Wham! So Much for Energy Liberalization

Ah, the 1980s. It was a time when our phones had to be plugged into the walls. It was an era of bad music, big hair and a shrinking role for government in energy markets. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan introduced the free market to the energy market and they ran off in a (mostly) happy embrace.

Whether you think this development was brilliant or dastardly doesn

Consider what happened in just the past week.

In the U.K., the Wicks Report was issued. Commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the report examines energy challenges facing the Great Britain.

It amounts to an indictment of laissez-faire energy policies of recent years.