The Libertarian theme park that is Texas is about to hit a bump in the road. Texas has never been shy about expecting “handouts” from the Federal government for disaster relief; the same relief its state’s representatives in Congress have consistently opposed and voted against when the funds would go to a “blue” state.
The misery in Texas is awful, and it is going to continue long after the weather warms up. Homes and structures damaged will take tons of money to fix. Insurance for many may not cover the costs, if it covers anything at all. Texas utilities’ profiteering rate structure permits the utilities rates to increase as demand for electricity grows, like when its real cold, so there will also be many huge bills for so many customers who can least afford them.
In spite of these wounds being self-inflicted by the government of Texas and its political leaders, we know what will come next. The Republicans in Texas will turn to our Federal government for their “fair share”. How is what happens in Texas any different that the California wildfires started by PG&E power line failures and the Federal aid that followed? Oh, right. Trump told California to go f**k themselves, until he changed his mind. www.npr.org/... That was for only $346 million. It sounds like the costs in Texas are going to wind up in the ballpark of the multi-billion Puerto Rico range, and we know how well Trump and the Republicans handled that. Not.
But now Democrats are in charge. As for federal “bailouts”, does anyone here expect to see more MAGA style rallies in Texas, this time with their Republican Governor, Republicans Senators and Representatives all demanding our Federal government to stay the hell away from Texas and demanding that Texans step up and cover “their” costs? For our Federal government to pick up its wind mills and go home? The thought will never cross their mind.
The lessons of a guaranteed failure of Texas’ state only power grid were learned in 1989. And 2011. And now 2021. Why should we expect it to be different this time? The Republican leadership of Texas thumbs its nose at our Federal government to excite its Republican voters. Of course, this has worked for them, and as long as there has been a state of Texas Texans have thumbed their noses at our Federal government.
Democrats, unlike Trump, do not play partisan games of red and blue teams in the face of disasters; it is simply not how Democratic voters and our Representatives roll. I expect the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress will very soon be working on a relief package for Texas. That will be a good thing. The stumbling block will be the Texas stand alone grid. In used car terms, the Texas grid is a lemon. It has inherent defects that if patched will still occur again, and again, and again. It will not stop.
Democrats, unlike Republicans, prefer to solve problems. The Texas grid is a problem for millions and millions of our citizens; a deliberate, designed problem created for the enrichment of the few (white) men who control the monopoly based power generation in the state. Unlike a free market, even with disasters like this this, the monopoly, the rich men, know they will not lose money. For more than 30 years the catastrophic shortcomings of Texas power generation, distribution, and rates has been understood, and ignored, by the men who refuse to invest, i.e. spend “their” money, on the upgrades that would greatly minimize the present threats.
The current Republican leadership in Texas will fail their citizens, again.
Democrats will come to the aid of our people, citizen and non-citizen, who face catastrophe, again, and always.
Yes, it is frustrating. But its who we are. It will be a good thing.
Expect the demands from Texas to follow shortly, just as soon as Ted Cruse returns from his Cancun vacation.