Smart Meters and Daytime usage billing

Another blog reader pointed out that the main reason they are tying to implement the Smart Meters is to change the daytime usage billing. They want to keep track of when you use your power and charge you more for using power during the day. They are doing it under the guise of being green trying to give people incentive for using power off peak times when really it's just an excuse to raise the daytime usage rates. The wireless transmission of your in home surveillance that can be intercepted by any criminal is just a side effect of their scam.

Speaking of Enron, Enron Corp. teamed up with at least two other power sellers - including B.C. Hydro's Powerex subsidiary - to reap outsized profit by submitting false information to California's electric-grid manager in 2000, according to internal Enron memos. In fact, California Attorney-General Bill Lockyer claims electricity suppliers, including B.C. Hydro's Powerex, made huge profits by rigging prices.

Addressing BC Hydro's Ballooning Deficit

Far worse than the intrusive nature of the smart meters is the scam that created the colossal ballooning BC Hydro debt that tax payers are eventually going to be expected to cover. It all started when the Campbell government wanted to privatize BC Hydro just like Enron. Like we didn’t see the writing on the wall with that one.

Since there was such public opposition to privatizing BC Hydro, Campbell’s Sith Lords made a compromise. They split it in two and privatized Tersan gas while leaving BC Hydro as a public company. So we were told. The problem is they didn’t leave it a public company. They secretly privatized the companies that sell the power to BC Hydro to their friends which created the colossal ongoing deficit scam.

Think about it. What happens when you privatize a public company? Other than giving away public assets to your friends in the private sector, you change the company’s mandate. A public power company is publicly accountable. A private power company is not. A private power company is mandated to make a profit. A public power company is not. Other than paying dividends to the government and increasing the tax revenue which in turn reduces tax for the general public.

What’s wrong with making a profit? Normally, nothing. Only when you change the mandate of a public power company it then becomes mandated to rip you off and charge more for their rates, which is exactly what happened. The privatized power companies that started selling the power to BC Hydro started charging inflated rates so they could make more money. Did they take those profits and reinvest it into the tax revenue as dividends for the government? No they did not. The put it in their greedy little pockets and called it good business. BC Hydro then in turn sold it to California at a loss. Anyone in the private sector will tell you that is bad business.

So now we’re told about this huge deficit that is rapidly expanding and being deferred each year that we will one day have to address. They are using this scam to say, see a public power company can’t run as efficiently as a private power company, we need to bail out their debt and privatise the whole thing to our buddies in the scam. Wrong. Instead, we need to address the cause of the problem not the symptom. We need to do away with the privatized power companies that sell the power to BC Hydro at inflated rates and bring that back into a publicly owned and controlled BC Hydro. We need to reduce the middleman and buy direct from the source. That is good business.

Speaking of Enron, Enron Corp. teamed up with at least two other power sellers - including B.C. Hydro's Powerex subsidiary - to reap outsized profit by submitting false information to California's electric-grid manager in 2000, according to internal Enron memos. In fact, California Attorney-General Bill Lockyer claims electricity suppliers, including B.C. Hydro's Powerex, made huge profits by rigging prices.

Top Scams and Cons of the old era

I heard a commercial on the radio yesterday about CTV News running a special on top scams of 2011. From Banking fraud to locksmiths, who's trying to scam you and how to protect yourself. Although I missed the report I think it is very timely. Another aspect of the New York minute is the hustle -the scam, the con. The person who is trying to rip you off.

Identify theft and scams are something we should all be aware of. What about the big time scams that embezzle entire pensions? Since 2012 is the beginning of a new era, perhaps it's worth looking at a series of large scale scams from last year and beyond to examine the pattern these cons follow so we can indeed protect ourselves so we won't get fooled again.

Canadian Bank Bailout

Obviously in the United States bailing out the investment fraud on Wall Street was the top scam of the old era. Yet unbeknown to most, Canada had a similar scam. It took Canada from a $2.3 billion surplus to a $64 billion deficit with one swoop of the pen. That is significant.

