Here's an idea from the Obama budget: Sell the nation's largest public utility: TVA

[cali]

The Obama administration’s 2014 budget is calling for a strategic review of the Tennessee Valley Authority, opening the possibility that the largest U.S. public utility could be sold.

TVA officials seemed to have been caught off guard by the budget proposal released Wednesday. Board Chairman Bill Sansom and President and CEO Bill Johnson said the proposal was unexpected.

‘‘At this point we don’t know what the strategic review might include or what options might be explored,’’ Sansom says in a statement. ‘‘In the meantime, we will continue operating TVA in a sound financial manner in support of the people of the Tennessee Valley and the interests of the Federal Government.’’

Although TVA does not receive taxpayer appropriations, the utility’s expenditure of borrowed funds does count in the federal deficit.


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http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/candidates/obama/2013/04/10/obama-budget-hints-sale-largest-public-utility/jLRO8YbF9LOwqXlCHEK3LP/story.html

[Bigmack]

1. The New Deal is being attacked one accomplishment at a time. nt

[bluestate10]

5. Rural electrification is an outdated concept. The TVA should be sold as other non-monument

federal electrification programs should be sold off also. The largely red states whose citizens thumb their noses at government in majority fashion should get a taste of what market electricity rates look like, like everyone else in the country. The change will finally present the majority of red state voters that repeatedly elect republicans with the image of the absolute stupidity of their voting patterns.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

15. Good point.

Fuck em.

[ljm2002]

17. "The change will finally present the majority of red state voters"...

..."that repeatedly elect republicans with the image of the absolute stupidity of their voting patterns."

Please explain again how that will work.

1 - The DEMOCRATIC President proposes a plan to review the TVA
2 - This results in the TVA being privatized
3 - The electric rates go up for red states who "repeatedly elect republicans"

Now again: how does this make them more eager to vote for Democratic candidates?

[cordelia]

22. "Red" state residents just love to be maligned and belittled.

Being called stupid does SO much to help Democratic candidates!

It does SO much to help us in "red" states get the Democratic message across!

Sarcasm.

[Bandit]

29. They must love it or they wouldn't continue to vote overwhelmingly Republican

There is absolutely nothing in Republican ideology other than the abortion issue that benefits them in any way, yet they keep voting Republican...What other word could you use to describe that behavior?

[Javaman]

30. Shush you! What did I tell you about making sense? Don't make me come back there! nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. +1000

Public power was one of the best ideas to come out of the new deal.

I live in an area served by public power. A half-hour down the road, my brother is served by an investor owned utility (Puget Sound Energy)

Despite the fact that about 7% of my power bill is used to subsidize the operations costs of the investor owned utilities (like PSE), my brother still has higher prices for power.

A couple of years ago, a severe windstorm went through the area. My area, being closer to the coast, was hit harder than inland areas. My PUD had the power up within a day or two to every house and business in its service area. Four days after the storm, I went to my brother's house in Olympia, the state capital, and found that street signals and lighting were still out.

Investor owned utilities suck, and our government which caters to them sucks even harder.

[FSogol]

20. +1. Rural electrification is outdated. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. Fuck privatization. n/t

[FSogol]

34. I'm against privatization too, but what is the point of one small region having govt subsidized

electrical power in a scheme that was outdated by the end of WWII? It is no longer cost prohibitive to bring electricity to Tennessee. The TVA and the REA are no longer necessary.

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. Learn before posting.

The TVA doesn't take any tax dollars, their operations are funded through power rates, and in 2011 they paid $530 million in tax equivalent payments to state an local governments.

Their rates for power are lower than investor owned utilities, because ALL for profit companies gouge their customers.

http://www.tva.com/abouttva/keyfacts.htm

[FSogol]

36. That big coal ash spill wasn't the fault of the TVA? Who paid to clean that up? n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

37. TVA did.

If you think Duke Energy would have been a better steward in that regard, you deserve what you get.

http://www.tn.gov/environment/kingston/

[FSogol]

38. OK, you've changed my mind. Your opinion on the REA?

Obsolete or still needed?

[lumberjack_jeff]

39. The REA was dissolved in 1994.

The USDA manages a number of programs in the name of rural development, and utilities are one of them.

