Once upon a time there was a natural gas company called ACME power and gas. ACME provided gas to 90% of American homes. Recently, the quality of this gas company has gone down hill. Pipes have broken causing all kinds of trouble; there has been supply troubles leading to disruption of services; the plants themselves are becoming outdated and ill equipped to provide the type of service needed for something this important. While the quality has gone down, the cost of gas from ACME has gone up.
The odd part about ACME, is that they are legally allowed to bill everyone the same standard fee. If home A uses 3 times the amount of Gas as home B�. when the Utility bill comes both residents pay the same cost. If home C builds a house which uses all electricity and no Gas, that homeowner will get the same utility bill from ACME as homes A and B. If the tenant from home D decides to use a more reliable gas company, he/she is free to do so�. However, they still must pay ACME the standard fee on top of the bill from the competing gas company.
ACME power and gas also pays no taxes, either on a federal, state or local level. In fact they receive a ton of government subsidies and any operating losses they incur are covered by the government, and at the taxpayers expense.
The front line employees of ACME are woefully underpaid for what they do and everyone knows it. Administrative costs have skyrocketed and cost to do business had become top heavy�High end executives leave to go from plant to plant for higher pay, all the time negotiating against the front-line unions and keeping pay low.
ACME pays millions every year on lobbyist and campaign contributions (which they give almost exclusively to one political party we will call the Purple Party). With the help of the Purple Party they have successfully fought off calls for changes in the current laws that could increase competition, including allowing the �Tenant from Home D� to pay for a different gas company provider without also paying ACME. Politicians that attempt to introduce laws for this have been labeled and accused of wanting to shut off the heat of poor people. They have also fought laws that would require a greater amount of inspection of procedures, and accountability for the services that they provide� instead arguing that an across the board increase of prices, and more government subsidies is the answer.
Is ACME the biggest government protected Big Business monopoly nightmare you can imagine ??
Or Public Education as we know it?? |
