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So it was flawed in that it didn't require California to have a first claim on the power plants. It deregulated part of the market, but not all of the market.

Well, there's no question that the law passed in 1996 was flawed. It deregulated the wholesale market, meaning the price that the utilities had to pay energy companies for power, but not the retail market.

Today we see how utterly mistaken was the Milton Friedman notion that a market system can regulate itself... Everyone understands now, on the contrary, that there can be no solution without government.

Before solar, before Sunrun, if consumers wanted electricity, there was a monopoly of someone who told you how much it costs.

The mercantile business did not suit me.

Nationalized industries are notorious for their inability to operate at a profit.

America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation.

The diversification of the people's demand could not be followed by the state apparatus.

The federal government should not be in the business of initiating and administering short-term incentive programs designed to shape consumer purchase behavior.

The system of creating opportunities for those who were by law excluded, you've got to do that. But you mustn't create a perception that the process is devoid of competitiveness... devoid of building a world class, sustainable black business community.