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Depends where you're from, living in the UK, growing up in Republic of Ireland I can say that over here there is not the rampant free market ideology that exist

Depends where you're from, living in the UK, growing up in Republic of Ireland I can say that over here there is not the rampant free market ideology that exists in the States. I can also say that when things become less regulated or get taken over by the private sector they are far FAR better than when under government thumb. Case in point being privatization of Telecom Éireann and the liberalisation of fixed line phones and internet. Prior to this you'd wait 4-6 months to get a new line(now it's days/weeks). Ryanair is another one, because of them air travel in Europe (in particular Ireland) became affordable. I personally have experienced the difference when things moved from the public to the private sector and the improvements as a result. The latest that comes to mind is Royal Mail, since it's been privatised I get post and packages on a Sunday!

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
That's odd, because the UK experience is that while there's some superficial liberalisation, services stop improving after a while, contempt for customers becomes endemic, a new managerial/rentier class appears to squat on the new economic opportunities, and prices invariably skyrocket. Privatised utilities? Yep. Energy price inflation has made a huge contribution to keeping the economy stagnant since 2008. Supposedly this is because wholesale prices have increased. But the industry has - for example - closed 'uneconomic' winter gas storage, which now guarantees that the UK has less than a third of the winter reserves of more sensible countries, which makes it more vulnerable to increases in cold weather spot pricing. Privatised rail? Totally - with the added insult that state subsidies are higher than they were during the days when rail was nationalised, and adjusted ticket prices were less than 10% of what they are now. Privatised dentistry? Yep. There are ragged remnants of NHS dental care in many places, but it's often impossible for anyone who isn't earning good middle class money to get any dental care at all. Privatised universities? With a new business-driven ethic, quality and independence of research is disappearing, fees are waiting to explode, students are treated entirely as a cash crop. Privatised property ownership? Destroying the UK's stock of council-owned rentable property has put average house prices far beyond the reach of anyone on average earnings. Privatised communications? The US and UK and telecom sectors are legendary for miserably slow broadband roll-out outside of headlining urban areas. The mobile phone service barely works, even in cities. But customers are locked into 18 month contracts, even in areas with little or no signal quality. Broadband has stalled in 'non-economic areas'. Because no one wants to use broadband outside cities. Airlines? Considering O'Leary's reputation, I'm not sure mentioning Ryanair is really helping your case. Not only is privatisation irrationally wasteful, it also generates inevitable economic opportunity costs in the form of low wages, zero-hours contracts, and debt instability. So it's nice that you get mail on Sundays. Most of the UK still doesn't and never will. And when postal prices start creeping up and services are cut the odds of further service improvement are somewhere between none and zero.
Layke 12y ago
No offense, but personal anecdotes are not evidence. If you are sincere, and you could be for all I know, it should be easy and desirable for you to produce factual information or documented sources that supplement your story. Otherwise, we can't take this as credible evidence.
- dublinclontarf 12y ago
  You must be fun at parties.
- fsloth 12y ago
  "We can't..." UK has had a fairly strong market liberalization starting from Margaret Thatchers reign 30-something years ago. e.g. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail What do you think happens when a state monopoly is suddenly privativized without serious competition in the market?

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

That's odd, because the UK experience is that while there's some superficial liberalisation, services stop improving after a while, contempt for customers becomes endemic, a new managerial/rentier class appears to squat on the new economic opportunities, and prices invariably skyrocket. Privatised utilities? Yep. Energy price inflation has made a huge contribution to keeping the economy stagnant since 2008. Supposedly this is because wholesale prices have increased. But the industry has - for example - closed 'uneconomic' winter gas storage, which now guarantees that the UK has less than a third of the winter reserves of more sensible countries, which makes it more vulnerable to increases in cold weather spot pricing. Privatised rail? Totally - with the added insult that state subsidies are higher than they were during the days when rail was nationalised, and adjusted ticket prices were less than 10% of what they are now. Privatised dentistry? Yep. There are ragged remnants of NHS dental care in many places, but it's often impossible for anyone who isn't earning good middle class money to get any dental care at all. Privatised universities? With a new business-driven ethic, quality and independence of research is disappearing, fees are waiting to explode, students are treated entirely as a cash crop. Privatised property ownership? Destroying the UK's stock of council-owned rentable property has put average house prices far beyond the reach of anyone on average earnings. Privatised communications? The US and UK and telecom sectors are legendary for miserably slow broadband roll-out outside of headlining urban areas. The mobile phone service barely works, even in cities. But customers are locked into 18 month contracts, even in areas with little or no signal quality. Broadband has stalled in 'non-economic areas'. Because no one wants to use broadband outside cities. Airlines? Considering O'Leary's reputation, I'm not sure mentioning Ryanair is really helping your case. Not only is privatisation irrationally wasteful, it also generates inevitable economic opportunity costs in the form of low wages, zero-hours contracts, and debt instability. So it's nice that you get mail on Sundays. Most of the UK still doesn't and never will. And when postal prices start creeping up and services are cut the odds of further service improvement are somewhere between none and zero.

Layke 12y ago

No offense, but personal anecdotes are not evidence. If you are sincere, and you could be for all I know, it should be easy and desirable for you to produce factual information or documented sources that supplement your story. Otherwise, we can't take this as credible evidence.

dublinclontarf 12y ago
You must be fun at parties.
fsloth 12y ago
"We can't..." UK has had a fairly strong market liberalization starting from Margaret Thatchers reign 30-something years ago. e.g. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail What do you think happens when a state monopoly is suddenly privativized without serious competition in the market?