The blackout as seen by Le Monde

[Tom Storer]

An editorial in Le Monde:

The Lessons of a Blackout
(Aug. 18, 2003)

Electricity has long been a symbol of progress, of man's liberation, his victory over nature. The gigantic blackout that, on Thursday Aug. 14, struck the United States and Canada has shown yet again how vulnerable our society is because of its dependence on this power source.

It is also proof of the damage that can be caused by hasty privatization which is aimed at short-term profits for the private sector.

The Americans and Canadians are blaming each other for this incredible malfunction, whose specific causes have yet to be discovered. Without waiting for the results of the investigation, many experts are blaming the aging infrastructure. A single figure is enough to sum up the scope of the problem: America has invested as much in its power distribution system as Great Britain, while consuming ten times as much power.

"We're a superpower with a third-world electrical network," admitted Bill Richardson, former Energy Secretary under Bill Clinton. Mostly set up in the years immediately following World War II, the distribution system has not kept up with the ever-increasing demands of 270 million Americans and 31 million Canadians, who are less careful about energy savings than Europeans.

The development of all-electric households and businesses, and the every-growing role of computer technology, have been putting too much pressure on distribution networks that are not ready for them. Let the temperature rise just a little and air-conditioners are set to maximum. This causes a significant increase in power consumption, which can cause strain on the system and even blackouts.

The world's biggest power consumer has always been very concerned with its energy supplies. It has built power plants, but paid little attention to electricity distribution, for this is not in itself profitable. Furthermore, private operators who are sharing a privatized network have little interest in making investments that will serve to attract competitors to their area. Especially if their sole concern is profit--at times profit at any cost, as we saw with the Enron scandal, or profit at the expense of the public, as we saw in California in May 2001.

But there's no use simply pointing to the failures of the American electricity grid, because what happened in California and New York has already happened in France in 1978 and could happen again here or elsewhere in Europe. We are not safe from mass blackouts ourselves--especially if electricity supply ends up at the mercy of a completely deregulated market, and loses its special status as a public service. Here as elsewhere, Europeans must learn the lessons of the North American problem.

I'm not familiar with all the pros & cons of a regulated vs deregulated market. But "public service" in the last paragraph grabbed my attention.

......We are not safe from mass blackouts ourselves--especially if electricity supply ends up at the mercy of a completely deregulated market, and loses its special status as a public service. Here as elsewhere, Europeans must learn the lessons of the North American problem.

[A sidebar post]
The idea of "public service" is going the way of volunteerism, duty and obligation, to be replaced by "professionalism" and profit motive. For instance: The ideas of a "professional" army, and the ongoing movement to unionize the army, which rears its ugly head occasionally, in lieu of duty; and, charity organizations that are run by paid employees rather than any sense of duty and volunteers, respectively. Also, and this may be (more) irrelevant, most tasks in the military, other than actual soldiering, such as equipment repair, services(food/mess hall)are contracted out to the private sector.
These are only a couple of examples of the "handwriting on the wall," IMHO, that we, as a nation and society, are sacrificing values for the profit motive. Nobody seems to care about anything. One can argue that values are changing, I suppose, but, I think it's the lack of a sense of value, that values are not being learned and "taught," or being ignored.

[RainyDay]

In the downward sprial of capitalism, the US stands to become like a so-called emerging Third World country. Eventually, the only people who will have water, access to power, gasoline, and other similar amenities (food?) will be the upper class. And the upper class will not give a rat's ass (just like they don't give a rat's ass that seniors cannot afford their medication) that others are going without. Add health care to that list. When this happens, the haves will justify it the same way they justify povery today: If you don't have yours, it's because you are lazy and stupid and deserve to be without. Then the haves will fight like mad to insure that the have nots don't get their grubby mitts on the luxuries belonging to the haves.

I heard a guy on CSPAN this morining having a fit over discounted pharmaceuticals for seniors because it meant his taxes would go up. It doesn't get any more selfish than that, does it? There should be a means test for senior health care because surely Johnny Carson doesn't deserve the same government support for health care as someone who spent their lives scrubbing toilets for a living. But there has to be a recognition that old people don't deserve to die before their time because they cannot afford medication, or housing, or food, for that matter.

Sorry, I guess I changed the subject altogether but in my mind, it's all linked. The worship at the alter of corporate profit leaves a lot of people with very little. I bet of the 3,000 people who died in France during the heat wave, non of them were wealthy people. If any had been celebrities, there would probably be a government investigation.

[Tom Storer]

Originally posted by RainyDay
I bet of the 3,000 people who died in France during the heat wave, non of them were wealthy people. If any had been celebrities, there would probably be a government investigation.

No celebrities died (that I know of), but there's a government investigation planned anyway! Vive la France.

[mke]

Did 3000 people really die?

[Nefertiti]

I don't believe in this figure of 3000 deaths. What do they compare the death statistics with? During the same time, "only" 90 people have died from the heat in Italy, and even less in Portugal, although it was even hotter there and the medical infrastructure is worse.

I think this is used by lobbies to get more money for the medical sector.

[Rob C]

Slightly OT, but this reminds me that when logging into Hotmail the other day, one of the MSN headlines listed there (synergy, you know) was:

"Iraqis give tips for dealing with blackout heat".

Say WHAT?!

[Tom Storer]

Originally posted by Nefertiti
I don't believe in this figure of 3000 deaths. What do they compare the death statistics with? During the same time, "only" 90 people have died from the heat in Italy, and even less in Portugal, although it was even hotter there and the medical infrastructure is worse.

