Comment by xnx

6 months ago

It's good for the price of things to increase when demand increases. We don't want outages instead of price increases, and we don't want costs to increase independent of demand.

It's good when you are talking about tulips or ice cream or something. Not necessities like electricity/water/food etc.

  • An effective price signal is all the more essential for necessities. The problem in my state of Ohio is that the corrupt politicians have been bought off by the utilities that enjoy a state-sanctioned monopoly and alow them to raise rates with abandon.

  • It's good for all things, except highly regulated monopolies like electricity, trash, and water.

    • > trash

      I have to pay for trash removal in my town and I have a variety of choices. And while I pay the town for water, many people have wells. And I have my own septic system. So, while electricity is mostly regulated, many other utilities are on a house by house basis.

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    • > It's good for all things, except ...

      Humans and absolutes tend to be a pretty bad combo.

      It is my experience that no system is good for all things. While some systems trend better than others, they are only good until they are not - and there will always be a 'not'.

      Similarly, every 'not' is different. When we get there we're wise to consider it with experience + evidence and a willingness to do what those indicate.

    • You would prefer the price of electricity be held constant until the day the monopoly rage quits? That day, no one can get power for any price.

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Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I pay more for water because demand is decreasing but the water company's fixed costs continue to grow.