12-28-2012, 03:22 AM
All of you are both exactly right and fantastically wrong, because you're looking at the wrong end of the stick.
Hint: it's not an "infrastructure" problem, or an "electricity" problem. The name of the game is, has been, and will ever be "maximizing profits", and as this game has become deeply ingrained in the political system, it's not likely to change, at least not "gently".
You could also look at the whole scenario as an "economics problem": the local wholesale power cost is higher than the retail price in most mainland markets, thereby creating no incentive for industry, without even considering the other externalities -- like high shipping costs (artificially maintained by the Jones Act).
Hint: it's not an "infrastructure" problem, or an "electricity" problem. The name of the game is, has been, and will ever be "maximizing profits", and as this game has become deeply ingrained in the political system, it's not likely to change, at least not "gently".
You could also look at the whole scenario as an "economics problem": the local wholesale power cost is higher than the retail price in most mainland markets, thereby creating no incentive for industry, without even considering the other externalities -- like high shipping costs (artificially maintained by the Jones Act).