Quote:
Originally Posted by Osem
That's exactly why the utilities, rail etc. fell into such a decrepit state after decades of under investment by government. It's also the reason that taking them back into public ownership would be a massively expensive disaster. Politicians want the brownie points for telling people what they want to hear but, when faced with the reality of having to pay for it all via taxes or spending cuts elsewhere, soon get very cold feet about it all.
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I think other countries manage to invest in infrastructure despite much of it being publically owned. After all we've all got to pay for it somewhere down the line, companies aren't in the business of losing money. At least if it were publically owned the investment the government puts it gets to reap the reward of, at the moment we're in the mad case where any real investment (i.e HS2) is paid for by the government but profit will be extracted by the companies who'll give some of it back in the form of tenders.