The conceit of politics is that we can have it all. Thomas Firey, a policy fellow with the Maryland Public Policy Institute, reminds us that it's not true. His point deals with the regulation of electricity:

People want the low prices of deregulated power when supply is ample and the low prices of regulated power when supply is tight. But we can't have both.

Over a long period, the net price difference between regulated and deregulated systems is not significant.

So what counts? Politicians should avoid swerving from one regulatory regime to another, and consumers need to make plans according to their own best judgments:

Some consumers will fare better under a deregulated market, others under a regulated one. But we can't switch back and forth between the two, because neither investors nor consumers would know how to plan for the future.

Read the piece for the "old boss/new boss" angle of the story as well.