Forget Price Caps, Try Energy-Friendly

Just as I was pondering how many California politicians it takes to screw in a free-market lightbulb, I grabbed your editorial pages. Medea Benjamin’s commentary and your editorial (May 30) caused me to blow a fuse!

Only hopelessly liberal journalists and politicians find it confounding that scarce resources command high prices. Fortunately, President Bush understands that price caps cause shortages.

California politicians should stop threatening energy producers and instead make the Golden State energy-friendly. Our supply would increase and prices would naturally come down. Prices only reflect the reality of supply and demand. Only silly and shallow people argue that “corporate greed” or a Bush conspiracy is the problem.

Burnie Thompson

Norwalk

Benjamin’s commentary condemning Bush’s energy policy was right on target. I also read that Benjamin tried to disrupt Bush’s World Affairs Council speech in Los Angeles and had to be removed from the ballroom. But isn’t this the same Medea Benjamin who ran for the U.S. Senate under the Green Party banner? Isn’t this the same Green Party headed by Ralph Nader, who knew he was essentially handing the White House to Bush by refusing to go away? That’s what I thought.

Ms. Benjamin, you are a disgrace and a hypocrite. You and your Green Party buddies knew exactly what collateral damage your campaign would cause, and you didn’t care then--why should you care now?

Theo Chen

San Diego

Robert Reich’s May 31 commentary made me think of the little boy who cried wolf so many times that when the wolf did come no one believed him. The Bush administration has cried wolf on recession, rogue nations shooting missiles at us and now energy. When will there really be a need to cry wolf and no one will believe him?

Sally Brooks

Palmdale

Re your May 30 editorial: If Gov. Gray Davis wanted caps on energy prices, he could put them on by telling the energy companies that California will not purchase energy above a certain price. The state has already practiced price controls on PG&E; and Edison by not letting them charge more for electricity when it was becoming more expensive. We can all see what happened to these two companies from the controls put on them.

Willa Miller

Huntington Beach