Gray Davis Quotes
We have lost control over our own power. We have surrendered the decisions about where electricity is sold—and for how much, to private companies with only one objective: maximizing unheard-of profits.
Gray Davis, California Governor (Democrat), State of the State Address, January 2001
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Innovative science and technology from Edison and Tessla had produced an electrical industry that rapidly formed into a monopoly.
Referring to the oil companies:
This is an interesting quotation because it shows that utilities and monopolies using their power and money to avoid effective pro consumer regulation is nothing new and was ongoing as soon as there were government granted monopolies that were supposed to be regulated.
There were not many large companies in the agribusiness selling chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides and seeds to the farmers of America. When there was an attempted merger, the regulators were supposed to make sure that the merger press would not be responsible for higher prices as with the merger, there would be less competition. As Holcomb said in this quotation, the companies would typically tell the regulators how they merger would produce synergistic cost savings for the farm products. And in theory that wold be true in most cases. However once the company receives approval, the tend to claim the products are losing money and they must raise prices. And often that is true but the main reason for the loss is the cost of the money that they usually borrowed to pay for the acquisition.
He had been told that the Air Force was planning to buy to ne, next generation planes for use as Air Force One for the President and that the price tag was to be $4 Billion. He thought that price exhorbetent, and this quotation came from one of his Tweets.
For many general government regulations—labor, environment, non discrimination—the small business has a proportionately heavier burden of compliance. So large businesses have always been able to count on small business to lobby against regulation and for deregulation. However, when it comes to financial regulation such as the Dodd-Frank regulations essentially apply to large businesses. As a matter of fact, small businesses were on many ways the most frequent victims of the large banks and investment bank excesses in the Meltdown of 2008. Before most of the regulations could even take effect, the financial industry was already trying to get small business to lobby to roll back the protective regulations preventing future meltdowns and bank failure resulting from loose regulation and greedy irresponsible financial industry behavior. The President campaigned to convince the small business not to support the finance industry over their usual “knee jerk” reaction to any regulation.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910. The nature of telephone technology made it easy for companies to obtain monopolies for different areas of the country. When there is a monopoly, there is a huge tendency for the controlling company to charge very high prices and have poor customer service as the usual competition required for quality performance under capitalism is nonexistant. So in 1890, there was the same resentment of the telephone companies, that existed over a century later when there was still a monopoly. Regulation helped somewhat, but the capabilities of the monopolist began to include lobbying and campaign contributions so that typically, in the 21st century, the local telephone companies had much control over the State Commissions that were supposed to regulate them. Long distance service, whose monopoly was broken up by the Federal Courts became a wonderful service for customers and the prices were a tiny fraction of what they had been under their old monopoly.
Actually, even with higher capital requirements, the banks could take more risk but then they would have to risk their own money rather than their depositors’ funds. The depositors funds are at risk but if the risk pays off, only the bank and their executives profit. The depositors get nothing. If the bank loses their risky gamble, the major loss will be covered by the Government via a bail out and/or Federal Deposit Insurance money that protects most depositors. For the Banks, its “heads we win; tails the government loses”.
The Chernobyl accident killed many, polluted a huge section of Russia for years, and even spread radiation thorough out Europe and Scandinavia.
Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. is an American former attorney and politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 to 2003. In 2003, only a few months into his second term, Davis was recalled and removed from office, the second state governor successfully recalled in U.S. history. Prior to serving as governor, Davis was chief of staff to Governor Jerry Brown (1975–81), a California State Assemblyman (1983–87), California State Controller (1987–95) and the 44th lieutenant governor of California (1995–99). Davis holds a B.A. in history from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service as a captain in the Vietnam War.
