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Alex Lo

Three news stories have caught my eye recently because they seem to say a lot about American culture and values. They show why the world is much better off for NOT following the example of the United States, and indeed suicidal if we were to do so.
● An 11-year-old boy died from hypothermia when his family lost electricity and heat in their mobile home during the devastating cold snap in Texas.
● Three people were killed and two injured in a shooting following a dispute at a gun store in Louisiana.
● February is Black History Month in the United States.
Below the surface, they reflect respectively the dangers of market fundamentalism inspired by deregulation and neoliberal economics; the falsehood of equating gun ownership with liberty; and the ambiguity of remembrance and learning.

Only in Texas
Extreme freezing weather is not something anyone can control. But the blackouts, power failures, mounting casualties like the 11-year-old boy’s death and soaring electricity bills threatening to bankrupt families are the direct results of the energy policy of the US state. It’s called deregulation. At least 70 people have died as the cold storm swept across several southern US states.
Texans reportedly have a whopping 220 retailers that sell them electricity. The tough competition results in lower charges, at least on average and in normal times, compared to many other US states.
And because Texas’ power grid is cut off from other much bigger grids that span the continental US, it’s free from federal regulations, meaning the power utilities don’t have to maintain power reserves, which again, supposedly saves money for consumers – at least during normal times.
But what happens when extreme weather hits? Exactly what economics 101 says would happen: demand shoots up while supply drops. Some homes just can’t get power at all because of burst natural gas pipelines or grid breakdowns; others can’t afford to pay.


A Texas grid operator has reportedly ratcheted up prices per megawatt per hour to almost US$1,500, compared to last year’s average of US$26. According to a BBC report, some families have been charged up to US$16,000 for just a few days of usage, as temperatures hit 30-year lows of minus 18 degrees Celsius last week.
That’s precisely why most countries, and many US states, legally require utilities to maintain power reserves in case of emergencies. It’s basically an insurance policy. It’s hard to see how that is against free-market principles.
Not regulating utilities is a bit like not regulating commercial airlines: it costs lives. Of course, some companies are making a killing in Texas, no pun intended.
Australia’s Macquarie Group, one of the biggest traders of natural gas and electric power in the US, says full-year profit is expected to rise 5-10 per cent in the year ending in March from the previous 12 months as a result of “extreme winter weather conditions”.
A top executive at Comstock Resources, a major natural gas producer, reportedly told the press and investors during an earnings call that the company was “hitting the jackpot” because of the “incredible prices”. I wonder if company employees get discounts on their electricity bills.


The constitutional right to bear arms
German sociologist and historian Max Weber famously defines a key characteristic of the modern state as “the monopoly of the means and legitimate use of violence”. If so, the US and Switzerland are clear exceptions that prove the rule.
Gun rights advocates in the US argue that such ownership not only offers self-protection, but general deterrence against crimes. If so, the deadly shoot-outs in Louisiana may well prove their point.
The incident reportedly started with a dispute between the gun store’s staff and the alleged shooter. Subsequently, other gun shoppers shot and killed him.
This is a uniquely American scenario, unknown and unlikely to happen in most other countries.
But this is a utilitarian argument. Outsiders such as yours truly who have lived and studied in the US know that some Americans just love guns and live for them, and equate their ownership as essential liberty guaranteed under the US Constitution.
It must be admitted that surveys have shown that a majority of Americans support either ending legal gun ownership or severely restricting it.
The US Constitution is said to be one of the world’s most inspiring political documents ever written. Some provisions, though, such as the Second Amendment, may give you second thought. The rest of the world has enough common sense to know owning weapons doesn’t protect civil liberty, but threatens it – at the most basic level, the right to life.
World’s oldest democracy?
“Mapped: The world’s oldest democracies”, a webpage maintained by the World Economic Forum, says the US “has the longest-standing democracy in the world”. It’s a myth that many Americans believe. It’s what may be called the white man’s history. Women only got the national vote in 1920.
For many people, and by that, I mean many Hong Kong people, democracy is equated with universal suffrage. Judging by that yardstick, the US didn’t have full democracy until the early 1970s, following a series of Civil Rights Acts introduced by Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s in response to the civil rights movement. Before that, many US states effectively operated apartheid systems of various severities against black citizens.
Efforts to disenfranchise blacks continue today, especially by Republican politicians. The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, is a good place to start reading about contemporary violent racism, even in supposedly liberal states.
Perhaps with Black History Month, the US should be commended for facing up to their history of slavery. But that’s supposedly in the past and may just relieve people of the responsibility to face up to actual violent racism at the core of American society today. And they still need to set aside another month.

