Water companies - that's capitalism..or is it?

OUT OF HOURS BULLY'S TRUCKSTOP BAR (INTERACTIVE)
1

I read - I think it was Marky-p - saying that capitalism was what made the UK. But the version of capitalism we’ve had since Thatcher took over isn’t the same capitalism that built the UK. Up until Thatcher you could expect a decent job, to buy your own house, the CEO maybe earned ten times as much as his lowest paid worker.

Now we have this bizarre, extreme version of “capitalism” where you sell off the water supply to private-equity asset strippers who run up 54 billion in debt, overcharge customers and funnel 66 billion to private shareholders while dumping all the excrement in the rivers. Where CEO’s earn 50-100 times what their lowest paid worker gets, where decent jobs are few and far between and where young people have little chance of buying a house. That’s not capitalism - that’s Eton school tories in red braces running away with themselves. No other country in the world has ever flogged their water supply to private equity asset-strippers. The tories ideology is that “the market will compete with itself” - obviously a completely bankrupt theory.

Of course getting the tories to admit they’ve been following bankrupt policies for the last 40 years isn’t going to happen - so presumably the taxpayer will cop for the 14 billion debt then when it’s back in profit, it will be sold to a private equity firm so they can take all the profits.

2

Since Blair went for mass migration 10 million more have come to this country , listening to the current Labour Party they want a open door policy, we’ve not built 1 reservoir in those 10yrs , yet we’re about to
Have basically millions more comming
It’s obvious if the nhs / doctors can’t cope nor will our water services , private or not you just won’t be able to cope
I blame you & the commies , you want a open door policy immigration wise so as the saying goes , you reap what you sow

3

Yep,have to agree with you on that,bad idea selling the water off.I dont like the way they sold the airports either.Heathrow owned by foreigners.Shouldnt this be national treasure,I mean its got history to it.It was a military airport during the wars.How can we let it be owned by foreigners? If you use the airport,you line the pockets of foreign companies.

4

One of the hopefully benefits of brexit , we can take back control of our water companies

5

The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

6

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

7

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Come again?

8

JeffA:

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Come again?

You can’t tell me you’ve not heard of the winter of discontent, 78-79 , we will be back to those days when the commies get in , as you know they’ve already said there going to make striking easier , surely you did history at school , read books ?

9

dozy:

JeffA:

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Come again?

You can’t tell me you’ve not heard of the winter of discontent, 78-79 , we will be back to those days when the commies get in , as you know they’ve already said there going to make striking easier , surely you did history at school , read books ?

I’m talking about water companies mate - what’s the winter of discontent got to do with it? Start another thread if you want to talk about the winter of discontent.

10

JeffA:
I read - I think it was Marky-p - saying that capitalism was what made the UK. But the version of capitalism we’ve had since Thatcher took over isn’t the same capitalism that built the UK. Up until Thatcher you could expect a decent job, to buy your own house, the CEO maybe earned ten times as much as his lowest paid worker.

Now we have this bizarre, extreme version of “capitalism” where you sell off the water supply to private-equity asset strippers who run up 54 billion in debt, overcharge customers and funnel 66 billion to private shareholders while dumping all the excrement in the rivers. Where CEO’s earn 50-100 times what their lowest paid worker gets, where decent jobs are few and far between and where young people have little chance of buying a house. That’s not capitalism - that’s Eton school tories in red braces running away with themselves. No other country in the world has ever flogged their water supply to private equity asset-strippers. The tories ideology is that “the market will compete with itself” - obviously a completely bankrupt theory.

Of course getting the tories to admit they’ve been following bankrupt policies for the last 40 years isn’t going to happen - so presumably the taxpayer will cop for the 14 billion debt then when it’s back in profit, it will be sold to a private equity firm so they can take all the profits.

I thought I felt my ears burning - I feel like a celebrity having my name mentioned in a post!

Anyhow, the Thameswater situation aside…even though I obviously prefer capitalism, I know that this system is not perfect and has flaws and bad actors; and in a lot of cases where the CEO is incompetent. The system itself was not specifically designed to be exploitative, you just have pricks within the system.

However, if people expect high performing CEO’s should get paid the same or just a little more than the lowest paid worker then we wouldn’t have great people building/running great companies that create jobs and provide great products and great services. There’d be no incentive to become a CEO. If I was the chairman of the board of a company (I myself appointed someone to be my chairman so I have some experience in this area), I would try to find the best CEO we could afford to grow the company. The best people expect and deserve the best compensation for their high performance. This is just a natural part of the marketplace we call capitalism.

Obviously bad behaviour and dishonest practices should be held accountable and regulated but there is also a danger of over-regulation and over-taxation by government. In France, around 15,000 millionaires (and billionaires I’d imagine) left the country between 2015-2016 as they were facing an exorbitant tax increase. So they took their money and businesses and Foxtrot-Oscar’d. Good for them, but not so good for the people they employed who then lost their jobs.

