ImSpartacus2 wrote on Feb 3
rd, 2015 at 3:07pm:
Doctor Jolly wrote on Feb 3
rd, 2015 at 12:38pm:
Could the "selling of public assets" be the core problem.
In almost all cases of the government selling public assets, the people have had to pay more for the same service. The funds raised by those sales seems to just disappear.
The public have had enough. They see every "sale" as
1) The government taking the easy option over debt.
2) The cost of the service will rise.
The public have had enough. Enough of the government donors getting first dibs on public assets at low prices, then making the people pay through the nose for basic services.
Privatising electricity infrastructure will make electricity more expensive and less reliable. This is the overwhelming view, which history has proven.
Dont forget the revenue stream we lose as a result of selling these assets, which eventually puts more pressure on us to pay more in tax to make up the shortfall in addition to the higher prices we have to contend with. The politicians know this is happening but they're selling these assets to their mates. In canberra the Belconnen Mall was a real $$$$ spinner to the govt. When Hawke got in power in the 80s he immediately put it up for tender and his mate Frank Lowy (of westfield fame) bought it. The first thing Lowy did was raise rents. Many of the small businesses revolted but it was no use and ultimately many lost everything and those who stayed passed on the increased rents to their customers. Since then the govt loost all the revenue from Belconnen Mall. At every turn we lost as a consequence of the sale of the Belconnen mall. Time this theft stopped and these white collar thieves repaid the proceeds of their crime.
J. Lambie ripped it up B. Joyce on Q&A last night on just this issue...

It's the old 'Golden Goose' fairy-tale brought to life.
In the story, the guy who owned the goose would then sell the eggs
the goose laid, for a steady stream of cash.
But he got greedy and wanted all the eggs at once so killed the goose
and cut it open to get the eggs out. Of course there were none.
So, no more golden eggs, hello poverty.
Selling public assets is EXACTLY the same thing.