Privatisation - Maggies Mistake?

"In the U.K., privatization accomplished wonders. By 1979, the borrowings and losses of state-owned industries were running at about £3 billion a year. But from 1989 to 1990, companies privatized by the Thatcher government fattened the government purse by some £2 billion" - Harvard Business Review 1992. The key phrase here is "fattened the government purse". As with so many political decisions the short term gain obscured the long term resulting problems. 

The initial premise was the concept of privatisation to propel innovation & efficiency & promote competition. It seems to me that where privatised companies are natural monopolies, like all the utilities, water & rail for example, this simply does not work. There is no competition in either example. The consumer cannot choose between price & service quality. It's a one stop shop. There is no alternative.

To my mind any profit should have gone to investment in both maintenance & improvement of service. Not to inflated salaries & bonuses & shareholder dividends.

I have just watched the BBC documentary "Thames Water - Inside the Crisis". It was illuminating. It changed my perceptions & made me very sympathetic to the people who actually work there trying to make a very inadequate system work adequately. What it revealed about the state of the infrastructure is shocking. The only reason it hasn't failed even more than the dreadful pollution of our rivers, lakes & seas is the dedication of the workers. Workers who don't know whether they will continue to have jobs given the state of the finances. They have a debt of around £19 billion.

How on earth could that happen if the company was being well managed? Obviously it couldn't. At the time of privatisation Thames Water had no debt.

Large companies have a duty to shareholders and have to keep increasing profits. That model will never work for essentials & is even more unsustainable when the owners of the companies are not British. They do not have the interests of the British public at the heart of their business model. 

At least 70% of the English water industry is controlled by foreign-based firms. This includes a wide range of investors, such as super-rich individuals, banks, hedge funds, foreign governments, and businesses based in tax havens.

Half of the "big six" energy suppliers are owned by foreign companies, including EDF Energy. Foreign-owned companies also have a significant stake in other utilities, such as electricity distribution and supply companies.

BT is owned by Bharti Overseas Pvt Ltd (Indian), Patrick Drahi (Franco Israeli), T Mobile Holdings (German), & Altice UK SARL.

There is only one set of railways, one water main, one gas line and one power grid. 

To my mind we are now paying the price of Thatchers privatisation. The chickens have come home to roost. I can accept that this is perhaps the benefit of hindsight. But it has been a catastrophic mistake. The only winners are the senior managers on inflated salaries & bonuses & the investors.

It is time to try to put this right.

 

Transgender & Body Dysmorphia

I was born a woman & have always thought of myself as a woman. So I am not able to imagine what it might be like experience BDD. I have seen the sexual landscape change enormously in my lifetime. The mores that I grew up with have largely disappeared. That can be both good & bad. It's not my job to judge. I would like to understand though.

The UK Supreme Court has just ruled that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex. Because of my age & experience that does seem to me to be logical. The impact on trans people & many areas of life in the UK will be huge. But Trans people will still have their rights protected by the Human Rights Act.

I can clearly remember when being homosexual was illegal. Naively I didn't think I knew any homosexual or lesbian people at the time. But statistically I must have. Looking back I can identify people who were probably in that category. Thank goodness we have come to realise that being gay is part of being normal. Now I have several lovely close friends who are gay. We have moved on & are mostly more tolerant.

I find transgender a much more complex situation to deal with. So I googled to find out more - as you do.

Body dysmorphia, also known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), is thought to be caused by a combination of factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, & environmental experiences. A family history of BDD or other related mental health conditions, like OCD or depression, may be factors. Differences in brain structure & activity in individuals with BDD, particularly in areas responsible for processing visual information and regulating emotions exist. Some researchers also believe that low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter, may play a role. Bullying, teasing, abuse, or neglect, can significantly increase the risk of developing BDD. Western society's emphasis on physical perfection and beauty can contribute to negative body image and feelings of inadequacy, potentially triggering or worsening BDD. That is exacerbated by social media, which often portrays unrealistic standards of beauty. Perfectionism & low self esteem can also be factors.

I am wary of the current trend to over medicalising & over diagnosis of people today. I am not convinced that it helps. I'm not talking here about physical conditions like Cancer or Parkinsons. I'm talking more about the power of our brains to create thoughts & perceptions that may not be accurate. There is evidence that we humans have a tendency to live up to a diagnosis, particularly a mental one.

However, the fact is that humans are far more diverse that we knew. Medical science has moved on & there is very interesting neurological research that is producing evidence to explain much that should make us more accepting of difference.

 

Surely we can simply accept that we are different, not only in how we look, but what we believe, what our cultural norms are. If we can't do that we will just become more judgmental & adversarial.  

Role Models & Responsibility.

A role model is someone looked to by others as an example to be imitated. They are admired and their behaviour  is copied. Role models can be good or bad. I might admire someone who has good characteristics such as ethics, skills, experience, humanity. On the other hand many people follow role models that I would consider bad because their characteristics are misogynistic, self serving, unethical even cruel. I could easily name people in both categories, but maybe its better if you decide for yourself. 

The point is we humans do tend to follow other stronger, possibly more charismatic, or even dictatorial people. If we follow role models because they provide inspiration, guidance, and a blueprint for success and positive behavior that is a good thing. Our parents are our first role models. They shape our character. Good parenting is important to the healthy development of a child. 

People may follow bad role models due to many factors, the desire to fit in, the perception of being cool or successful associated with negative behavior, and the influence of peer groups or media. Some may be drawn to negative role models as a way to define themselves or seek validation from those who share their negative views. Again I could easily name some, but I'm sure you can too. 

