It's just at every corner of Trump's presidency you've downplayed his potential damage and have consistently been wrong. So you don't really have much credibility on this front. Ironically, people stopped talking about Trump in this thread but your insistence of being offended to still see his name in a couple of consecutive posts in this thread has now shifted the topic to an extended back and forth about Trump.
It's looking likely that this disaster is larger than Harvey. It's far more widespread than Harvey and insurance losses could easily top Harvey.
And was totally preventable. Since it cost El Paso 4.5m to winterize their 3 power plants, I’m guessing that the cost to winterize all of TX grid would be in the ~100s million range. In comparison, Harvey costs 125B, so if this cost more.. just lack of foresight, or probably more accurately, ideology of deregulation destroyed common sense policies.
Yes.. I was just thinking that this disaster, a lot of the flooding from Harvey, and the massive amount COVID-19 deaths in the US could've been much less. While all three still would've caused problems and likely still led to death it's clear to me that measures like better infrastructure, regulations and practices could've prevented a lot of this.
If you look back at all of these events, there were clear warnings but we didn’t spend effort and money to help prevent them or at least reduce the harm. It is usually because of cost either in new taxes or not willing to let go of highest possible profit margin. We are going to have to invest much much more on preventative infrastructure damages (bringing them up to a new baseline against “common” extreme weather). Every reports i have read warned against relying on historic records due to changing climate and the unknown weather patterns - this crosses all disciplines from insurance to business planning of data resiliency. The old thinking is outdated. Refusal to see the new norm is going to cost the US an arm and a leg.
You are very wrong. I have not downplayed anything. Ive stated many times Trump is a symptom of a much bigger problem. Many people like yourself obsess over Trump but continue to ignore the rampant spread of troubles this country continues to accumulate over the last few decades. And then the stupidity is double downed by blaming other symptoms on Trump. Im not going to apologize for not getting caught up in this movement getting rebranded as 'Trumpism'.
Really me? I don't know how many times I've repeated that Trump's rise is a product of 50 years of neo-liberal policies of trickle down economics that has created a large population of disgruntled blue collar workers regardless of race. I thought I was pretty clear in my stance of Trump's rise and hence why I advocate for a paradigm shift in how we view the economy where gdp growth rates and stock market growth means jack **** to the average American.
Texans believe snow a government plot Independent: A number of other videos have cropped up on the same platforms with titles like "Need some explaining…" and "Anyone played with the government generated snow yet?" The same doubts have actually arisen before when snow unexpectedly blanketed Atlanta, Georgia, in February 2014, prompting science writer Phil Plait of Slate to debunk them. "As the snow melts, the remaining snow absorbs the water. That's why it doesn't appear to drip; the snowball becomes a slushball," he explained, alluding to the process of "sublimation" by which moisture lost from snow disappears as vapour, a gas, and not through dripping water, a liquid. "Lots of people made videos showing the snowball not dripping so it looks like it's not actually melting, but this is a classic case of confirmation bias. They only tested this part way; they didn't finish the test by letting the snowball actually melt!
I'd like to know who is getting the windfall. I think there are a couple of winners -- I suspect Luminant might have made some money on the event -- but most people lost. Retailers lose money when they pay high wholesale prices but protect their retail customers. Generators lose money when their plants can't run. Gas wells would bank if they can produce, but fewer of them were able to. Distribution utilities -- well, they're fine because they just pass all their costs to customers. In terms of losers, looks like the biggest losers (apart from Griddy customers) might end up being customers of regulated gas and power utilities like Austin Energy. They take no profit from the energy supply function (they get paid for distribution) but neither do they take any risk on it. Their customers take the risk of high wholesale prices. It won't be a big bill at the end of the month, but they'll get riders to add a penny per kwh to every bill for a decade or however long it takes to recover that whole expense plus interest. By contrast, if you're with a competitive supplier like a TXU, it'll be the shareholder who takes it on the chin and the customer will feel only a sliver of the pain.
Can anybody explain how this might affect customers on fixed rate plans? Even most fixed rate contracts provide for a price change in extraordinary circumstances, just want to prepare myself.
It was a real pain personally to lose power and water even longer and have 5 water leaks. And we had it good compared to a lot of other including those who died or those who had their power bills go up 10 to 50 times.. Sometimes I don't know if the country can survive the nutty gubment haters and the so called "libertarians".
I talked to my dad today, and he was like.....we can't have Socialism - and I said...what does that word mean to you....he said COMMUNISM.....and I said, yep, I don't want communism either, but I would like RESPONSIBLE CAPITALISM where the rich pay their fair share, and companies have to pay tax on their profits.... And he goes...HELL YEAH !!! Slogans matter......Socialist Democracy, is the same as Responsible Capitalism, but people are too ignorant to know the difference......use words that the ill informed like.....RESPONSIBLE.....yes please.....CAPITALISM - Yes please.....and we can all finally agree. DD
My power Company sent out an email saying we would pay our same rate, albeit for more electricity but the same rate. I don't see how it could be higher than August bill with air conditioning.
1998, 2011, 2014 (too), 2021 Excellent read How Texas failed to protect its power grid against extreme weather | The Texas Tribune
