Take a deep breath ...

While you can ...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=513&e=4&u=/ap/20030827/ap_on_go_ot/clean_air

Aren't we going backwards here?

That is actually a bunch of bull. Given the way prices have risen as a result of deregulation, a few percent increase for clean air would hardly be noticed.

I used to have reliable electricity from a public utility. Now there is no incentive to provide stable power. Build minimum capacity and gouge the public whenever there is a failure seems to be the most profitable approach to making money in the energy business.

Take gasoline for instance. It seems that plant shut downs always come just before holidays. WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

A regulated industry would have enough capacity and reserve to keep prices stable during transient problems. We just had a $0.40 per gallon price spike here in California because of a week or two long failure of a pipeline delivering gas to Arizona.