[merrylander]

Thinking about this topic I can only conclude that it depends on the enterprise, some work well as private some as public.

Case in point; sitting here reading the posts and the lights go out for 10 seconds - no problem as I have an APC battery backup. Of course I have to go round and re-load all the set top boxes, but power failures are so common here I have that down to a science.

Then I thought of the 14 years I lived in Ottawa where I did not have battery backup, simply could not justify the expense. We only had one power failure in those 14 years and that was when a transfoirmer the size of a two car garage blew out. It was replace by a trailer mounted transformer in 16 hours.

The difference? Here we have Constipation Energy a private enterprise preparing to sell its nuclear plant to the French (BTW the French do not allow foreigners to buy up French companies). Run by a former investment banker who could not find his arse with both hands and is absolutely clueless with regard to power generation. Its subscribers are overcharged to the hilt and some 100,000 are about to be cut off because they were unable to pay these outrageous charges.

In Ottawa we were served by Ontario Hydro, a public enterprise run efficiently and at low cost to its subscribers.

I am sure there are many examples of well run private enterprises and badly run public enterprises.

Unfortunately the private ones have all the lobbyists and propoganda machines. So we are now getting the Wall Street Weeping and Hand Wringing about "gummint interference" over the proposal that they need to be supervised. This from the same slimy bastards that nearly took down the whole economy with their greed.