Since Washington politicians are so good at remembering and accusing other countries of genocide, maybe one day they will create a “Genocide Month” to commemorate the native American tribes that were wiped out in the name of “manifest destiny”. For those who want to read up, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown, is a good place to start.
“The Indians knew that life was paradise, and they could not comprehend why the intruders from the East were determined to destroy all that was Indian as well as America itself,” Brown wrote.
“And if the readers of this book should ever chance to see the poverty, the hopelessness, and the squalor of a modern Indian reservation, they may find it possible to truly understand the reasons why.”


Seminal US-China science pact renewed for 5 years with ‘guardrails’ for researchers, data

Trump 2.0 could offer a reprieve from US hegemony, but only briefly

US insurer murder a warning as Hongkongers worry about medical bills

US airman gets 5-year jail term for kidnapping, sexually assaulting teen girl in Japan

United States

What American values?

People line up to fill empty propane tanks in Houston, Texas amid the US state’s electricity crisis in extreme freezing weather. Photo: AP

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2020, file photo the Biden administration's nominee for Secretary of Interior, Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., speaks at The Queen Theater in Wilmington Del. Haaland has stood with fellow tribal members in protesting an oil pipeline, advocating for protecting cultural landmarks and criticizing destruction of Native American sites near the U.S.-Mexico border. Native Americans have reason to believe the two-term U.S. congresswoman will push forward on long-simmering issues in Indian Country if she's confirmed as secretary of the Interior Department. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Dialina Gonzalez sleeps on a mattress inside a Gallery Furniture store which opened as a shelter Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Houston. Millions in Texas still had no power after a historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state's power grid and causing widespread blackouts. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

US President Joe Biden approves Texas disaster declaration following deadly freeze

US President Joe Biden. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has spearheaded the court attack on Obamacare. (Jay Janner/American-Statesman/TNS)

FILE PHOTO: Jay Farrell gathers water from his hot tub so that he can flush his family’s toilet as people across the city find themselves without running water after pipes ruptured due to freezing temperatures following an unprecedented winter storm in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 19, 2021. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare/File Photo

HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 20: Volunteers prepare to had out water during a water distribution event at the Fountain Life Center on February 20, 2021 in Houston, Texas. Much of Texas is still struggling with historic cold weather, power outages and a shortage of potable water after winter storm Uri swept across 26 states with a mix of freezing temperatures and precipitation. Many Houston residents do not have drinkable water at their homes and are relying on city water giveaways. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Clean energy is key to Asia-Pacific’s ‘green recovery’ from Covid-19

Wind turbines amid sunflowers in China’s Gansu province in August 2019. We must harness the capacity of sustainable energy to rebuild our societies and economies while protecting the environment. Photo: Xinhua

Youth activists wearing red cloth take part in a protest during the Asia Climate Rally, outside the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 27, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

Opinion

Comment


The US likes to claim it is the world’s greatest democracy and engine of wealth – gospels which must be spread around the world. Current news headlines say otherwise



The US likes to claim it is the world’s greatest democracy and engine of wealth – gospels which must be spread around the world. Current news headlines say otherwise.


Joe Biden

US-China relations

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Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

US-China tech war

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Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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My Take | What American values?

The US likes to claim it is the world’s greatest democracy and engine of wealth – gospels which must be spread around the world. Current news headlines say otherwise