Joseph Rosenblatt <[log in to unmask]>:
> Deregulation of any industry has never been in the consumer's interest; if
> it were it the industries would not be pushing for deregulation or even
> consent to it. There is no mystery here. There is no grand conspiracy. It
is
> business as usual by the usual  suspects.

Where deregulation leads to greater competition it greatly favors the
consumer.  Transportation costs sharply decreased after deregulation and
many transportation companies went out of business.  The airline industry
had many years of losses after deregulation, only recently becoming
profitable.

In telecommunications, too, costs have decreased and choices increased, but
it's hard to say how much that's due to deregulation and how much to
technological advances that would have happened anyway.

Where valid comparisons can be made between regulated and deregulated
businesses--comparing different states or different countries, regulation
almost always leads to higher prices.

Power utilities are _literally_ textbook examples of natural
monopolies--economics textbooks, that is.  The situation is a little better
at the wholesale level, but I've always been skeptical about how competition
would work with utilities.