If the government had any guts they’d nationalise them all tomorrow and write off debts but they’re too scared of the banks.
Comment on Thames Water tried to make MP pay its legal fees of up to £1,400 an hour
FishFace@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Everything I read about the water companies fills me with despair. The damage is done and there’s no practical way to achieve a fair outcome now.
Denjin@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
FishFace@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Well, and with good reason, right? If the government goes writing off debts, it makes lending less attractive, and lending fuels the economy by increasing the money supply.
Denjin@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Personally I’d argue that the overall cost to society as a whole in letting the current corrupt system of privatised water companies extract money from the country and funnel it into the pockets of hedge funds and fail to fulfill their basic responsibilities continue is greater than the temporary squeezing of lending on certain companies.
FishFace@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
I think the extractive setup can be resolved without clearing the existing debt, so there’s a half way house where we don’t do anything to spook the banks.
The tradeoff there is in the one hand deterring investment and in the other not having massive debt on the public books. And you could argue that the principle is that banks should be reluctant to lend to such exploitative profit extractors. But I don’t think the banks will learn that lesson, because they’re not set up to work that out (and it won’t always be obvious) so I think the “temporary squeeze” would last for a long time…
HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Wrong. Paying debts allows banks to lend money to companies they would never consider worth the risk. If they did not think the gov was to scared to help.
No truly private company making the choices Thames Water etc al have done. Would have been lent the money they were.
Debt was given by private banks where other companies artificially upping share price while failing to maintain assets. Would be told to fuck off. The banks depended on gov refusing to let the shareholders suffer. And profited from it.
As such those debts value should be the same as any other bankrupt corperation. The assets were never theirs but placed in trust with them as management contractors. That did not manage. And turned to the gov for funding for any expansion. So they had no assets to secure the debt. We should not be supporting stupid banks again.
HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Fair outcome.
Allow them to go bankrupt with absolutely no help from gov.
Use Millarory stand pipes like in 76 to distribute water to everyone while they vanish as a company.
Then build a new nationalised water system rapidly repairing all assets. Using military to manage and offering well paid work to any unemployed (many of who will be ex water employees) willing and able to take on the job.
Then have government site and stare manically at electrical and gas companies. Asking. " So how do you guys plan to get prices below the world average?"
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
The standpipes which are connected to the mains which is operated by the company which now doesn’t exist?
And somehow there is a section of people who think the army can just step in and take over a whole system for an extended period and somehow be competent at it. While also magically fulfilling all their standing obligations. If such were remotely possible, it’s time for swingeing cuts to an obviously bloated military.
tetris11@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
A lot of the day to day maintenance is less specialized than you think. Think about the parts of your own job that could easily be replicated by a chimp in pyjamas
HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Hence why the military. That sort of thing is very within the CRE capability set.
The military has 150k full-time personal. But numbers is not the reason to use military. Skills set is. The UK military is built from professionals with skills to help resolve and organise groups exactly in emergencies like this.
As for standing obligations. Most of that is training and preparing for war or emergencies just like this.
FishFace@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
You know, that might the best suggestion I’ve heard actually. Thanks for your perspective.