Thatcherism has much to answer for - British jewels such as the NHS and BBC are on their knees, housing costs are beyond many young people profiting only big finance by huge mortgages and value increases to older homeowners locked up until sold to pay for elder care. Socially valuable things such as care (youth clubs, social services etc) and culture (music and arts) are left to inadequate charities. And then there’s Brexit…
The trouble is that selling national goods off appeared to work well in the short term. But as Harold MacMillan inferred about the family silver, where do you go next? Gold, house, land? It should be a rule: if there is no market, don't privatise.
I have never understood why public utilities and services (water, energy, strategic infrastructure etc.), in relation to the national economy, aren't viewed in the same way as are loss-leaders in relation to a retail business's overall sales revenue.
The idea that public utilities and services themselves should generate profits has always seemed to me to be a specious argument. Of course they should be managed properly and be accountable. But their value is surely reflected in the state of the economy they are intended to support.
There's also the incontrovertible fact that private companies and corporations fail, sooner or later. So, strategic services and infrastructure upon which an economy and security depend, should not be in the hands of corporations or other participants in the economy.
Listening to people talk about "the economy" today, anyone would think it was a thought experiment, a concept that had nothing to do with the benefit of the nation and its inhabitants as a whole.
As it stands right now, it would seem that the nation (the UK) and its inhabitants exist to support "the economy". In turn, "the economy" exists for the benefit of corporate shareholders and wealthy CEOs of the public utilities and strategic infrastructure, etc. And this is completely, as my dad used to say, arse about face.
Thatcherism has much to answer for - British jewels such as the NHS and BBC are on their knees, housing costs are beyond many young people profiting only big finance by huge mortgages and value increases to older homeowners locked up until sold to pay for elder care. Socially valuable things such as care (youth clubs, social services etc) and culture (music and arts) are left to inadequate charities. And then there’s Brexit…
It's always worthwhile comparing what the UK and Norway each did with their respective North Sea oil and gas revenues.
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/214768/economics/norway-uk-oil/
The trouble is that selling national goods off appeared to work well in the short term. But as Harold MacMillan inferred about the family silver, where do you go next? Gold, house, land? It should be a rule: if there is no market, don't privatise.
On the money today Mr Bloom
I have never understood why public utilities and services (water, energy, strategic infrastructure etc.), in relation to the national economy, aren't viewed in the same way as are loss-leaders in relation to a retail business's overall sales revenue.
The idea that public utilities and services themselves should generate profits has always seemed to me to be a specious argument. Of course they should be managed properly and be accountable. But their value is surely reflected in the state of the economy they are intended to support.
There's also the incontrovertible fact that private companies and corporations fail, sooner or later. So, strategic services and infrastructure upon which an economy and security depend, should not be in the hands of corporations or other participants in the economy.
Listening to people talk about "the economy" today, anyone would think it was a thought experiment, a concept that had nothing to do with the benefit of the nation and its inhabitants as a whole.
As it stands right now, it would seem that the nation (the UK) and its inhabitants exist to support "the economy". In turn, "the economy" exists for the benefit of corporate shareholders and wealthy CEOs of the public utilities and strategic infrastructure, etc. And this is completely, as my dad used to say, arse about face.
Increasingly it feels like the UK is a third world country but operating at first world prices and costs