Stephen Harper started off talking like a Conservative. He told the British Prime Minister that we don't think we should bail out the banks with tax dollars. Then he completely flips and gave them $75 billion.

The most bizarre thing of all is that most Canadians don’t know we bailed out our banks. Partly because the Harper government lied about doing so. If you remember when the Occupy movement was just starting to take root, the Harper government told the media that Canada was unlike the United States and didn’t have to spend tax dollars on a bank bailout. I myself thought that was true. It turns out that wasn’t true and that statement was a bold faced lie.

Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney was directly involved in one of the top scams of the old era. The Liberal government has accused him of getting a kickback in the Airbus scandal. He responded by suing the government for slander. He lied about his relationship with Karl in his court affidavit and the Liberals agreed to an out of court settlement of $2.1 million.

First, that settlement should not have come out of the tax payers pocket. If the Liberal party defamed someone then the liberal party is liable for the libel so to speak. A former civil servant suing the taxpayer is hypocritical at best.
Second, Mulroney lied. He committed perjury in his affidavits. The Liberal government hadn’t committed slander, they told the truth. He did receive a kickback for the Airbus scandal and he lied about his relationship with Karl. That means Brian Mulroney embezzled $2.1 million from the Canadian taxpayer and committed perjury. Mulroney should be charged criminally for the perjury and sued civilly to recoup the stolen $2.1 million. Scams are nothing new to the former Prime Minister. According to retired US Navy intelligence officer Al Martin, Brian Mulroney was involved with Bre X.

BC Rail

The BC Rail scandal make the top scams of the old era list. Not because selling public assets to their political friends and fire sale prices is anything new or shocking. It’s because of the direct ties to Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark as well as the party’s connection to money laundering and cocaine trafficking.

After the plea bargain was struck in the Bassi Virk case, Gordon Campbell publicly chastised them for wasting so much of the tax payers money by stalling off the trial past elections only to conclude by pleading guilty. That was obscene hypocrisy. They stalled off the trail to benefit him. The coped a plea bargain to benefit him. Then he goes and publicly blame them? That was offensive.

Then we find out that Sith Lord Christy Clark was also directly involved in the scandal not just her brother. Yet the biggest con of all was the cocaine trafficking charges that were dropped as part of the plea bargain. Bassi’s cousin was convicted of cocaine trafficking. Yet all charges against him and the BC Liberals were mysteriously dropped. Not long after that the RCMP renewed their contract in BC with those same Liberals after much talk of reverting to a Regional Police force.

HST

The HST was a top scam on 2011. The government spent millions of tax dollars on advertising trying to convince the public that the HST would lower taxes. Spending tax dollars on telling the public how to vote on a referendum was a scam in itself. Claiming the HST would lower taxes was a lie. They would not have spent that much money on advertising if it was going to lower taxes. They spent that much money on advertising because it was going to increase revenue. Taxing something that was previously tax exempt is not lowering taxes.

Smart Meters

Smart Meters is a top scam of 2011 and continues in 2012. Having a hydro meter report it’s usage without having to manually have someone go physically check the meter is one thing. Maintaining covert surveillance on the public is another. The public campaign to stop the Smart Meters continues in the New Year. Yet adressing the cause of the BC Hydro debt scam is even more important.

Operation Mass Appeal

The invasion of Iraq was a top scam of then old era. Weapons of mass destruction. The Americans sold Iraq chemical weapons to use on Iran during their war with them. Hanging Hussein, who they put in power, for using the chemical weapons he bought from them on the Kurds was hypocritical at best.

MI 6 was caught red handed giving false information to the media about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction. They were trying to gain public support for an invasion. Operation Mass Appeal was yet another in a long list of scams involving military intelligence.

