Shortages (usually)
have a bracing effect
on consumers
Commentary by PAT MURPHY
If California truly is the harbinger of trends for the
rest of the country, then nearby states watching California’s
electricity chaos and rolling blackouts have reason to fret.
Do other western states, such as Idaho, where demand for
electricity is soaring with growth in industry and population, face bleak
months ahead, as some pessimists forecast?
Since the end of World War II, public
utilities—electric, telephone, water, gas— generally have
underestimated growth in booming western states and been stretched to meet
demand.
State regulatory commissions that are supposed to enforce
"convenience and necessity" laws that require utilities to
provide adequately for the public have a checkered record.
No matter.
My guess is that shortages have a bracing effect on
American consumers, like a bucket of cold water to remind us that plenty
has its limits and supply isn’t always there to meet our demands.
Our bountiful society has known severe shortages only a
few times in several generations. Each time, we survived handsomely. But
when times improved, we inevitably broke promises to be more sparing in
consumption.
The Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II
shortages of virtually everything ¾ clothing, food, appliances, gasoline,
electricity ¾ forced a whole nation into austerity. But then good times
returned when GIs returned home and industry rolled out every imaginable
consumer goody.
Although a relatively minor inconvenience, the Arab oil
embargo of the early 1970s spawned autos that gave more mileage per
gallon. But gas-guzzlers quickly returned with times of plenty.
Now, the possibility of belt-tightening seems at hand
again. Joblessness is rising, dark whispers of recession are on the lips
of economists, electricity supplies are in doubt, the Middle East is in
turmoil again.
So what if we have to shrink consumption. A diet of any
sort is good.
#
In baseball, batters are out after three strikes. In
criminal justice laws in some states, three convictions and it’s a life
sentence.
Idaho’s Republican state party chairman, Trent Clark, is
up to two strikes. At this rate, his mouth is bound to get him in trouble
a third time.
Will Republicans who think better of their party finally
dump Clark?
His first strike was when he trashed fellow Republican,
Boise Mayor Brent Coles, for fulfilling obligations as outgoing president
of the U.S. Conference of Mayors by presenting an award to outgoing
President Clinton for helping cities.
His second strike was last week when he defended the
Kootenai County Republican chairman under fire for an old drug arrest by
stupidly using a metaphor about African Americans ¾ that it would be
tough to find a black man in Washington, D.C. without a criminal history.
Despite his unzipped lip and utterly bizarre judgment for
a man in his position, Clark so far seems safe in his job.
Idaho’s top Republicans obviously haven’t gotten the
word that spiteful outbursts that symbolized the days of the unrestrained
Newt Gingrich have been replaced by the "charm offensive" of
George W. Bush.
