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PAGE 4A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. APRIL20. 2017
From the
publisher
mike@
mainstreet
news.com
Mike Buffington
Government is
not a business
Americans generally support a free enterprise,
open market economic system. We have a disdain
for government control and regulations. That was
one reason Donald Trump was elected president.
Many of his core supporters like the idea of “gov
ernment being run like a business.”
That assumes, of course, that businesses are
superior ethically to government.
But that isn’t always the case, as several recent
examples have dramatically demonstrated.
Big businesses are no more moral or ethical
than big government. Institutional values, good or
bad, can be found in any situation. And while the
notion that competition tempers businesses to “do
good” while the lack of competition encourages
government to embrace corruption is popular, that
isn’t always how it works out.
The most dramatic example of an unethical and
a stupid business action was the recent assault of
a passenger who was forcibly removed from a
United Airlines flight by security officials.
In what universe is it appropriate to use physical
violence to remove someone from an airplane
who isn’t a danger to himself or others?
United has come under intense fire for that
action, as it should.
Back in the 1980s when U.S. airlines were
deregulated, it was supposed to lead to better ser
vice, more competition and lower fares. And for a
while, that did happen. Small airlines popped up,
more competition hit the marketplace and fares
did go down.
Yet something else happened over time. The
small guys got gobbled up by the bigger airlines.
Customer service went to hell. In addition to the
recent United incident, airlines have abused pas
sengers by making them sit for hours on tarmacs
awaiting takeoff during storms. And airlines have
been shrinking seat sizes to pack more human
cattle into the plane.
While some basic fares stayed low, add-on
charges have become commonplace so that the
deals aren’t what they once were when the air
lines were first deregulated.
Air travel is now dominated by only a handful
of airlines as it was before deregulation, but cus
tomer service is worse.
Was that a victory for the consumer or the free
market, or did we just trade one set of problems
for another?
The banking world is another area where com
petition doesn’t seem to have much of a mod
ifying effect on business practices. The Great
Recession was caused, in part, by some unethical
practices giving loans to people who couldn’t
afford them.
You would think that given what happened in
that fiasco, banks would today have modified
their institutional systems to be more ethical.
Enter Wells Fargo. The giant bank has been
the focus of a huge scandal where customers
were abused by institutional impulses, including
the opening of fake accounts customers never
approved. In a report released this month, the
bank’s conduct was found to be appalling, starting
with its top officials.
How did that happen in the shadow of the reces-
— See “Buffington” on 5A
The Madison
County Journal
(Merged with The Danielsville Monitor
and The Comer News, January 2006)
P.O. Box 658
Hwy. 29 South
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Phone: 800-795-2581
E-mail: zach@mainstreetnews.com
ZACH MITCHAM, Editor
MARGIE RICHARDS, Reporter/Office Manager
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
FRANK GILLISPIE, Founder of The Journal.
Jere Ayers (deceased) former owner
of The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News
Periodical postage paid at Danielsville, Georgia 30633
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011-097; ISSN 1074987X)
Oh no, ‘80s ‘Day After’ fears return?
I frequently click on videos
for huge waves on YouTube.
There’s something about
50-foot waves swallowing
surfers that always holds my
attention. I recently started
watching footage of old atom
ic bomb tests in a similar
way. I’m just transfixed by
the power. For a moment,
I can divorce myself from
the meaning and just watch
a spectacle. We can literally
blow up the world. The old
test footage is oddly beauti
ful, as if the sun has poked a
finger into the chest of earth
and the dust shoots skyward
at the impact site. These are
man-made tsunamis of fire
and chaos. It’s impossible to
look away.
But then I’m snapped back
to reality. The films are cer
tainly not beautiful, not if you
give any thought to what is
really on display. Any use of
such weapons on people is
a profound human tragedy.
Of course, the use of atomic
weapons at the end of WWII
marked the beginning of the
nuclear era. And we’ve dealt
with the moral question of
whether Truman should have
dropped those bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I
bet most Americans would
say that, yes, those weapons
should have been dropped at
the time. Outside of America,
the answer might be quite
different. For instance, I bet
most Japanese would disagree
with the common U.S. sen
timent.
But whatever our view on
the first use, it’s pretty clear
to most any human being that
we can’t have a second use.
We can’t have nuclear war. If
we do, we all lose. No nation
wins in such showdowns.
And the destructive capacity
is many times greater than the
days of Hiroshima.
We’ve certainly dodged
some bullets since the last
world war, particularly during
the Cold War. The Cuban
Missile Crisis was before my
time, but I know the fears
were intense as the Soviets
threatened us with nukes 90
miles from our mainland.
