Obama wants to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

He's really progressive guys, his hands are just tied by the big bad GOP!

[TNF]

With Democrats like this guy, who needs Republicans?

[windjammer]

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This would be unconstitutionnal I guess?

[Deus Naturae]

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This would be unconstitutionnal I guess?

Are you saying that privatizing the TVA would be unconstitutional, or that the existence of the TVA is unconstitutional?

[windjammer]

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This would be unconstitutionnal I guess?

Are you saying that privatizing the TVA would be unconstitutional, or that the existence of the TVA is unconstitutional?

Privatizing the TVA

[bedstuy]

I'm not sure how I feel about privatizing the TVA. 

It's a very complicated issue.  I certainly don't think the Federal government should be in effect guaranteeing the bonds of an energy utility for only one area of the country.  That's not fair.  I also wonder whether the TVA model is keeping electricity rates too low and failing to invest in capital improvements. 

What exactly is so great about the current setup of the TVA?

[TNF]

I'm not sure how I feel about privatizing the TVA. 

It's a very complicated issue.  I certainly don't think the Federal government should be in effect guaranteeing the bonds of an energy utility for only one area of the country.  That's not fair.  I also wonder whether the TVA model is keeping electricity rates too low and failing to invest in capital improvements. 

What exactly is so great about the current setup of the TVA?

Affordable electricity/not being at the mercy of private power parasites?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I'm not sure how I feel about privatizing the TVA. 

It's a very complicated issue.  I certainly don't think the Federal government should be in effect guaranteeing the bonds of an energy utility for only one area of the country.  That's not fair.  I also wonder whether the TVA model is keeping electricity rates too low and failing to invest in capital improvements. 

What exactly is so great about the current setup of the TVA?

Because private ownership of utilities is fundamentally immoral.

[bedstuy]

I'm not sure how I feel about privatizing the TVA. 

It's a very complicated issue.  I certainly don't think the Federal government should be in effect guaranteeing the bonds of an energy utility for only one area of the country.  That's not fair.  I also wonder whether the TVA model is keeping electricity rates too low and failing to invest in capital improvements. 

What exactly is so great about the current setup of the TVA?

Affordable electricity/not being at the mercy of private power parasites?

Are the TVA electricity rates actually lower than comparable rates?

[Zioneer]

I'm not going to go the Snowstalker/TNF route, but the TVA has been remarkably effective, and privatization of public utilities tends to go badly. What on earth is Obama thinking?

[Deus Naturae]

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This would be unconstitutionnal I guess?

Are you saying that privatizing the TVA would be unconstitutional, or that the existence of the TVA is unconstitutional?

Privatizing the TVA

It can't be unconstitutional for Congress not to do something (in this case, provide electricity to a certain area of the country). The enumerated powers in Art. I, Sec. 8 are what Congress can do, not what Congress must do. How could it be unconstitutional for the TVA to not exist?

[bedstuy]

I'm not going to go the Snowstalker/TNF route, but the TVA has been remarkably effective, and privatization of public utilities tends to go badly. What on earth is Obama thinking?

I think if you read the actual budget document, it makes more sense.

Why should New York taxpayers subsidize Tennessee electricity consumers?  Tennessee taxpayers don't subsidize New York electricity consumers.  That's fundamentally unfair.  But, the Obama plan says we should explore just transferring the TVA from federal to state/local control.  That might be the best solution. 

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I'm not going to go the Snowstalker/TNF route, but the TVA has been remarkably effective, and privatization of public utilities tends to go badly. What on earth is Obama thinking?

I think if you read the actual budget document, it makes more sense.

Why should New York taxpayers subsidize Tennessee electricity consumers?  Tennessee taxpayers don't subsidize New York electricity consumers.  That's fundamentally unfair.  But, the Obama plan says we should explore just transferring the TVA from federal to state/local control.  That might be the best solution.  

That's a legitimate point, and the solution to that is for the TVA to become a national power monopoly instead of a regional one.

[bedstuy]

I'm not going to go the Snowstalker/TNF route, but the TVA has been remarkably effective, and privatization of public utilities tends to go badly. What on earth is Obama thinking?

I think if you read the actual budget document, it makes more sense.

Why should New York taxpayers subsidize Tennessee electricity consumers?  Tennessee taxpayers don't subsidize New York electricity consumers.  That's fundamentally unfair.  But, the Obama plan says we should explore just transferring the TVA from federal to state/local control.  That might be the best solution.  

That's a legitimate point, and the solution to that is for the TVA to become a national power monopoly instead of a regional one.

Maybe that's a good idea, I don't know enough about the electricity industry to say for sure.  I do know that federal ownership of all electric power generation and transmission is a political non-starter at the moment. 

[AggregateDemand]

Staff: Mr. President, TVA needs funding to continue operations.

Obama: I'm not fighting with Republicans over a few billion dollars. Privatize TVA and we will pass legislation to tell them how to run their business. Best of both worlds for liberals. Private money pays for everything. Government runs everything.

[free my dawg]

Utterly shameful. Cannot believe we are throwing Appalachia to the wayside.

[Frodo]

No mainstream news-source has mentioned this, as of yet. 

[Donerail]

It'll be entertaining to see Republicans forced into the position of opposing privatization.

[SWE]

No mainstream news-source has mentioned this, as of yet. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/tennessee-valley-authority_n_3055345.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/16/republicans-blast-obama-proposal-to-sell-tennessee-valley-authority/
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-11/obama-mulls-sale-of-tennessee-valley-authority-in-budget-plan.html

[Maxwell]

I may have to move Obama to neutral. If he's planning to start privatizing this and free people sentenced to drug possession (as it seems he may do), then he's moving in the right direction.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Staff: Mr. President, TVA needs funding to continue operations.

Obama: I'm not fighting with Republicans over a few billion dollars. Privatize TVA and we will pass legislation to tell them how to run their business. Best of both worlds for liberals. Private money pays for everything. Government runs everything.

I think you think 'liberals' think like you think, bro.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

No mainstream news-source has mentioned this, as of yet. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/tennessee-valley-authority_n_3055345.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/16/republicans-blast-obama-proposal-to-sell-tennessee-valley-authority/
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-11/obama-mulls-sale-of-tennessee-valley-authority-in-budget-plan.html

Mainstream news-source.  Maybe you could argue the first and third are, but not the second.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Does the TVA actually require federal support? I was under the impression that it was self-funding at this point.

It's got a load of liability from the coal ash disaster a few years back and a number of its coal-fired plants will be needing to be either replaced or upgraded soon.  Its rates need a significant increase if it is to be able to deal with those issues itself without drawing upon the Federal fisc and that's not politically palatable.

[Adam Griffin]

Local perspective: this has been in and out of the news for months. It's been epic to watch Lamar Alexander use attacks on Obama wanting to privatize TVA as a way to demonstrate his bonafides with the conservative base and fend off any possible threat of a successful primary challenge.

What's really interesting is that the combination of popularity of TVA among locals of all ideological backgrounds and Obama's lack of popularity in the area has resulted in there being very strong opposition to privatizing it. If there was a referendum in the Tennessee Valley on the matter, I'd say 80%+ of the population would oppose privatization.

[Lief 🗽]

What's really interesting is that the combination of popularity of TVA among locals of all ideological backgrounds and Obama's lack of popularity in the area has resulted in there being very strong opposition to privatizing it. If there was a referendum in the Tennessee Valley on the matter, I'd say 80%+ of the population would oppose privatization.

damn barry o playin the long game, that sneaky motherf[inks]er