The News In Shorts

How the news would look if everyone stopped waffling and told the truth.

Sunday 3 April 2016

Privatisation: The Story So Far.

So how is privatization working out? British rail was privatized by the Tories between 1994 and 1997. In the years since then those of us who have to use rail have spent our time waiting for late, dirty and overcrowded trains and watched glumly as the price of our tickets has spiraled ever upwards. Much of that money is going to nationalized transport industries owned by foreign governments who are making a fortune for their taxpayers. It is the same story for the utilities, gas, electricity and water. Much of this is now supposed to be in private hands. In fact much of our "privatized" utilities industry is owned by foreign governments. One of the biggest investors in British privatized industries are the Chinese, a country run by a communist oligarchy who have been doing their level best to destroy any and all competitors in the steel industry by dumping their steel products on the world market at lower than cost prices. Why is this? In many foreign countries the concept of "the commanding heights of industry" - those assets vital to a country's continued existence - is still recognized. There are some things, transport, gas, electricity, nuclear power and the production of steel, that are just too important to national security to be put at risk. The Tories don't see things in quite the same way. The only thing that they believe should never be put at risk is their wealth. They do not care if ordinary people are put out of work, don't care if ordinary people are being held to ransom with ever increasing cost of living rises, don't care if foreign countries control our industrial infrastructure and don't care if these same foreign countries can blackmail us by turning off the supply of things we need to survive. None of this matters as long as they can continue to stuff their offshore bank accounts with tax free profits. Betraying your own country in this way once had a name - treason. The word treason has now been replaced with another, less harmful sounding word - privatization. But it remains treason nonetheless. Our entire steel industry is now under threat and our Tory government is "doing everything it can to save it." Everything, that is, except re-nationalizing the industry. Nationalization in times of peril to a vital industry is only contemplated by the Tories when the vital industry is banking. When their wealth is at stake anything goes. When ordinary people's jobs and our national security is at risk re-nationalization is simply not on the table.

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