JFK had to decide whether to
attack first. Luckily, the crisis
By Zach Mitcham
ended without nuclear war.
Likewise, there have been
several instances in which
nuclear bombs were nearly set
off by accident. For instance,
in 1961, a Stratofortress
B-52 carrying two nuclear
bombs — with the force of
250 Hiroshima bombs —
broke up over Goldsboro,
N.C., dropping its bombs on
the ground in the process.
According to federal reports
declassified in 2013, one of
the bombs nearly detonated.
That would have killed so
many and altered history. It
was just a fortunate stroke of
luck that kept the bombs from
going off. And that’s just one
near miss. There are others I
could cite, but I won’t.
I remember my fears of
nuclear war as a child. I recall
“The Day After” from 1983,
a TV movie about a nuclear
war. I remember writing my
first poem. It wasn’t about
flowers or trees or my love
of baseball, but about nucle
ar holocaust. And I stood in
front of a crowded assembly
and read this really depress
ing piece, because it meant
something to me. I guess it
was a sign of things to come,
me writing really downer
stuff for a crowd. Sorry folks.
But like so many ’80s
kids in this country, I got a
reprieve. I got to let go of
those fears somewhat after
the fall of the Soviet Union.
Nuclear war seemed like a
more far-fetched possibility. I
didn’t think much about such
things throughout the 90s
— not that the threat was nec
essarily less, but my feelings
weren’t as intense.
Terrorists with nuclear arms
then rose as a possibility. And
those old fears were some
what renewed. But I try to
zoom out on every issue and
look at things, as best I can,
from the farthest, most sober
angle. And when I do that
with nuclear terrorism, there’s
this: yes, it would be utterly
horrific, but it would most
likely be a one-strike deal.
It’s unlikely that a terrorist
organization would have the
means to fire missiles in a
full-on exchange, meaning,
yes, true horror, but not end
times — not unless it triggers
an exchange between nations
armed with stockpiles of such
weaponry.
But nations can get crazy,
and well, that’s a threat that
transcends terrorist groups.
So, the current nuclear ten
sions with North Korea and
the odd relations we have now
with Russia actually scare me
way more than the threat of
terrorism. Yes, terrorism is
scary, but a hostile nuclear
exchange could spiral out of
control in a matter of min
utes and decimate the globe.
We’ve always had the thought
of “mutually assured destruc
tion” as a form of comfort —
morbid, yes, but still a com
fort. Nations typically don’t
want to participate in mutual
suicide. This faith is rooted in
the rationality of leaders. But
unfortunately, when it comes
to humans, rationality doesn’t
always win. Sometimes, irra
tionality takes hold of indi
viduals. Sometimes emotion
takes over and people act out
side of their best interests,
even hurting themselves pro
foundly in the process. Just
look at any crime page.
And Kim Jong Un is not a
sane leader. There’s just no
getting around that. North
Korea is essentially a mas
sive. nuclear cult. This leader
may want Armageddon. You
can’t use the same, old line of
logic with someone who has
no concern for anything but
his own sense of grandiosity.
Kim Jong Un doesn’t care
about his people. He starves
them and kills them.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump
is a big-time gambler. And
sometimes he gambles and
wins. But I watch how he’s
dealing with North Korea and
I think, he’s trying to leverage
the North Korean crazy man
and get China to put a leash
on its rabid neighbor. Well,
there’s a possibility that this
may work. But there’s also
a distinct possibility that the
crazy man in North Korea
won’t find any sanity in his
skull, but will instead act
completely irrationally and
embrace collective suicide.
I fear the man legitimately
wants world war.
Sadly, we’re in a position
of trying to bottle the genie
of nuclear arms. Our world
safety relies on stopping the
inevitable spread of nuclear
technology. That’s like try
ing to sandbag floodwaters,
but it still seems like a nec
essary. though ultimately
futile, effort. Can you really
bottle up technology? The
odds aren’t with you on that.
Countries see that they have
way more clout and way more
bargaining power when they
have nuclear arms. Therefore,
our friends and particularly
our enemies — who aren’t
backed by our nuclear arms
— have the incentive to create
their own stash as internation
al leverage. And they resent
the “haves” telling the “have
nots” that they must remain
“have nots.” Kim Jong Un has
taken that resentment to an
extreme level and is like some
crazed peacock of weaponry,
showing off his colors to the
world.
I’m really worried. This has
to be handled with wisdom. It
matters.