I think this is used by lobbies to get more money for the medical sector.

3000 is the figure being bandied about by the media. I believe they compared the death statistics this year with the same period the year before, simple as that. One of the reasons a big deal is being made about it is precisely that the death rate as reported in France was much higher than in the rest of Europe.

One thing *not* being talked about is one of the dirty secrets of the 35-hour work week that was instituted a while back, namely that because of the shortened work week hospitals are routinely understaffed. Everyone I know who's spent time in the hospital in the past couple of years has been shocked by the dangerous lack of enough nurses and other staff, especially during night shifts and weekends.

[Nefertiti]

BTW, Tom, where did you get this text from? I regularly read lemonde.fr, but have never seen the editorial available in english.

[brownie]

The French Health Minister now admits (on Radio-Luxembourg Monday
morning)it is a 'plausible' hypothesis that up to 5,000 people died
from the effects of the heat wave.

[Gary Sisco]

Sheeit, here I thought this was a report about Henry's blackout.

[Tom Storer]

Originally posted by brownie
The French Health Minister now admits (on Radio-Luxembourg Monday
morning)it is a 'plausible' hypothesis that up to 5,000 people died
from the effects of the heat wave.

Today I spoke with a real French doctor who said the figure, which has indeed risen to 5,000, is an "official estimate" from the Ministry of Health, based on detailed reporting by hospitals and clinics. Thanks, Dr. Le Roux.

Originally posted by Nefertiti
BTW, Tom, where did you get this text from? I regularly read lemonde.fr, but have never seen the editorial available in english.

Sorry, I should have specified that I translated it myself.

[clinthopson]

I bet a helluva lot of Froggies would have loved to have some of our power gobbling air conditioning the last week.

[Douglas]

Not only froggies, Clint. It was frikkin hot in my office as the AC system decided to go belly up on day 1 of the heatwave. But even with a faulty AC it was cooler than a lot of apartments in Paris. Colleagues who were working over August (which is rare) were turning up with their whole families and not returning home until the sun had set.

Tom, I think, missed the pleasures of Paris at 40+ degrees C, preferrring instead to set forests on fire in the south of France.

[mke]

Originally posted by Tom Storer
Today I spoke with a real French doctor who said the figure, which has indeed risen to 5,000, is an "official estimate" from the Ministry of Health, based on detailed reporting by hospitals and clinics. Thanks, Dr. Le Roux.

I believe that this "Dr. Le Roux" is a figment of Mr. Tom Storer's imagination. Indeed, he has never posted on the new JC and Mr. Storer admitted to having translated the Le Monde (a French newspaper!) himself, so he clearly has an active imagination.

[Tom Storer]

Originally posted by mke
I believe that this "Dr. Le Roux" is a figment of Mr. Tom Storer's imagination. Indeed, he has never posted on the new JC and Mr. Storer admitted to having translated the Le Monde (a French newspaper!) himself, so he clearly has an active imagination.

Mwanji, you're confusing this with the "HUJAC hearings" thread. And as for Dr. Le Roux being a figment of my imagination, I'll let Alain answer that charge himself!

[Alain]

Originally posted by Tom Storer
Mwanji, you're confusing this with the "HUJAC hearings" thread. And as for Dr. Le Roux being a figment of my imagination, I'll let Alain answer that charge himself!

Mwanji, is it a delayed side effect of that heatwave in Belgium? ;-)

Even if this thread was initially about Le Monde's view about the blackouts, I will go on with the heat wave topic: the "Directeur général de la santé", a main collaborator of Health minister Jean-François Mattéi, just resigned. Others may follow.

Mr Mattéi said this morning that the 5,000 figure was "plausible".

Let's wait and see.

[Tom Storer]

Today in my office someone noted that major blackouts are always followed by a jump in the birth rate nine months later. It occurred to me that if the French government were really serious about encouraging families to have more children, which it does try to do, it would discreetly arrange for regular blackouts of the entire country!

[mke]

Is under-staffing the result of the 35 hour work week or under-investment in public services?

And I won't believe in this "Alain" character until I see some IP addresses. The only Alain I know was last seen somewhere in the forests of northern Canada, sporting a 5-day old beard and brandishing a sharpened stick.

[Jazzzoline]

Originally posted by mke
The only Alain I know was last seen somewhere in the forests of northern Canada, sporting a 5-day old beard and brandishing a sharpened stick.

Think I saw him. He got a beer gut too ?

[Alain]

According to the largest French funeral parlor company (25% of the market), compared to last year, there have been 10,000 more dead people in France this year during the first three weeks of August!!

Some medical unions agree with this figure.

So now, it's not 3,000 neither 5,000 anymore but ten thousands, Gee!!

[Alain]

Originally posted by mke
Is under-staffing the result of the 35 hour work week or under-investment in public services?

The 35-hour week began in 2002 in the public hospitals (two thirds of the beds) without the proper people having been recruited first. They are supposed to have all been trained and recruited in 2004. In some regions, this is very difficult, as in the region of Paris.

But the problem of recent massive deaths of the elderly during the dog days does not involve hospitals only. More than half of the dead are said to come from retirement homes.

And one has to answer the question: why France only? In fact, it seems that there have been many deaths in Spain too. In Italy, the government doesn't seem to care with statistics.

[Ron Thorne]

For the past couple of days, CNN has interviewed sources in France who say that the death toll could likely exceed 5,000 and easily approach 10,000 persons. Huge refigerated warehouses are being utilized as morgues, with cots lined up to receive the bodies and an ID tag affixed to the bed frame.

Tragic.