Privatisation Versus Public Ownership

We Own It - 10 Reasons why Privatisation has failed & will always fail - https://weownit.org.uk/privatisation 

Harvard Business School 1991 - Does Privatisation serve the Public Interest? - https://hbr.org/1991/11/does-privatization-serve-the-public-interest

What emerges are three conclusions:

1. Neither public nor private managers will always act in the best interests of their shareholders. Privatization will be effective only if private managers have incentives to act in the public interest, which includes, but is not limited to, efficiency.

2. Profits and the public interest overlap best when the privatized service or asset is in a competitive market. It takes competition from other companies to discipline managerial behavior.

3. When these conditions are not met, continued governmental involvement will likely be necessary. The simple transfer of ownership from public to private hands will not necessarily reduce the cost or enhance the quality of services.

" It (Privatisation) has proven expensive for the public and a bonanza for comparatively few investors, often overseas". https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/22/the-guardian-view-on-privatisation-the-god-that-failed -

Who owned Britain in 2018? https://neweconomics.opendemocracy.net/index.html%3Fp=2472.html  You can bet that 5 years on the picture is even worse. How logical is it that Airports, the NHS, Social care, Public Utilities & Transport are privatised.

We have outsourced vital services. We have sold the "family silver". 

Billionairs control huge wealth & have massive power & influence. There are 25 UK billionaires with fortunes over £3 billion. Top 10 in 2024;-

1.1 1. Gopi Hinduja And Family - €35 Billion  -  Indian conglomerate with interests in the automotive, energy, and financial services industries.

1.2 2. Sir Jim Ratcliffe -€29.7 Billion - chemical industry / INEOS

1.3 3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik -€28.6 Billion - energy and media industries / Access Industries

1.4 4. David And Simon Reuben -€24.4 Billion - Real Estate

1.5 5. Sir James Dyson -€23 Billion - Technology

1.6 6. Lakshmi Mittal And Her family -€16 Billion - Steel / Acelor Mittal

1.7 7. George, Alannah, And Galen Weston And Their Family -€14.5 Billion - retail / Selfridges

1.8 8. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken And Michel de Carvalho -€13.1 Billion - beer

1.9 9. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing -€12 Billion - packaging / Tetra Pak

1.10 10. Michael Platt -€11.5 Billion - hedge fund / Blue Crest

Money & Power - the two drivers of capitalism. Private companies "raison d'etre" is growth & profit. 

I wish someone could tell me in words of one syllable how Privatisation, Outsourcing & Capitalism is in the interests of the vast majority of people in the world. Consumerism & perpetual Growth seem to me to be at the root of so many of the problems we face today. The inescapable fact is that if public services are run for the profit of shareholders & senior management, then the people who use those services will have to pay more.

I can remember the 3 day week, the lights going out, riots in big cities, the miners & teachers strikes, the Cuba missile crisis....I thought that was as bad as it gets.

I was wrong.