I wish everyone associat
ed with “the button” would
get a regular heavy dose of
those nuclear test videos on
YouTube. They are sobering
and they are visual sermons
on why we don’t ever need to
embrace such atrocity.
Meanwhile. I’m gonna’ go
watch some massive surfing
wipeouts. I’ll go back and
look again at the waves in
Naraze', Portugal. They are
monsters, but at least they’re
the natural kind, don’t give
me bad dreams or make me
revisit those 80s fears, where
moonwalking and Michael
Jackson were on my mind,
along with mushroom clouds.
Zach Mitcham is editor of
The Madison County Journal.
The PSC will have to face reality
On St. Patrick’s Day in 2009,
the Public Service Commission
decided one of its most import
ant cases ever.
The commissioners had
before them a proposal from
Georgia Power to build two
more nuclear reactors at Plant
Vogtle. Georgia Power also
asked for authorization to start
charging small customers for
the project’s financing costs
at least six years before any
electricity would actually be
generated.
The General Assembly had
already passed a bill allowing
these early customer charges
— after Georgia Power hired
more than 70 lobbyists to get
the bill through — but the PSC
was more than willing to do the
company’s bidding.
The only PSC member who
spoke against the proposal was
Bobby Baker. Baker noted the
economic uncertainty and said
the commission should take
time to get more information
before making a decision that
would have such an impact on
consumers.
“We don’t need to make this
decision today,” Baker said.
“You’re taking a big gamble
with Georgia Power’s money,
the ratepayers’ money. If you
want to roll the dice, roll it with
your own money. We’re talking
about billions of dollars here.”
Commissioner Stan Wise,
who’s long been one of
The
Capitol
tcrawford@
capitol
impact.net
By Tom Crawford
Georgia Power’s most faithful
supporters, was in no mood to
hear such talk.
“Who are you telling that
to?” Wise sneered. “We know.”
The PSC voted 4-1 to
approve the Vogtle project and
authorize Georgia Power to
start charging its customers in
advance. Baker cast the lone
dissenting vote.
With the advantage of eight
years’ hindsight, we know a
couple of things for sure: Baker
was right. Wise, along with
Commissioners Chuck Eaton,
Bubba McDonald, and Doug
Everett, was wrong.
Nuclear projects are compli
cated and costly, as the PSC
would have known if it had
taken the time to study its own
history. Georgia Power had
massive cost overruns on the
first two reactors it built at
Plant Vogtle. It soon started
running into similar problems
on units 3 and 4.
That’s why we now have a
nuclear project that is $3 billion
over budget, 39 months behind
schedule, and unable to gener
ate a single watt of electricity.
This is a major problem not
just for Georgia Power but also
for its partners in the Vogtle
project: Oglethorpe Power, the
Municipal Electric Authority of
Georgia, and Dalton Utilities.
Baker is no longer a PSC
member and his seat is now
held by Tim Echols. Echols
and the four commissioners
who originally voted for this
boondoggle will soon have to
face the consequences of that
decision.
That’s because the cost over
runs on Vogtle and a similar
project in South Carolina have
driven the primary contractor,
Westinghouse Electric Co.,
into bankruptcy.
Georgia Power has signed
an interim agreement with
Westinghouse for the compa
ny to continue as the primary
contractor until April 28. After
that, the choices aren’t good.
If the contract with
Westinghouse is terminated
during the bankruptcy pro
ceedings, Georgia Power will
have to find another contractor.
There aren’t many companies
that have the expertise and
resources to take on such a
huge project.
Georgia Power is also
suggesting that it just might
take over the project itself if
Westinghouse can’t do it.
Whatever happens, you can
be sure that Georgia Power will
come back to the PSC and tell
them the project has become
more expensive to complete.
They will then demand that the
commissioners allow them to
charge off the new expenses
to the utility’s customers in the
form of higher rates.
Up to now, the PSC has been
happy to grant Georgia Power
nearly all of these writeoffs.
It doesn’t really care if home-
owners and small businesses
get stuck with higher bills.
We are nearing a point, how
ever, where the higher costs of
electricity will start being felt
by large businesses and indus
tries. Companies that might
think of relocating here will
take a look at the skyrocketing
rates and decide to go some
where else. That will bring
immense pressure on the PSC.
The Public Service
Commission now has to deal
with a monster it unleashed
with that vote back in 2009.
Will it have the backbone to tell
Georgia Power that its share
holders will have to eat some
of those cost overruns?
If history is any guide, that
answer will be no.
Tom Crawford is editor of
The Georgia Report, an inter
net news sendee at gareport.
com that reports on state gov
ernment and politics. He can
be reached at tcrawford@gare
port.com.