Posted on 04/14/2013 5:41:43 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
President Obama’s proposed 2014 budget includes an item free marketeers can rally behind: “reducing or eliminating” the federal government’s role in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest publicly owned utility.
Naturally, both of Tennessee’s Republican senators oppose the proposal.
Via Bloomberg News:
“The odd thing is that a bunch of Rs are defending the most liberal, collectivist, state-managed thing ever undertaken in the United States,” said [Mike] McKenna, [a Republican energy lobbyist] whose clients include the Atlanta-based utility Southern Co. (NSC) that could benefit from a sale of the TVA, in an e-mail. “TVA was the brainchild of the near-communists in the Roosevelt administration.”
Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who opposes government subsidies for energy production, called the proposal “one more bad idea in a budget full of bad ideas,” in a statement. He said the sale might lead to higher energy costs for his constituents without providing much money to the U.S. to pay down the debt.
…Consumers in Alabama and Tennessee, the TVA’s largest service areas, pay less for electricity than the national average, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
A great part of
TVA was taken from the Southern Co, or forerunner. The history of the So. Co. was on a while back and showed a lot about this. Also I think this is the reason for Wendell
Whilky (sp) political goings on.
I suspect that the TVA is (heavily) subsidized by the rest of America.
now looky here, most dictators want to socialize industry, here is one who wants to privatize something unfrickin believably
Frankly, I think that the whole purpose of the sudden “sell TVA” thing was to “encourage” Lamar! RINO Alexander and Bob RINO Corker to vote against the firearms filibuster. Lamar’s been in favor of keeping TVA where it is, so he was susceptible to influence.
You need to update your map...Wisconsin and Michigan are both right to work states.
Lamar is in favor of keeping HIMSELF where he is.
Number two.
I was thinking it sounded like a good idea, but you raise an excellent point!
Yep!
Though he should have thought about that before he decided to vote against the filibuster. People in TN are genuinely ticked off at him for that. It's like the last straw in a series of "liberal-lite" moves that he's made over the years.
People know that the second amendment is the only teeth they have against tyranny.
It's a cinch that virtually all of their capital assets -- dams, hydroelectric plants, distribution systems, etc. were originally paid for with taxpayer dollars.
Are those assets being amortized in their accounting? Were they ever? Or are they carried for "free"?
In any event, if the TVA is selling their power to public/private utilities who are re-selling it to the end-user, why is it not feasible for the public/private utilities to acquire these assets...and maintain their current rates?
Because, if they have to raise the rates, it suggests that the TVA was selling the power for less than it really cost. In which case, the below average rates you have enjoyed were subsidized by every taxpayer in the country (including yourselves).
Moreover, have you ever known of a federal government enterprise that was a.) managed effectively and b.) run efficiently? I say any federal government enterprise?
It strikes me that, if you can find it in the Yellow Pages, the government has no business doing it.
So doesn’t TVA also control most of the lakes round TN/AL?
yeah, this doesn’t pass the smell test.
Obamugabe’s “motivation” for this kind of behavior is NOT based on a sudden love for capitalism. Instead, he either wants to unload something for his buddies, OR he wants to let the private sector do the heavy lifting so that he can take it away again.
Has anyone here ever read Amity Shlaes account of the TVA’s creation in “The Forgotten Man”? Fairly amazingly unconstitutional action on FDR’s part.
what is wrong with these “republicans”
Nothing. If 0bama wants it, it’s bad. We may not know why yet, but we know zer0’s record...
Well, maybe thats because someone else is kicking in. Let the users fully fund it by privatizing it or turning it into a giant private co-op.
I remember reading about an old lady who was voting against Goldwater because he was going to take away her TV. They tried to explain to her that he was talking about the TVA, not a TV, but she wasn't taking any chances.
OR he wants to divide conservatives in TN (Al Gore's state) over the issue which fits his MO.
To use an energy issue to muddy the waters in the state which produced the global warming fraudster is undoubtedly the goal.
No surprise. Southerners like socialism (social security/Medicare) that puts gov’t money in their pockets.
Once again, too many big gov’t “conservatives” on this site
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