Dearest Editor,
Regarding July 11 “PG&E Knew Aging Grid Was Fire Risk”: We don’t have a capitalistic system in America. Bankruptcy laws and and law regulating corporate structure insulate individual decision makers from responsibility. There is a lot of finger pointing going on and none of it gets to the point of anyone suffering from failure, as would happen in a real capitalistic system. The consequences are borne by the collective. Conventional wisdom has said we would never have any progress or innovation if risks were not absorbed by a fascistic safety net. We have to weigh the costs, such as a burned town and 85 people lost, compared to higher energy costs reflected by a properly managed system.
Love, Fritz
alternativebyfritz 
Users are offered a Hobson’s Choice: Either take the PG&E service or have no service (or, purchase generators and the fuel to keep the generators running). In a free market, capitalist system, competition is key. But how do you have necessary utilities competing with one-another? So, is capitalism and free markets really the solution?
The U.S. has a fascist system. Privately owned industry and property but all of it highly regulated by the government. Even if you pay-off a mortgage on your home, you still don’t own it, as don’t pay the property taxes and see what happens. (Only 2 countries are genuine socialist entities: Cuba and North Korea. All others have some degree of fascism dictating what the populations can and can’t do.)