911 Third Tower

The 911 Truth movement was well represented at the George Bush demonstration in Surrey. Not everyone agrees with the official version of events. Claiming that the third tower, the one that was not hit by any planes, collapsed into it’s own blueprint at free fall speed was due to heat and fire is clearly a top scam of the old era. That is not scientific. Engineers will confirm that.

The BBC reporting the fall of the third Tower before it fell was yet another scam. Later the BBC claimed that if they had reported the fall of the tower before it fell, that did not mean they were involved in the conspiracy. It only meant they made an error. Not likely. That’s like reporting a bank robbery before it happens when it did in fact happen. A mistake would be reporting that something happened when it didn’t. That would be a mistake. Reporting something that did happen before it happened wasn’t a mistake on their part. It just meant the people responsible sent out the press release a few minutes early.

911 Asbestos

Larry Silverstein buying the Twin Towers right after the Port Authority lost the court case to force the insurance agencies to pay for the asbestos removal was another top scam of the old era. The Port Authority were denied a permit to demolish the Twin Towers because it was half full of asbestos and that would create a health hazard for the general public. Shortly thereafter two planes crashed into the Twin towers bringing them down just like a controlled demolition at free fall speed.
Larry Silverstein went to court with the Port Authority at his side and was awarded twice the value of his investment because two planes were involved in the attack not just one. That’s like insuring a car worth $20,000 that gets in a three car collision and being paid out $40,000 twice the value of the car just because it was involved in a three car collision instead of a two car collision. Larry Silverstein doubling his investment from 911 was another tragic scam of the old era.

Gas Pipeline

Afghanistan was initially blamed for 911 even though Bin Laden was found in Pakistan. Three months before 911 the Texas oil barons were wining and dining the Taliban trying to woo them and win over the contract for the Central Asia gas pipeline through Afghanistan. Unicol had the contract initially but in the end the Taliban decided to give the contract to Bridas a firm from Argentina. Three months later, 911 occurred, Afghanistan was invaded and that decision was reversed. The contract was taken from Bridas and given back to the Americans. Bridas losing the contract for the oil pipeline in Afghanistan is another top scam of the old era.

Opium Poppies

Julie Couillard was MP Maxime Bernier's girlfriend. He was caught leaving sensitive military documents about Afghanistan in her possession. Later she claimed Maxime told her that the war in Afghanistan was about control of the opium trade. It had nothing to do with democracy or liberation.

Afghanistan used to be the world’s largest producers of opium which is used to make heroin. After the Taliban took control of the government they had that production practically eliminated completely. After the allied invasion of Afghanistan, the American troops were protecting the opium farms and Afghanistan returned to being the world’s largest suppliers of opium.

The media claimed that if the American soldiers didn’t help the opium harvest the farmers would be angry about then lost revenue and blame them. Yet the Taliban had eliminated the crop so it wasn’t a matter of stopping something they were already doing. It was a matter of letting them do something the Taliban had stopped. Invading Afghanistan and returning it to the world’s largest suppliers of opium is yet another top scam of the old era.

The Greek Financial Crisis

Last but not least, the top scam of the old era goes to the Greek Financial crisis which was a manufactured emergency resulting from investment fraud that Goldman Sachs helped cover up to rip off the EU from that massive bailout. Buyer Beware, bank bailouts from investment fraud need to be addressed.

Citizens spark smart-meter protest

Saltspring Islanders are organizing to stop B.C. Hydro smart meters from being installed on their homes. One thing to look for in the New Year is the next campaign to oppose the not so Smart Meters that let Big Brother monitor everything you do and sell that information to whoever they want. Health concerns do exist but the huge concern is the over reaching breach of privacy and surveillance.

We also need to remember the insane cost of changing all the existing meters over instead of just using them in new construction units. We also need to remember the huge debt BC Hydro keeps deferring and how it got there. It got there because Christy Clark's Liberals privatized the companies that BC Hydro buys it's power from at inflated rates. The private companies are mandated to make a profit and are ripping us off. Thus creating yet another manufactured emergency with BC Hydro's artificially created ballooning debt. Power should be public.

