Brad, Public Utilities need competition for them to work effectively. Yet, they are naturally monopolies. The distribution of electricity and water, roads, sewers, and so on have no effective competition. They should never be sold to the highest private bidder.
It should be printed in capital letters in Economics 99 that you do not "privatize" a monopoly. However, it is easy enough to introduce competition - something "privatization" doesn't do. "Privatization" is advocated by people with only a vague notion of free society philosophy - but with an urgent need to do something quick that looks anti-collective. You sound like Michael Caine. Harry ____________________________________________ Brad wrote: > How the Public Utilities became public again > > After the government sold all the Public Utilities > to private investment groups at bargain basement prices, > the new owners invested nothing in their new acquisitions, > but milked them for all they could get out of them. > Service became unreliable at best, and consumers demanded > a change. So the private investors sold the Utilities > back to the government for book value, thus making another > killing, the Utilities once again, back under government > stewardship, returned to providing reliable service, and > everybody was happy again -- except that the consumers > had to pay much higher utility rates than before, to pay > back the bonds the government had sold to private > investors [usually the same ones who had bought > the Utilities in the first place...] to buy > the Utilities back. > >Sleep well, you little Future Captains of Industry! > >\brad mccormick ****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 *******************************
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