For years on end, the talking heads over on Fox "news" and other right-wing media outlets have been pushing for "free-market" solutions to just about everything and anything, and for deregulation of energy markets as we saw them do in Texas about 20 years ago, which, as many have noted, directly led to the debacle we just witnessed there this week with millions left out in the cold with no power, water or food.

An example of the typical coverage you'd see on Fox is this article from 2017, where California's approach to regulations and emissions is being attacked, and Texas and their "free-market approach" which they credit for lowering energy prices in the state is being praised, with no mention of the risks for customers when you allow the market for a critical resource to be turned into the wild, wild West, as we saw this week. The author attacks set prices and profits for utility companies with no mention of the stability for both the customer and the energy provider that comes with those sort of regulations in place.

We saw the downside to that approach this week with stories about electric utility customers getting bills for thousands of dollars, including one Dallas-Fort Worth family that received a bill for $17,000. Fox & Friends host Will Cain spoke to that customer this Sunday and asked him about his experience and whether there's anything that can be done about the enormous bill, but the one thing that never came out of his mouth was the word "deregulation."

Fox has tried pinning the problems in Texas on the Green New Deal, President Biden, and anyone and everyone other than the Texas politicians and others that pushed to deregulate their utility industry and allowed them to be penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to being prepared for the type of weather events we saw there this week. I await them figuring out a way to blame the price gouging on the Biden administration as well. You know it's coming.