The Smart Meter Scam

We've talked about how BC Hydro is becoming the new Enron and we've talked about how investment fraud requiring bailouts with tax dollars is a scam, now let's look at the Smart Meter Scam. The new Smart Meter commercials remind me of the HST and the Farmed Salmon adds. They wouldn't spend that much money on the adds if it wasn't going to increase the rates. Even Bill Vander Zalm speaks out against them.

Cost

The first flaming concern is cost. BC Hydro is billions in debt because Christy Clark's Liberals privatized the power companies that sell power to BC Hydro at inflated rates. Once you privatize a public service, that company is now mandated to make a profit. It comes as no surprise that these independent power companies are over charging BC Hydro for the power we use.

Throwing a billion dollars away by physically removing existing hydro meters that function with new more expensive meters that have a long list of public concerns is not fiscally responsible.

Say for example someone had the idea of making plastic telephone poles. Great, we're gonna save the forests and make plastic telephone poles. Lets throw out all the existing telephone poles that are currently functioning and replace them with the new environmentally friendly plastic telephone poles. That would be dumb. It would be wise to start using the new poles with new construction. Removing all the existing telephone poles and replacing them would be totally fiscally irresponsible.

Same thing with the Smart Meters. There's nothing wrong with technical advancement and making digital meters. It's just that it would make a heck of a lot more sense that they started trying them out with new housing being constructed. That wouldn't be such a colossal waste of tax dollars.

Daytime Usage

Let's say a word about day time usage. One of the reasons for using Smart Meters is to charge consumers more for power they use at peak times during the day and charge them less for power they use at night. What an absolute scam that is.

The whole point is to rationalize charging us more money for power so the private power suppliers can fulfill their new mandate and make more money. It's not like they're going to freeze the price of power at peak hours and simple give us a reduced rate for off peak consumption. They're going to charge the same for power used at night and charge more for power used during the day. That's the whole point of spending a billion dollars on new meters. To charge consumers more money.

It's like spending millions of tax dollars on advertising trying to convince us the HST will be a tax reduction. If the HST wasn't going to increase their tax revenue by taxing things that were previously exempt, they wouldn't be spending millions on advertising.

Health Risks

OK let's say a word about health risks. There have been a lot of concerns raised about the health risks of Smart Meters. These need to be considered before they are forced upon a citizen of a democratic nation against their will. It's like that Erin Brockovich movie and the cancer causing effects of power lines. No one wanted to know about those statistics.

Now we're not going to see too many people complain about their cell phone causing them cancer. We have heard of some small communities opposing cell phone towers in their community because they didn't want all that radiation. Although not too many people are going to complain about having wireless cell phones and wireless Internet at Starbucks, but the truth is we are rapidly polluting our airwaves with tons of wireless radiation and that can't be good for you. If someone has a heath concern about a Smart meter forcing them to have one is undemocratic.

Over Billing

Of course we have the other golden goose egg. Australia has had a huge problem with Smart Meters over billing. Gee like that's not a Corporate brainstorm. It's not like the cell phone companies haven't tried that one. Over billing is another valid concern.

Privacy

Privacy is another concern. These Smart Meters are not just digital meter. It goes far beyond that and becomes a form of surveillance. The power company does not have the right to install a surveillance device on your home. That is as Big Brother as it gets. Since it's wireless, criminals could intercept the information and use it to track when you are home and when you are away to break into your home.

There are a huge list of concerns with the Smart Meters but the bottom line is that they are a scam. Putting them into new construction is one thing but replacing every existing hydro meter in the province is fiscally irresponsible. We need to address the real problem: the independent power companies that are over charging BC Hydro for the power we use. That is the source of the problem. Some smoke and mirrors distraction will not change that.