The need for electrification is not as big as it once was, but promoting telecommunications access in rural areas is very important.

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/Utilities_Assistance.html

[FSogol]

42. Thanks for the info. n/t

[HiPointDem]

43. bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

[FSogol]

46. Awesome argument!

[DeSwiss]

47. Of course it is being ATTACKED from without and within....

...that's what one must expect from an 80's Republican trying to impress his corporate friends.

[trof]

2. Yeah, sell it to Southern Company.

That'll work.

[HereSince1628]

4. Duke Power is no longer?

[trof]

8. Southern Co. is closer geographically.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

3. Good thing we don't have a moderate Republican in the White House.

[Jack Sprat]

14. A moderate Republican wouldn't privatize TVA

The last Republican candidate that I recall planning to privatize TVA was Barry Goldwater in 64 and thankfully he never won election. Obama is now flipping from moderate Republican to Conservative. Maybe the Heritage Foundation plans to run a southern power company and has promised him a job as CEO when his term is out.

[HiPointDem]

44. no, he's a neoliberal; even worse.

[Autumn]

6. What are they gonna do, make a good deal with

the Koch brothers? The Heritage Foundation likes it.

[forestpath]

7. Democracy going out of business! Everything must go!

[dawg]

9. Hell, let's go ahead and put Reagan on the dime.

[kenny blankenship]

10. Holy Shit! It's THATCHER all over again.

Maybe ENRON would be interested in a no interest govt loan to take over this little concern and whip it into shape? Oh wait, deregulation and privatization already showed us what they lead to: Enron.

[magellan]

23. +1, Thatcher was my first thought. n/t

[ladjf]

11. Somehow, we've got to shut Obama up. He is giving away the store. nt

[badtoworse]

12. It should be broken up into a number of smaller companies

Selling it as one entity would give it market power, something that be detrimental to the ratepayer.

[Jack Sprat]

13. When a Republican Senator admits rates will go up

for millions in the southeast due to TVA's privatization, then you know it's real. Although Alexander is a senator from Tennessee, TVA provides power for portions of Miss, Ala, KY, VA, NC, and GA as well. Although it's infrastructure is old and needs updating, that applies to most public infrastructure all over the country where it has been ignored for so long. We have nuclear plants with dangerously old infrastructure in need of renewal, too.

This seems to be a trend with selling off public institutions to waiting profiteers, who are more than willing to take control of them and turn big profits. The former TVA consumers will be in for a rude awakening when they find themselves receiving private utility bills from a private corporation. Barry Goldwater was the last presidential candidate to suggest privatizing TVA. So Barack Obama is now drifting into the conscience of a conservative.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

16. Break it up and sell it to China and North Korea.

[woo me with science]

18. K&R

[woo me with science]

19. kick

[99Forever]

21. Brilliant, sell out more of the commons to the Corporations.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Tom Rinaldo]

24. This was news to me. It's getting hard to keep up with the privatize everything movement n/t

[Capt. Obvious]

25. I know just the buyers

[HiPointDem]

45. exactly, they'd be first in line.

[BlueStreak]

26. I have a better idea. Let's just offer the Constitution for sale

That's already effectively what has happened. At least we should make the corporations pay a couple billion bucks for it.

We'll even include a nice frame.

[IDemo]

28. It's already got the best protection money can buy:

http://www.atmmarketplace.com/article/135499/Diebold-vaults-protecting-the-Constitution

[progressoid]

27. And get rid of those costly national parks too.

We need more theme parks in America!

[kenny blankenship]

31. I'm sure Weyerhaeuser and Georgia-Pacific have the equipment & expertise to take care of them

in no time.

[JPZenger]

40. Get rid of Red State Welfare - End Sugar Price Supports, Sell TVA, stop subsidizing rural airports

Yes, I don't understand why Obama hasn't proposed federal budget cuts that hit government spending in rural areas of Red States.

Why does the Tennessee Valley get to have electricity that is a fraction of the cost of the Northeast US? Why are we subsidizing rural airports where no one wants to fly? Why are we propping up the price of sugar, which could cost the federal govt. a fortune in certain years, and which increases the costs of other products?

[AgingAmerican]

41. Privatization of the commons

Republican wet dream

[woo me with science]

48. Kick.