McDonnell's la la land economics- Don't need no number$
Discussion
PurpleMoonlight said:
Why is it madness?
Looking at it simply.
Say the Government borrows £500bn over say 15 years to buy all the utility companies, They then use the profits of them over the next 15 years to repay the borrowing and interest.
After 15 years we are quits in.
What profits?Looking at it simply.
Say the Government borrows £500bn over say 15 years to buy all the utility companies, They then use the profits of them over the next 15 years to repay the borrowing and interest.
After 15 years we are quits in.
The reason given to nationalise is to "stop rip off prices. "
That translates to no profit.
Murph7355 said:
What is government's track record of running infrastructure?
How much profit is actually being made by the current incumbents?
If the end consumer pays just the same as before (presumably the 15yr payback is based on profit figures that are themselves based on the levies to the consumer), what is the point?
We'll simply end up with 2.5tn of debt that cannot be paid back. I'd suggest it would be far better to look to repair the holed/bottomless bucket before we go adding additional complications to it.
The largest 6 energy supply firms(Centrica, EON, SSE, EDF, npower, Scottish Power) apparently make about £2.5bn/year in profit, I think the water companies less than this.How much profit is actually being made by the current incumbents?
If the end consumer pays just the same as before (presumably the 15yr payback is based on profit figures that are themselves based on the levies to the consumer), what is the point?
We'll simply end up with 2.5tn of debt that cannot be paid back. I'd suggest it would be far better to look to repair the holed/bottomless bucket before we go adding additional complications to it.
It might take a while to pay it back even including retaining dividends, and assuming margins stay the same and there is no pressure to reduce consumer bills, as £500bn over 15 years is £33bn/year at 0% interest
gooner1 said:
jsf said:
What profits?
The reason given to nationalise is to "stop rip off prices. "
That translates to no profit.
I don't quite see how stopping companies charging rip off prices,The reason given to nationalise is to "stop rip off prices. "
That translates to no profit.
equates to making no profit at all.
Have'nt the Tories , more or less, adopted Labour's proposal to cap energy prices, well
at least it was in their manifesto, for a while.
gooner1 said:
jsf said:
You can end rip off pricing by giving the regulator proper powers. There is no need to nationalise the industry and introduce the malaise that always produces whilst spunking hundreds of billions in the process. A bit of paperwork would achieve the same thing.
True, but we now agree that there are " rip off prices, yes?Mandalore said:
jsf said:
PurpleMoonlight said:
Why is it madness?
Looking at it simply.
Say the Government borrows £500bn over say 15 years to buy all the utility companies, They then use the profits of them over the next 15 years to repay the borrowing and interest.
After 15 years we are quits in.
What profits?Looking at it simply.
Say the Government borrows £500bn over say 15 years to buy all the utility companies, They then use the profits of them over the next 15 years to repay the borrowing and interest.
After 15 years we are quits in.
The reason given to nationalise is to "stop rip off prices. "
That translates to no profit.
Because, once the oily unions are allowed to poke their troughs in and create a closed shop, the productivity of the companies will start to drop as the need to perform at the previous level diminishes - as people will then get promoted due to time on the job, or who's brother they are married to.
Then once final salary pensions are reintroduced to align them with the rest of the civil service, the prices will either need to go up, or taxes increased to pay for subsidies through the back door.
It might be funny in a carry on film, but not when you want consistency in your services.
Edited by Mandalore on Monday 20th November 13:54
sidicks said:
gooner1 said:
True, but we now agree that there are " rip off prices, yes?
Only for those that can’t be bothered to shop around?!There is a role to play to end this exploitation, a regulator could achieve that if given the powers.
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