After many years of stable electrical grids, suddenly in less than 2 months there have been 4 major power outages in western countries -- 50 M lost power on the East coast (still unexplained), M's lost power in London a week later, last week 4 M Scandinavians lost power, and yesterday 50 M+ in Italy lost power? Are really expected to believe that a tree in Switzerland really can take down the entire power grid in Italy?

Or a couple of guys in Ohio didn't notice some plants going out?

Even if we believe authorities that these are not the work of terrorists, should we believe that the power grid is safe from terrorists?

Socialists blame it on deregulation, saying that power distribution is a natural monopoly and thus should be state controlled. We have sure seen the growing willingness of radical groups to bomb businesses, burn buildings, and protest at world trade conferences. So maybe a socialist believer cut the tree down in Switzerland?

Is it the result of not-in-my-back-yard thinking -- Italy stopped building new nuclear power plants years ago and thus gets 17% of its power from France (we know how much you can trust them right? They let 10K+ people die from heat because all the doctors were on vacation this summer).

What do I believe -- that it is a slow news day and that coincidences happen (well plus we have set up a structure that does not incent power grid investments).