January 7, 2013

People wonder why the power grid goes down, causing massive outages with tens of millions of homes cut off.

Is it the antiquated generating systems, or the inadequate transmission systems? No to both of those.

Its the trading in energy that is causing gridlock on the grid. Huge amounts of futures contracts cause energy to be switched this way and that, not because it is needed by consumers, but because it is being bought and sold many times over.

As I explain in my book Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America like any gridlock, the problem is too much traffic. The power industry lobbyists have been contemptuous of my arguments ever since the book was published, refusing to debate the accusations in public, and warning that if they withdraw from the market, the consumer will suffer. Ever since Enron, the US Grid has been hijacked by the banks and big money. Now their lobbyists are fighting hard for the Smart Grid which will cement into place this conspiracy against the interests of ordinary consumers.Also, by the way, against the interests of many corporate customers, although not the biggest users who cut their own sweetheart deals.…