5 ms·

This looks like stories of some public services, like bus services. The government sold 'unprofitable' public services to companies. companies raised the price,

by suraci 2y ago

This looks like stories of some public services, like bus services. The government sold 'unprofitable' public services to companies. companies raised the price, but somehow it's still 'unprofitable', so the government has to provide subsidies to companies, or buy it back at a higher price than they sold it for

tutorialmanager 2y ago
A great example is the city of Chicago selling its parking meters for 1.15 billion dollars. Now considered one of the biggest financial mistakes the city ever made
- pjc50 2y ago
  Chicago was also involved in the interest rate swap "mis-selling"; see https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2024/march/interest-swap-end.html https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press... Having sold a fairly sophisticated and expensive financial product with nasty downside risks to lots of states and cities, Wall Street then went on to rig the underlying number: https://www.reuters.com/legal/ten-big-banks-settle-us-interest-rate-swaps-rigging-litigation-2024-06-27/ https://www.reuters.com/legal/ten-big-banks-settle-us-intere... (although market conditions since the financial crisis would have caused the buyers to lose money anyway)
pjc50 2y ago
See UK trains. The track is unprofitable (legacy maintenance) and had to be brought back into public ownership for safety reasons. The staff are shuffled between various paper-thin "franchise" employers. The one profitable bit is train leasing; the privatization created ROSCOs, which are train landlords, who get the real profits from public subsidy. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/18/profits-of-uks-private-train-leasing-firms-treble-in-a-year https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/18/profits-of-...
johnnyanmac 2y ago
"government" and "unprofitable public services" Should never be in the same sentence. Especially for the 4th largest country by landmass. The only legitmate ways you justify cutting public transit is 1. a superior form of transit has been established for a while 2. Literally no one is using the transit for whatever reason (which is nearly impossible) 3. mass extinction occurs and there's no one left to transit (though at that point transit is the least of our issues) It's not supposed to be a direct profit. You Transport people around to businesses to sell to, work to operate the city with, and overall stimulate the economy.

by suraci 2y ago

tutorialmanager 2y ago

A great example is the city of Chicago selling its parking meters for 1.15 billion dollars. Now considered one of the biggest financial mistakes the city ever made

pjc50 2y ago
Chicago was also involved in the interest rate swap "mis-selling"; see https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2024/march/interest-swap-end.html https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press... Having sold a fairly sophisticated and expensive financial product with nasty downside risks to lots of states and cities, Wall Street then went on to rig the underlying number: https://www.reuters.com/legal/ten-big-banks-settle-us-interest-rate-swaps-rigging-litigation-2024-06-27/ https://www.reuters.com/legal/ten-big-banks-settle-us-intere... (although market conditions since the financial crisis would have caused the buyers to lose money anyway)

pjc50 2y ago

See UK trains. The track is unprofitable (legacy maintenance) and had to be brought back into public ownership for safety reasons. The staff are shuffled between various paper-thin "franchise" employers. The one profitable bit is train leasing; the privatization created ROSCOs, which are train landlords, who get the real profits from public subsidy. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/18/profits-of-uks-private-train-leasing-firms-treble-in-a-year https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/18/profits-of-...

johnnyanmac 2y ago

"government" and "unprofitable public services" Should never be in the same sentence. Especially for the 4th largest country by landmass. The only legitmate ways you justify cutting public transit is 1. a superior form of transit has been established for a while 2. Literally no one is using the transit for whatever reason (which is nearly impossible) 3. mass extinction occurs and there's no one left to transit (though at that point transit is the least of our issues) It's not supposed to be a direct profit. You Transport people around to businesses to sell to, work to operate the city with, and overall stimulate the economy.