Saturday, December 2, 2023

STRATEGIC POWER THINKING

 I'm just going to throw this out there because I think it is a splendid idea and because, I thought of it first.

I think there are a handful of states that if they really got their acts together are in a position to make huge killings off the weak, organized, libtard States and bring tax relief and real satisfaction to their residents. My brilliant idea is that the Smart States™pass state laws that simply mandate that the price of all energy generated within the state but sold outside the state must charge double the instate rate and that all that money flow into the State's general fund to offset up to 100% state income taxes, (in the backward states that still have income taxes) and/or used to pay for all bridge and road maintenance.

I'm sure there's a law dodger out there who will say that this is unconstitutional or some such nonsense but if State Universities can charge double the tuition for 'out-of-state' students at public universities, this should easily be every bit as legal as any other revenue scheme anybody thought of in the last 3000 years.

To maximize the profits for those States still sane enough to permit nuclear power plants and the like, the various State legislatures should also tax the Hell out of the power sold to outside the power-generating states. Just to be fair. States desiring to buy all that power that they used to make themselves but shut down in the name of global warming or some other false gods will also have to pay for 100% of the upkeep and maintenance of the infrastructure needed to send them power.

The Law would have to be firm with absolutely no wriggle room to extend credit, or slash rates to most favored states or any of that nonsense and of course would have to merciless in spelling out that all revenue accruing to the State must be used to offset income taxes or sales taxes or be used to roads and bridges.

My other brilliant idea has to do with voting out the least popular state lawmaker, state bureaucrat and judge every year and either tossing them on a bonfire or seeing if they are actual witches by submitting them to the float test.

4 comments:

SL said...

I like this idea.

Mind your own business said...

Good idea. (Even though I'm sure it creates far worse problems than it solves.)

But Commerce Clause violation. The Founding Fathers didn't want the states going to war with each other, economically or otherwise. You don't want states interfering with, for example, gasoline, or natural gas pipelines that cross state boundaries.

Same reason your state can't charge admission to someone with out-of-state plates who wants to drive on your state's roads. Or triple the traffic fines for people with out-of-state plates. Or make McD's charge more for food to out-of-state travelers. Or force Exxon to charge you in State A the same for gas as they charge in State B. Or double. Or 10x. Or your neighboring states can't restrict gasoline tankers from passing through them to get to you. Or California suddenly doesn't allow any vehicles with Nevada plates to enter.

FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) preempts states from making their own laws about energy transmission. To ensure consumers get a safe and economically efficient source of energy.

Not to mention that while states do tend to regulate their own utilities and the pricing, those utilities are generally privately owned. And often own multiple power plants in different (and often adjacent) states that service areas that cross state lines.

I think the reason state university systems are different is because they are taxpayer supported and "owned" by the state. And going out of state for your education isn't considered "commerce." Besides, only an idiot pays out-of-state tuition more than the first year it takes to establish residency in the state.

The solution might be better for states to disconnect from the national electric energy grids so the power generated in their state can't go across state lines. Kind of like Texas has done. That way their power is generated for only for use in their own state. That has drawbacks, of course, if something knocks out your power plants and you can't buy it from elsewhere. Like happened to Texas last winter when their green energy systems failed during a cold snap. As did their backup systems. FERC probably has something to say about that as well, to discourage it and encourage reliability.

Surly said...

For idea two, insist that the ostracon only be cast in person.

HMS Defiant said...

You are right but it is time to consider if what once was so, remains so. That idiot Whitmer, Governor of Michigan believes she has both the power and the right to shut down an international pipeline running from Canada under the lake and no amount of evidence seems to convince her pals that this just isn't so.
So, by the same tokens, the red states can play by the same 'toss the rules overboard' and then tell the Courts that they will surely enforce their rulings the instant the Courts start acting like an organization that truly believes in the rule of law and reflects it in their rulings. It is insane that 3 judges cannot concur on some issue as fundamental as the 2nd Amendment and yet it is so.
I lived in SOCAL when the rolling blackouts up north were a thing because of ENRON and the ISO in CA. They all lamented that there was no way at all to siphon electricity out of SOCAL and send it north because no utility had ever built the transmissions lines that would enable them to shift huge loads between the south and north.
I'd just like to see the energy sucking parasites live by their own rules and if they ban the production of electricity within their states for the global ignorance then the should most definitely be able to enjoy the darkness.