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Bill: Regulation
Details
Submitted by[?]: Socio-Democratic Union
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: July 2159
Description[?]:
| As we already explained last time such a bill was proposed by SDU, citizens in Dolgaria are entitled to an equal treatement, and having electricity and telephone rates un-regulated is a bad thing since low-income peoples could not be able to pay for these, and then be excluded from Society. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Energy regulation.
Old value:: Energy is provided by private companies which are not subject to any special regulations.
Current: Energy is provided by nationalised companies.
Proposed: Energy is provided by private companies but the prices they can charge are regulated.
Article 2
Proposal[?] to change The government's policy concerning phone services.
Old value:: There are no regulations on phone service.
Current: There are no regulations on phone service.
Proposed: The state regulates the rates providers can charge for phone service.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 15:30:24, December 20, 2005 CET | From | United Dolgaria Party | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | Ha ha ha ha, NOOOOO! |
| Date | 18:15:36, December 20, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | just because of the bill title I decided to say no. but we knew that was coming. |
| Date | 18:22:39, December 20, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | Plus, that is not how unregulated prices work. The power companies NEED the poor people to buy their services. They do make up almost 70% of the population. All unregulated utility means is that the proper and efficient level of output is achieved. They have a natural monopoly, and therefore do not overcharge their customers. They have no Seperate MR curve. Their Price and MR curve are the same. In addition, they have a flat MC (marginal Cost) curve, meaning that they can make as much as they want and not have much higher costs. Meaning, that they make as much as possible anyways. Almost like a perfectly competitive industry. So, All that regulating prices does is artificially inflate the level of output, and artificially deflate the price of Utility output. So, by regulating prices, the utility companies lose money, and need a government subsidy. PLUS, they give the customers an artificial sense of what the price of the product is. THerefore, they waste power/water needlessly, because the price is lower. by keeping the price unregulated, it eliminates MUCH of the waste problem, and also keeps it so that the government doesnt have to bail out the utility companies. |
| Date | 18:23:55, December 20, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | It is all simple economics. |
| Date | 00:15:38, December 21, 2005 CET | From | Socio-Democratic Union | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | "They have a natural monopoly, and therefore do not overcharge their customers" I'm sorry, but monopoly generaly overcharge their customers. I don't see why a compagny that provide regulated services would inflate its level of output and loose money. If they know at what cost they can sell power/services and so how much money they can generate, they don't need to pay for creating/maintaining more infrastructures than what is needed. And if you take this from the point of view of the Dolgarian citizen, that is much more profitable than anything. Power and telephone are things you do need to live in the modern society. So it means you are obliged to keep paying for them. If their fees changes every year because of market fluctuation, that seriously threats living standards of these peoples. If prices are regulated in a wise manner, these expenses are rather un-harmfull for average citizens. |
| Date | 06:27:30, December 21, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | There is a difference between a natural monopoly and a regular monopoly. Again simple economics. Natural monopoly means that the cost curve is the same no matter what the output is. however, when a natural monopoly is regulated, it is bad, for many reasons, the least of which is efficiency. The price fluxuation is incredibly negligible, and regardless, if the cost is higher, the price should be as well. The market should set the price, not the fat cats in Darina. Plus, the regulation is not beneficial for the empire as a whole. It is usually harmful for the environment, the company, it promotes citizens to be wasteful, PLUS, it is inefficient. The only method of EFFECTIVELY regulating a natural monopoly is by increasing competition. however, Because the natural monopoly achieves an economy of scale, when demand goes down, costs go up. Meaning, that by increasing competition and regulating the utility, the costs go up for everyone involved. Im telling you, just let the monopoly go unregulated. It is simple economics. |
| Date | 06:32:50, December 21, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | Again, there is a BIG difference between a natural monopoly and a regular monopoly that you are thinking of. The cost curves are 100 times different, plus the way that they should be treated is different. You wanna decrease the price for the poor people, fine. But dont claim that these companies NEED to be regulated. It is better for the country that they remain UNregulated. that way, perfect efficiency is achieved. It eliminates wasteful practices by dolgarians, and helps the environment. In real life, utility prices are kept artificially low by the government, leading the utilities to overexhaust their resources, ESPECIALLY water and gasoline (and indirectly from gasoline is electric) If the PROPER level of price/output is achieved, which is only done through equilibrium levels, then these problems are eliminated. This is more of a long term solution, but it is the right solution |
| Date | 06:34:44, December 21, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | And plus, the difference between Regulated prices and Unregulated prices is REALLY REALLY small. Like a few cents per unit. However, when it is multiplied by 50 million dolgarians, that is a LOT of wasted electric and etc. |
| Date | 12:58:49, December 21, 2005 CET | From | Socio-Democratic Union | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | Well, as economy is not my field of knowledge I won't try to counter what you said. However, that's not a reason for me to change my mind ;o) I still believe that seen from the average dolgarian's point of view, regulated prices are better, for the reason I said in the second part of my previous post. |
| Date | 04:20:18, December 22, 2005 CET | From | Movement for White Supremacy | To | Debating the Regulation |
| Message | Yea, I hear yah. But like I said, lower/regulated prices mean more waste and higher inefficiency, on top of the fact that it hurts the power companies. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||
| yes |
Total Seats: 325 | ||||
| no | Total Seats: 180 | ||||
| abstain |
Total Seats: 245 |
| Random fact: Real-life religions should not be referenced in Particracy. Terra has its own religions, many of which mirror real-life ones. See: http://particracy.wikia.com/wiki/Illustrated_Catalogue_of_Religion |
| Random quote: "You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad, in fact, to do anything it wants." - Harry Browne |