America is not Europe. I'll make no value judgment on that, but would point out that CATO's retreat from deregulation is not to be taken at face value.
There is a real threat to the utilites & pseudo-monopolies emerging in several states, called Community Choice Aggregation. It leverages deregulation to achieve some very laudable policy and clean energy objectives through existing energy infrastructure, and can not happen if the utilities control the power lines AND the generation with government-supported prices (i.e. regulation).
So I'm going to argue (with very little substance right now as I'm crunched for time) that you're wrong here, as I argued in Paris, and argue even stronger that the next few carafes of Cotes du Rhone are on you ...
The trend you describe is not necessarily something that requires deregulation - it could also happen with I expect smallish adaptation of existing regulations.
The next Côte du Rhone are indeed on me. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
