Re: Sweeney's Tears Are Sweet

On 18/03/2024 15:24, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

Modern definition of capitalism... privately rake in the winnings, send the losses to the public...
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Externalize the expenses to the public.  Like the expense of not making all the water in a hundred miles toxic.

That's pretty much what's happened in the UK. The first problem of privatising the water companies is that you have no choice in which company you use, well unless you move to a completely different area. That seems to be somewhat of a problem with the idea of supply and demand.
What it's lead to is chronic underinvestment in the infrastructure giving rise to water shortages, increased bills and even worse an incredible rise is the discharge of untreated wastewater* into our rivers and seas. All the time they've been pumping billions into shareholders pockets and we have a government that doesn't really care** beyond a little slap on the wrist
The latest plan they've come up with is major investment which they said they can't afford so either the government stumps up the cash or bills have to raise. You gotta love capitalism in action.
One of the amusing, if it wasn't so sad, things I heard was a guy who had a septic tank. What he pointed out was if he dumped that in a river he'd have a hefty fine to pay. Instead he had to pay the water company to take it away and then they'll dump it in the river.
*The water companies like to call it that as it's better than saying discharging shit into our waterways and sea.
**It's been pretty much a recurring theme of our current government. Anything that can be seen to harm big companies or the very wealthy is a bit of a no-no. Bashing the 'undeserving poor', that's a big thumbs up.