My report on England's water companies has got into the Guardian:
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Excellent work Richard. MSM wakes from it’s slumbers.
Any comments on Welsh, NI and Scottish Water?
Dwr Cymru says its not for profit.
Dwr Cymru is also fianncially knackerd by massive amounts of index liniked debt issued via the Luxembourg stock excchange
That is not pretty
You will find that Scottish Water is still in public ownership.
You say that the government should raise the cash for investment by either raising prices or by borrowing off Joe Public via ISAs. Surely under MMT the government can borrow from itself via the BoE issuing more money to pay for any infrastructure project. If I have misunderstood MMT please explain where I am going wrong.
Thrre is fianncial capital in the community that is going to be saved
What is wrong with using it
Believing that money creation is the answer to all probloems as as small minded as the Bank of England are now
As Feargal Sharkey says “A brilliant piece of work”. It illustrates how privatisation has “pumped” huge amounts of money to the wealthy “rentiers” all over the world over many years. It will become another example of socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor if the government steps in which it must to protect us from further exploitation. Another national scandal.
I would expect the Tories would rush to Nationalise the water companies, paying out large sums to take over the debts. Then when the mess is cleared up, however many years that takes, they can re-privatise it for a pittance to their friends; and so on.
Hopefully this will be the end of the Thatcherite privatisation wave! And maybe we can start looking at how the asset stripping of this sector can be reversed through the courts.
Congratulations Richard – I have to say that I love seeing your work on the big stage.
A very fine result.
I do not think it would be unfair to describe the infrastructure that treats sewage as crumbling (pace some large investments focused on London). & this has been the case since before privatisation, which made zero difference to investments. But it would be a category error to think that sewage/water is a “special case”. Let’s try this:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/29/pupils-in-england-sent-to-churches-and-village-halls-as-crumbling-schools-close
Total systemic failure is the only way to describe the state of state infrastructure. The Thatcher ideology of “markets” has been shown to be phantasmagoric – based on nothing (not even fairy tales – which at least have some moral purpose). The entire last 44 years is now being laid bare as at best idiocy, at worst a waste-land of lost opportunity for citizens, a nirvana for the rapacious. What is interesting is, whilst it is being laid bare, Liebore has not story to tell, none.
Well said Mike Parr!
The human invention of money has led to monopolistic demand in human societies. Private enterprise or rather the market needs to make a profit to stay in business and deal with the uncertainty life throws up. To this end the market needs to ensure it gets more money out than it puts in. This requirement means there is constant downward pressure to minimise what it puts in. So wherever wages can be reduced this will be sought. In an increasing complex society skilled workers will be sought but wherever possible the cost of skilling these workers should be some other agency’s cost. Then there is the cost of ensuring these workers stay healthy, again the cost of ensuring this are regarded as being borne elsewhere.
Essentially then there is a dichotomy in how the market operates it wants to make money whilst at the same time constantly wanting inputs for nothing. This free-riding outlook has been the hallmark of the Neoliberal Death Cult in operation in the UK for over forty years since Thatcher arrived on the scene. This week it appears to have reached its nadir with the exposure of the water and sewage industry scandal and the government’s reversal on healthcare staff training:-
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/29/government-aims-to-boost-nhs-with-thousands-more-doctors-and-nurses
Suddenly the recognition is starting to appear that human societies need more than the demands of the market having primacy the market actually relies in very large measure on a state monopolistic supply of support to the workers. In other words the market can’t make a profit without state input!
Precisely Mike, privatisation is being revealed, once again, as a scam based on socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. The fact that the ‘investors’ have actually made their money from dividends taken from debt loaded onto the company rather than money they put in to do any real work says it all.
Essentially they got ‘something for nothing’. Now they are being asked to actually put money in, they are refusing to do it. So it should be ‘nothing for something’ now. Hand over their shares to the government for £0.00.
Of course we all know what this ‘government’s’ response will be, don’t we? Hand over goverment money by the truckload to bail these shysters out. I bet there’ll be no mention then of the government having no money, only money taken from the taxpayer. And you’re probably right about labour’s response.
Well done Richard – well deserved!
Richard, what do you make of this statement from a spokesperson from Water UK:
“Nationalising private water companies without compensation would have a profound effect on the pensions of almost 6 million people across the country with household losing, on average, around a £1,000 each.” ?
Is this a serious problem? If so is there any way of mitigating it?
I will address this, soon, I hope
Well said Richard.
Please indulge me and advise how you would respond to the industry’s response “ A spokesperson for Water UK, which represents the nine companies, said: “In England private investment has brought more than £190bn into an industry that was previously starved of cash while improving water company efficiency by over 70%. Meanwhile water bills remain lower, in real terms, than they were a decade ago.
“Nationalising private water companies without compensation would have a profound effect on the pensions of almost 6 million people across the country with household losing, on average, around a £1,000 each.”?
I will be doing so soon, I hope
That requires the building of some data