The reason I'm posting about this is there needs to be a balance with the good role models outweighing the bad, because there will always be "bad actors" trying to achieve prominence. My feeling is that we are at a tipping point & I am going to use the words good & evil here. It seems to me that negative, undemocratic, unethical role models have far too much sway in our world today. Impressionable people worldwide are either voluntarily following them, or are too afraid to speak out against them. A lot of this is driven by the internet & social media. We cannot let that continue.

In order to stop this in it's tracks we all have to take responsibility. We have to be prepared to challenge & speak out against a great deal that is happening in our world. We cannot be passive & hope that others will act on our behalf. Individually we may not have much power, but collectively we can really change things. 

We must retain our freedoms to speak & to act. We must use that to influence decisions & actions.

My Trade Deficit v Trumps

I have a trade deficit with M&S & Sainsbury's among others. I buy most of my food & household goods from them. I must have spent a fortune over the years. But they don't reciprocate, they don't buy anything from me. So I'm really p..... off. I think I should operate tariffs against them. The fact that I don't make anything they might want to buy is immaterial. A trade deficit is unfair & annoying. I feel badly mistreated. 

That is the "logic" behind what Trump has done with tariffs worldwide. He certainly didn't base them on a combination of existing tariffs and other trade barriers (like regulations). He had a mathematical formula 

that no one had ever heard of which took the trade deficit for the US in goods with a particular country, divided by the total goods imports from that country and then divided that number by two. He simply thought he could eliminate the US's goods trade deficit with each country. Unbelievable!

Americans spend and invest more than they earn. The US buys more from the world than it sells. As long as that continues, the US will continue to keep running a deficit despite increasing tariffs with global trading partners. The "great deal maker" simply doesn't understand economics & trade. Worse still, if there are any dissenting voices, & there are, he doesn't listen. All he listens to is the sycophants who actually clap him in televised cabinet meetings. It's all about ego & image.

Thomas Sampson of the London School of Economics said: "There is no economic rationale for doing this and it will cost the global economy dearly." He is not alone.

The markets showed Trump exactly what they thought of his tariffs. Stocks plummeted. Trump panicked & there is a 90 day pause for everyone except China. He is in a trade war with China now. Good luck with that Trumpy. 

This is all very unstable & seat of the pants / back of an envelope stuff. The markets don't like instability. They want to plan years ahead. You don't invest in a new factory or new machinery if the world is unstable. You batten down the hatches.  

Meanwhile people lose jobs & things cost more. Just what America voted for!

 

Protectionism

Trump doesn't seem to understand that he is not protecting America by imposing tariffs. Quite the opposite, but more of that later. Tariffs are normally put on goods, not on entire countries. Trump is acting like a Mafia boss going round businesses for "protection money" so that he won't do something worse. Considering the harm already done it's hard to imagine what that might be, but I'm sure Trump will do his best.

To protect something is to preserve or guarantee it, often by legislation. Protectionism is shielding a country's domestic industries from foreign competition by taxing imports, using import tariffs, quotas on imports, or the use of subsidies. Protectionism raises prices on imported goods for consumers so causes inflation. Domestic producers may be better off if consumers buy alternative goods made at home. It may preserve some jobs, but considering what Musks DOGE has done, that seems very unlikely. Many American jobs have already gone. Generally it's a right wing, nationalist, way of doing economics. In Trumps case, he is completely re-writing the playbook & the markets are responding in horror.

China in particular is playing hardball. "Losing face"in China is equal to losing the respect of others, so avoiding this situation ("saving face") is very important in Chinese culture. The Chinese government prides itself on being strong & cannot afford to allow Trump to win this fight, however much it costs them, because it would make them look weak. The imposition of 125% on Chinese goods is frankly ridiculous.

I think I am fairly rational, so I find it impossible to imagine the reasoning, (I use the term loosely in Trumps case), or rationale, that led him to go down this self destructive route. Unless America can find a way to stop him, I think they are doomed & the world will suffer the consequences until he is booted out. 

I just hope that can happen before he serves his full term. Wake up America! 

Sycophants

A person who acts obsequiously towards someone important in order to gain advantage is a sycophant. In simple terms a leech, parasite or a toady. Sycophants are obsequious. They are too eager to help or agree with someone more important than them. As in my favourite Hans Christian Anderson story - The Emperors New Clothes, where the emperor is exposed before his subjects as a vain idiot wearing nothing.

https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html

I imagine, by now, you can see where I'm going with this. Trump is surrounded by sycophants who will tell him what he wants to hear, however bizarre. 

The latest tariff debacle is a case in point. The evidence over decades since the Wall Street crash shows that tariffs do not work. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act sparked the crash & everything that followed. Yesterday global stock markets were reeling as the worse-than-expected levies were seen to damage US and global economic growth even as they pushed inflation higher. Tariffs cause recession.

Consumers, both individuals and businesses, are negatively impacted by higher prices. Tariffs reduce demand for foreign goods which negatively impacts relations with other countries. A consumption tax costs less than a tariff if the goal is to lessen consumption of imported goods.

Only 35% of Trump's Cabinet graduated from "elite" institutions, where previous administrations ranged between 52% and 60%. Out of 28 members only 8 have degrees from elite institutions like the Ivy League schools and MIT, Stanford and Oxford. It's a definite shift away from expertise. Scott Bessant the treasury secretary seems well educated & qualified, so it is hard to understand why he would go against the consensus about tariffs. The key qualification is loyalty, which brings me neatly back to sycophants.

Speaking truth to power has never been more important. The capacity for Trump to do real harm internationally on so many fronts is enormous. We really do need world leaders to unite & challenge his unfounded & protectionist policies. America will suffer from them too.