Comments by "Curious Crow" (@CuriousCrow-mp4cx) on "Nationalising essential utilities – like water – should not cost taxpayers anything at all" video.

  1. Are they? How do you know that? You do not know how old some of these government bonds are, and you obviously don't understand percentages. We still have bonds from the Napoleonic War period still being serviced today. The coupon rate on these are like 2% or 3% on a £100 bond. So the annual cost is still £2 or £3 per year. In the early 19th century that would have been a huge sum. Now, in the 21st century, you can't even buy a sandwich for that amount of money. Check for yourself. There are inflation calculators online for the UK, based on the Bank of England's database. Mine which calculates from 1800-2023, tells me that £2 in 1800 would have the purchasing power of £218.70 today, but the UK government still pay 2% on a £100 bond from the 1800s, as the coupon is a percentage of the original bond. They are not inflation protected. This is simple liability management. So Starmer isaking a political choice, and not an economic or financial one. Governments are the only institutions who can borrow on this basis, but Starmer has misreperesented the reasons why he is against privatisation. Starmer hasn't taken the King's Shilling: he's taken his donors' shilling. Corporations and plutocrats court whosoever is in place to be in government, and Starmer isn't politically canny enough to play the game to his advantage. He's using the state to keep his donors happy, and not the electorate. But tbh, he's no different to anyone else in doing so. Read "The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics (2022 expanded edition)" by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. It should put you straight about political imperative.
    4
  2. The pension funds would be happy to swap those for government bonds, as the latter is a better form of collateral. Water company Shares are illiquid assets, and their value has declined. Pension funds use liability management with bonds already to cover future liabilities. And offering Gilts as collateral for their investing financing will be cheaper than offering shares.
    2
  3. Yeah, right... The DMO are just selling them hand over fist because... ?
    1
  4. I refer you to the funding of the Napoleonic Wars, which has been financed for over 300 years. Just saying. The need for cash like assets will never go away, because fear and greed will never stop wreaking their havoc. And inflation will erode their servicing cost.
    1
  5. They're borrowing the money to pay the dividends, so there is value their and that is the fact that the security for these loans which is the future stream of water rates income. That's why they can get the loans.
    1
  6. The Napoleonic Wars and compensation to slave owners were funded in the exact same manner. So Starmer is making a political decision, and not an economic nor a financial one. Read "The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics (2022 expanded edition)" by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith. Despite its title, the norms described are applied in democracies too. Unless we find a way to neuter the influence of asset wealthy plutocrats and corporations in politics, we will keep being fed porky pies by the politicians who are more intent on sorting out their post-political careers that putting things right.
    1
  7. They won't.
    1