Lest you think “Marxism” in my headline is a bit too hyperbolic, please allow me a minute to justify its usage. Does the phrase “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” ring a bell?
The phrase was popularized by Karl Marx, as part of a larger communist ideological statement:
In a higher phase of communist society … only then can the narrow horizon of the bourgeois right be fully left behind, and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Yup, straight from Karl Marx, the above can be boiled down to just two words: wealth redistribution.
As reported by CBS affiliate KFMB-TV in San Diego, a new state law requires California energy companies to come up with a fixed-rate plan as a way to help “stabilize rates” and make billing more “equitable.”
In case you’ve been living in a cave for a considerable amount of time, the left officially kicked the fair concept of “equality” to the curb in favor of the unfair socialist utopian goal of “equity,” vs. just calling it what it is — wealth redistribution.
The plans were due on April 7, which led San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Pacific Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison to team up on a proposal to charge customers based on their income level.
Hence, from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs; flat-out wealth redistribution. Here’s the proposed breakdown, according to KFMB:
- Households earning less than $28,000 a year would pay a fixed delivery rate of $24 per month.
- Households earning under $69,000, the fixed price goes up to $34.
- Households earning between $69,000 and $180,000, the price goes up to $73.
- Households earning over $180,000 dollars will pay $128.
Yup, to hell with billing Californians based on how much energy they use; billing them based on the amount of money they make is far more “fair share-ish.”
In addition, SDG&E told KFMB that “everyone’s” average kilowatt-hour rate would drop from 47 cents to 27 cents.
Look, I don’t live in California — and I never will — but I wouldn’t take that “promise” anywhere near the bank, given the no-longer-Golden State’s energy mess, not to mention Gavin Newsom and the Democrat state legislature’s plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered passenger vehicles by 2035 is going to make mess far worse before it gets any better. But, hey — the near-socialist state can just further stick it to the “rich,” right?
KFMB-TV asked Scott Crider, SDG&E’s vice president of External Affairs and Operations Support if the company is concerned that its customers will object to providing financial information, to which he responded:
We don’t want customers’ financial information. Customers don’t want to provide us [with]their financial information. So, our perspective is the state is very capable to be able to do this and send us the data that’s needed to get the customers into the right buckets.
Wait, huh? Does that genius really think the company’s customers will feel better with that answer? Translation: “Hey, no problem! You don’t have to share anything financial with us — the state will provide us with all of your personal financial information we’ll need!” Good lord, dude, please.
As Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, rhetorically asked:
What’s next, a proposal for supermarkets that can charge you based on your income for bread and eggs? Also, Best Buy should charge you for a new phone based on your earnings. Airline tickets? There can be three tiers based on earnings.
My oh my, the list of Marxist pricing “opportunities” could be virtually endless, and if you’re naive enough to believe, my California friends, that this direct wealth redistribution scheme will begin and end with your utility bills, I have a proverbial bridge…
As Greenfield put it, riffing off then-President Barack Obama’s #1 ObamaCare lie:
If you like your communism, you can keep your communism.
Meanwhile, I think I’ll continue life as a Hoosier.
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