If Singer does a "Delphi" on PG&E, investment will be cut to the bone to hike profits.
Of special concern to Californians is whether PG&E under Singer's management would continue to fund its program to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Singer is the chairman of the Manhattan Institute, the far-right, climate-change-denying think tank behind the fake trope that the Green New Deal would cost $1 trillion and destroy the economy.
Democracy Is the Solution
There is an alternative for managing PG&E other than the current busload of befuddled bozos or financial vultures.
San Jose has the right idea: consumer cooperative ownership.
Electricity socialism is not so radical: There are 900 power co-ops in the U.S. serving 47 million Americans. And here in Los Angeles, my computer is powered by the city-owned Department of Water and Power, which, while not a stellar enterprise, limits blackouts and tends not to kill its customers -- because the mayor must personally answer for the DWP's failings.
Simply put: Democracy keeps the lights on.
But to keep the cost low and move quickly, local and state governments should take advantage of PG&E's bargain-basement stock price and the discount on the trading price of its bonds. That, combined with legal action to seek compensation for financially abused ratepayers, should force this un-public utility into the public's hands at a fair, low price.
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