Wednesday 26 March 2008

Privatise the power!

While every political party in parliament keeps reciting the mantra "state ownership good, private ownership bad" as if it were the key to nirvana -- every one of them refusing even to countenance the idea that the 'commanding heights' of the economy might be safer sold to private owners ASAP -- while they strut and posture the state's power generators have been busy generating too little power and hiking their prices for that power far too high, all the while pouring the 'dividends' from squeezing every power consumer in the country dry straight into the government's coffers.  As Bernard Hickey says on analysing this rort, "These higher power charges, higher profits and higher dividends have simply become another tax on every household."  A highly inflationary tax, as it happens.

If ever the statement were true that corporates rip off their customers, then it is true when the corporates are both phony and state-owned. 

Explain to me again why state ownership of either these de facto monopolies or any other is such a good idea?  Remove their coercive monopolies and privatise them forthwith -- it's the only way to make the power consumer king, instead of the state's serf.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Politicians, socialists and poor people keep chanting the mantra, and believe State ownership is a good thing, for a very simple reason....they are stupid. :)

Anonymous said...

The problem is people have never seen the truly free market in operation.

Every failure of partial-privatisation or whatever you want to call it, is seen as a failure of capitalism and conservatism. Or a failure of regulators to do their jobs properly.

So we are trying to sweep water uphill regarding privatisation, and I can't see that changing any time soon.

Peter Cresswell said...

I'd suggest a related problem, Anonymous, is that even those who do know better lack the spine to do anything other than acquiesce when the ignorant force their mantra upon the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

Politicians, socialists and poor people keep chanting the mantra, and believe State ownership is a good thing, for a very simple reason....they are stupid

Hey Elijah, are you rich or are you fucking wannabe? If you're rich, then rich according to what metric standard? Your comments here at Not PC is always stupid and that reflects who you are.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous

Are you poor? Are you a socialist? Is it that you are one of the stupid people that considers state ownership of power generating facilities a good thing?

Pray tell us your opinion on this subject.

LGM

Anonymous said...

I think anon2 was objecting to collectively judging the 'poor' - whoever they are supposed to be.

I think you will find a lot of 'rich' executives are all for state ownership, as it feathers their nests.

In fact most stupid ideas come from 'rich' and 'educated' people.

Anonymous said...

Anon1

Perhaps that's what he was objecting to, perhaps not. No way to tell for sure. That's why I asked him to illuminate the darkness with his eloquence.

You're correct about some of the "rich" and "educated" (so called) being all to keen to embrace stupid ideas (like socialism and state ownership and state intervention etc.). Usually it is because they seek to attain and maintain some rent seeking priviledge or monopoly. They view the state as the means to employ for those ends. They are correctly classified as stupid. one of my work colleagues calls them "gear meat."

LGM

Anonymous said...

LGM, I own a business employing 47 people. I am a capitalist and I believe in the State's shouldn't run businesses. It should be privatised.

Elijah, has shown consistently his snobby attitude to people (perhaps poor or uneducated) below him by his constant put-down. One could think that Elijah is somehow, Bill Gates, Sam Morgan or any of those truly rich people. I seriously doubt if he owns a big house in Remuera, St. Helliers or Mission Bay, perhaps he lives in South Auckland.

As a gay person like himself, he is using language that makes it easy for others to attack him. You know what I mean, when I drive along K'Rd at night in my BMW, the likes of Elijah usually solicit me. They think that a person driving a BMW has a fat wallet that his carrot needs to be satisfied.