Also, I feel like this truck forum has now turned into a politics debate platform :laughing:

11

JeffA:

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Come again?

Because you said privatise instead of nationalise dozy?

12

Marky-p:

JeffA:
I read - I think it was Marky-p - saying that capitalism was what made the UK. But the version of capitalism we’ve had since Thatcher took over isn’t the same capitalism that built the UK. Up until Thatcher you could expect a decent job, to buy your own house, the CEO maybe earned ten times as much as his lowest paid worker.

Now we have this bizarre, extreme version of “capitalism” where you sell off the water supply to private-equity asset strippers who run up 54 billion in debt, overcharge customers and funnel 66 billion to private shareholders while dumping all the excrement in the rivers. Where CEO’s earn 50-100 times what their lowest paid worker gets, where decent jobs are few and far between and where young people have little chance of buying a house. That’s not capitalism - that’s Eton school tories in red braces running away with themselves. No other country in the world has ever flogged their water supply to private equity asset-strippers. The tories ideology is that “the market will compete with itself” - obviously a completely bankrupt theory.

Of course getting the tories to admit they’ve been following bankrupt policies for the last 40 years isn’t going to happen - so presumably the taxpayer will cop for the 14 billion debt then when it’s back in profit, it will be sold to a private equity firm so they can take all the profits.

I thought I felt my ears burning - I feel like a celebrity having my name mentioned in a post!

Anyhow, the Thameswater situation aside…even though I obviously prefer capitalism, I know that this system is not perfect and has flaws and bad actors; and in a lot of cases where the CEO is incompetent. The system itself was not specifically designed to be exploitative, you just have pricks within the system.

However, if people expect high performing CEO’s should get paid the same or just a little more than the lowest paid worker then we wouldn’t have great people building/running great companies that create jobs and provide great products and great services. There’d be no incentive to become a CEO. If I was the chairman of the board of a company (I myself appointed someone to be my chairman so I have some experience in this area), I would try to find the best CEO we could afford to grow the company. The best people expect and deserve the best compensation for their high performance. This is just a natural part of the marketplace we call capitalism.

Obviously bad behaviour and dishonest practices should be held accountable and regulated but there is also a danger of over-regulation and over-taxation by government. In France, around 15,000 millionaires (and billionaires I’d imagine) left the country between 2015-2016 as they were facing an exorbitant tax increase. So they took their money and businesses and Foxtrot-Oscar’d. Good for them, but not so good for the people they employed who then lost their jobs.

Also, I feel like this truck forum has now turned into a politics debate platform :laughing:

I thought you would like a credit for your post!

I understand they need paying more - but back in the 50s,60s and 70s they were paid more - just not at obscene levels. The world didn’t fall apart - in fact the biggest capitalist growth we’ve ever seen came in the 50s,60s and 70s. Since we moved to this extreme version of “Pinch all the money for yourself and let everyone else fight for the scraps” growth and living standards have fallen sharply. And it’s not sustainable in the long-term. We’ve seen what this model of capitalism has done for the water supply and all the other privatised industries.

I thought this was the board for discussion about other topics. If we want to discuss the best way of warming a tin of beans in the truck there’s the UK drivers forum.

13

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Bevis and buthead

14

Bigtruck3:

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Bevis and buthead

Beavis and Butthead.

I wouldnt use an insult until you at least learn how to spell it.

Well done on spelling the word “and” tho :smiley:

15

Dozy, have you actually any idea what communism is?

Sent from my Note 13P using Tapatalk

16

Munchkin:
Dozy, have you actually any idea what communism is?

Sent from my Note 13P using Tapatalk

It sounds like dozy believes if you arn’t prepared to kneel before the head of a water company and beg him to raise your bills - you’re a commie.

17

JeffA:

Bigtruck3:

dozy:

JeffA:
The energy companies are foreogn owned - some by foreign governments! They knew what a money earner was while the tories sold it off

Hopefully when the commies get in theyl privatise everything jeffa , heard other day there going to make striking easier , I’ve said before how I miss the 70,s , looks like I’ll get a re- run of them !!

Bevis and buthead

Beavis and Butthead.

I wouldnt use an insult until you at least learn how to spell it.

Well done on spelling the word “and” tho :smiley:

My apologies it wasn’t a insult jaffa it was a joke
Correction Butthead

18

Sorry pal!

19

Dumping billions of losses into someone else’s pocket, often the taxpayer’s is BANKING rather than “Capitalism”.

Notice how there’s no end of QE printed money for:

Unwanted Foreign War Involvement
Green stuff we cannot afford, nor want
Minority interests, often not even here at home
Expensive decommissioning, Eg. Nuclear power stations, obsolete weapons, foreign political involvements

But NO QE money for
Keeping up with the cost of living without inflationary pay rises
Keeping taxes down
Getting Public-Friendly, and actual popular policy rollouts done
Renewing inftrastructure