remarks directly. It seems hard for find someone who is happy with insurance companies in general and their cell phone company in particular. And while I suppose it's possible that folks whine about their electric power company (particularly in California where deregulation was recently attempted) but I have never heard this whining. Certainly not where I live.

Electric power is immensely capital-intensive and it is truly a commodity. Your power is not better than my power. Currently, except for some heavily regulated private utilities there is no part of our electric power bill that subsidizes investors. In other words, we the public have built the electric power system and we make our own electricity thank you very much. Now, I'd like you to tell me why I should support selling these (publicly owned) generation and transmission systems to a wide array of private companies so they can sell me back my electricity at a profit. I've asked everyone I know in the electric power industry (remember, I am in the public works construction industry) to show me a reason why this would be a good idea, and have not yet received anything. So....you would be the first.

Please do, though. Please tell me why this market would be more efficient if we sell our system to private companies that will sell us back the electricity we used to generate ourselves. And then tell me why those super-efficient cell phone and insurance companies seem to get this widespread unfair reputation. I do enjoy economics and it sounds like you think you know some stuff I don't know. Part of my fundamental misunderstanding? Monopolies are pretty darned fundamental. They are bad things when the company that dominates the market is unregulated, since they can engage in all sort of price gouging, etc. But when the company is a gubmit agency, there is nowhere for that money to go. No siphon. It is, essentially, impossible to gouge. Gouging requires a siphon. Gouger and a gougee. With public agencies they are one and the same. Help me with this very fundamental misunderstanding. And again, I want to hear why it's unfair that everyone seems to be unfairly disappointed with their cell phone company, and why they seem also to be unfairly disappointed and suspicious with insurance companies.