Bush Administration Nationalizes Electric Industry "For the Hell of It"

(Reuters) Washington D.C. - In the wake of the takeover of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Bush administration has stripped the America's biggest electric companies of operational control over all power generating operations in the U.S.

"Well, you see, I mean once we picked up the banks we figured, heck, why not go whole hog," said the President in an early morning news conference. "I mean, I owned an oil company once and so did [Vice President] Dick [Cheney]. And, you know, oil companies are kind of like electric companies."

Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman was more circumspect in his assessment.

"In a time like this, with great economic and energy uncertainty, it seems ludicrous for investors to take such risks. It's only rational that the U.S. Government come in to secure the market and protect Wall Street from the stresses of supply and demand."

Under the plan, all stock in private electric generating corporations will be exchanged for Treasury Bills. The U.S. Federal Government will assume controlling interest, in much the same way that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were taken over.

Nationalization of industry has been rare in the history of the United States, although not without precedent. Amtrack and Conrail were created as government-owned corporations in the 1970s. In 1939, the Government nationalized the facilities of the former Tennessee Electric Power Company and reformed them as the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In this case, the U.S. is taking successful nationalizations in France, Venezuela, Zimbabwe as the models for this move.

The President hopes that following this takeover, two more railroads would be nationalized as well as the country's water system. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has also expressed interest in acquiring Illinois Avenue and Park Place, with the hope of building hotels.