Franska offentliganställda protesterade igår i Paris mot planerna på privatisering av det franska nationella elföretaget - se DN eller Liberation, för den som kan franska.

Jag skrev tidigare här på Blind Höna om baksmällan efter avregleringen av energimarknaderna i USA. Jag tycker det verkar som om svenska medier har skrivit mycket lite om efterspelet till elkrisen i Californien. Paul Krugman på NY Times tycker att det skrivits för lite om det i amerikanska medier också:

For some reason it has never been cool to talk about what was really happening in California. When the crisis was in full swing, most commentators clung to a story line that blamed meddlesome bureaucrats, not profiteering corporations. When the crisis came to an end, it suddenly became old news.

Maybe our national faith in free markets is so strong that people just don't want to talk about a case in which markets went spectacularly bad. But I'm still puzzled by the lack of attention, not just to the disaster, but to hints of a cover-up. After all, this was the most spectacular abuse of market power since the days of the robber barons — and the feds did nothing to stop it.

En rad rapporter har slagit fast att elbolagen höll ner krafttillförseln för att pressa upp priserna. Hur trodde de att de skulle kunna komma undan med sånt fiffel, undrar Krugman i krönikan "In broad daylight" härom veckan (27/9), och ger två tänkbara skäl:

One answer might be that the apparent malefactors are very big contributors to the Republican Party. Some analysts have suggested that energy companies felt free to manipulate markets because they believed they had bought protection from federal regulation — the conspiracy-minded point out that severe power shortages began just after the 2000 election, and ended when Democrats gained control of the Senate.

Den amerikanska energimyndigheten verkar ha behandlat energibolagen med silkesvantar, trots skäliga misstankar om fiffel. Uppgörelser har hemligstämplats och böter efterskänkts på ett sätt som för tankarna till SLs hemliga generositet mot företaget som misslyckades driva pendeltågstrafiken i Stockholm.

I USA befolkas de myndigheter som ska övervaka de avreglerade marknaderna av före detta lobbyister från just den industri de ska övervaka, skriver Krugman:

Across the government, from the Interior Department and the Forest Service to the Environmental Protection Agency, former lobbyists for the regulated industries now hold key positions — and they show little inclination to make trouble for their once and future employers.

So we ignore California's experience at our peril. It's all too likely to be the shape of things to come. 

Permalänk |