At 22:28 27-7-01 -0700, Kristin Ruhle wrote:
>most countries are
>privatizing state owned businesses such as electricity,
>telecommunications, etc. The govt doesn't need to be in these
>businesses.
I beg to differ. The Netherlands has privatized at least two major
state-owned businesses: telecommunications (KPN Telecom) and the railroads
(Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Dutch Rail). Both were doing quite nicely when
they were state-owned.
Now both are privatized, and both are in shambles. KPN's management has
been accused of gross mis-management, and shares in KPN Telecom are now
worth only a small fraction of what they were once worth.
Dutch Rail has raised its prices every year, while service levels have
dropped. Lines have been closed because they weren't profitable enough
(leaving passengers out in the cold), and delays are more and more common.
After much pressure from the Consumers' Union and ROVER (an organisation
defending the interests of people who use public transport), Dutch Rail
finally agreed to give a 50% refund to everyone who's train is delayed for
more than 30 minutes. This started last February, and has already cost
Dutch Rail 20 million guilders in refunds...
When Dutch Rail was state-owned, the government raised fuel taxes to
stimulate people to get out of their cars and into the train. This actually
seemed to work, but nowadays people take their car again instead of the
train, because Dutch Rail has become too expensive and too unreliable.
So far, privatizations haven't been the success stories they were supposed
to be... :-(
Jeroen
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