Quote Originally Posted by Redshank View Post
I think you meant nationalisation

The public utilities and public transport i.e. life's essentials, were effectively owned by general public (me and you) prior to Thatchers programme of privatisation back in the 80's. They were essentially funded through taxation but were non-profit making meaning that the general public enjoyed well funded and cheap water, energy, public transport etc. (you could now include internet access as a life essential). Privatisation has resulted in spiralling bills for the general public as the private companies sought to maximise profits. There was a lot of angst about this in the 90's as people increasingly struggled to pay utility bills. Nowadays, people are immune to crippling utility bills and seem to accept it as a way of life. There was, and still could be, another way; public utilities and essential services run by the government for the benefit of the general population not a handful of shareholders.

Lack of sufficient investment in the essential, but now privatised, public services means that they frequently need government money (i.e. mine and yours) to continue to provide the service...and turn a profit for the shareholders of course. Occasionally they catastrophically fail to provide the services they've been entrusted with....remember Carillion a couple of years ago?


So the "benefit" of nationalisation of the essential public utilities is that you get well funded, efficient & cheap water, energy, transport and broadband.
That was in 80s though wasn’t it in 80s you could get a lot more for a £1 than you can get now I remember getting a can of pop two bags of crisp 2 bars of chocolate and still money for pic and mix. now days you could buy a bar of chocolate and that’s it.

I honestly don’t know if it would be cheaper like you say or would prices stay the same and the profits just go to the corrupt mps who are in power. I don’t know. But my trust in politicians is zero I wouldn’t trust any of them to run a tap never mind a country.