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> Unfortunately, none of these apply to the privatization of inherently public commodities that run on top of an underlying network infrastructure. We tried th
by andyjohnson0 3y ago
> Unfortunately, none of these apply to the privatization of inherently public commodities that run on top of an underlying network infrastructure.
We tried this with the railways in the UK. In the mid 90s the tracks and signalling and most of the stations were transferred to a publicly owned and regulated company (Railtrack), while private businesses competed for franchises to offer train services. But within a few years the government was unable to resist the temptation to privatise Railtrack too. After that we had the inevitable phase of regulatory capture, followed by financialisation of the train operators, leading to position we had at the start of the pandemic where the operators were basically competing to offer minimal services for maximal revenue by subsidy farming.
In the absence of regulatory institutions that are able to withstand commercial pressures^W greed, then this approach will always fail.
In the UK, regulation of privately-delivered public services has failed due to decades of government by parties that view regulation (and public ownership) as simply undesirable.
- iso1631 3y agoOther way round. Railtrack was a private company on the FTSE. It killed people. Network Rail then took the rail infrastructure back in house.
- aembleton 3y agoAs you're being downvoted, here's more info on the history of Network Rail [1]. From memory, it was formed after the Potters Bar crash and realisation that Railtrack was trying to squeeze to much money out of the network. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Rail
- arethuza 3y agoThis reminds me of the "Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphising Larry Ellison." rant - why are people surprised the private companies find any way to squeeze every penny of profit out of the services they run, it's what they do! And in the absence of competition that will be through underinvestment and shitty services (literally).
- oblio 3y ago> why are people surprised the private companies find any way to squeeze every penny of profit out of the services they run, it's what they do! Because companies bullshit their "missions" and "goals" everywhere and repeat after me, PROPAGANDA WORKS. Even if you think it doesn't, it plants a seed somewhere in the back of your head that's very hard to dislodge and clouds your "fully rational decisions". After hearing from a myriad channels that companies want what's best for the customer, from a myriad authority or friendly famous figures, the average person is convinced they must be right. If you ask them directly they'll agree with you, and then their actions will show the exact opposite.
- andyjohnson0 3y agoRailtrack was created as a publicly owned company in 1994 and operated as such until it was privatised in 1996. It was forced into administration in 2001 (after Hatfield) and in 2002 Network Rail was created to buy its assets.
- iso1631 3y agoThat's how everything was privatised