Comments by "Michael RCH" (@michaelrch) on "Can onshore wind revolution lower energy bills in the UK?" video.

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  26. ​ @nighttrain1236  ​ @nighttrain1236 Wrong on several counts there. I mean its a nice talking point, but its a lie (not your lie, the lie of right wing narratives generally) Let's take the water industry as an example. Since privatisation, it has borrowed £53 billion. It has taken £72 billion in dividends. 20% of customers' are now paying to service debt that the industry took on to pay itself dividends. And what was the outcome? The worst water system of any developed nation. Illegal spills of sewage across the entire system on a almost continual basis. Illegal water quality in almost every river in the country. AND rising costs for consumers. Also you say that shareholders invest in creating productivity. No, they invest in creating profits. These can be very different things in practice, especially in poorly functioning markets. You have to give up the idea that markets work in all industries. They simply don't. And where markets don't work, then any private, profit-drivem enterprise in that market is going to abuse the market for its own profits. Things like water, rail, buses, the mail system, etc are natural monopolies. They do worse when privatised for everyone except for the shareholders who get to cream off profits rain or shine. I run a business myself. I understand why market dynamics are helpful in the right industry, but you have to get off this ideological faith in markets and accept that they have their limits when it comes to overall utility and efficiency. I will use the example of the Swiss transport system again. The Swiss public transport system is the best in Europe. It is probably one of the best in the world. And the reason is because it is meticulously planned and designed to be incredibly reliable and efficient. Does this server the bottom line of some shareholders somewhere. No. But it serves the Swiss people who use it incredibly well. Here is a video that demonstrates just how good it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muPcHs-E4qc If this system was sold off and fragmented among multiple providers, the entire system would fall to bits in a sea of market bureaucracy, broken scheduling and interoperation, horribly complex ticketing and fee structures. It works because it is a national monopoly that is centrally planned and well funded. And that makes it some thing that the Swiss are justifiably extremely proud off. Unlike the UK train system which is an international embarrassment.
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