The Cost Of Privatisation.

As ususal this winter the energy companies have joined together to put the price of gas and electricity up this winter in order to steal yet more money from us. They are citing the usual suspects - wholesale energy price rises, which never deliver a cheaper supply when they go down and investment, which seems to consist almost entirely of energy executives stuffing huge wads of cash into their own pockets. Meanwhile new figures show quite clearly that the privatised railways are also stuffing public cash into their pockets as subsidies to them far outstrip anything that was paid to the nationsalised network. Indeed the only state-run railway still in existence, the east coast line, is operating with a fraction of the subsidy paid to most private train companies. Privatisation, instead of giving us lower prices by being more efficient, has simply diverted public money into private hands for no good reason. The promised "efficiencies" and lower prices have never materialised and, instead, the public has had to watch as our money is simply stolen by executives and shareholders. Yet, despite this, the Tories are eager to expand privatisation into areas that Margaret Thatcher only dreamed of - the NHS, schools, the police and the benefit system. Their reasons for doing so are quite clear. They have noted the billions of pounds that are involved in these public services and are scheming to stuff those billions into their pockets and those of their rich pals. Essentially they are stealing the state for their own private advantage in an outrageous act of daylight robbery that is nothing short of treasonous.