Hubris - part the second

A sometime catch phrase around these parts: 'Party like it's 1829!!' Well, Texas, especially for those who follow macro interests, is well known for having its own 'power grid'. This is not news. The utter failure to account for low temperatures is due to an unregulated market; there's no penalty for failure. The wannaBePresident Huey Long 2024 approach, 'so sue me!!' is of only marginal use, since there's no requirement that a bidnezz escrow sufficient funds to cover such penalties. The cupboard is bare, so the CxO class just takes its moolah and goes home, leaving those who sue with nothing for the effort. Much the same with PG&E and California wildfires. On this point, Adam Smith was completely out to lunch. An ounce of prevention not only is worth a pound of cure, it is likely the only way to avoid needing that pound which will never be forthcoming.

The excuse for such engineering stupidity is that it makes for cheaper power. Tell that when failure leads to 10,000% higher power bills.

All of the power generators that failed do not fail in this manner when sited north of the Mason-Dixon line. The canard that wind turbines are now proven to be unreliable is another Big Lie: they simply need to be winterized. Much of northern Europe, Germany in particular (with nearly twice the output of number two), does just fine 12 months out of the year. Texas power generators simply chose to forgo that form of 'insurance'. Why wouldn't they? There'll be no penalty.

Justice ignored is justice denied.