What to do with the railroad?
The Moai, responding to yesterday's Quote of the Day:
'State ownership, state monopolies, state regulation and state planning, through the centralisation of economic power, inevitably lead to economic failure'- what about the rail system? A public good, and a public monopoly. Now privatised and run by private companies, and as a result, rinsing the passenger for every penny. I posit that the Tory thirst for privatisation should have know some bounds ie. monopolies.
Well, in all honesty, I don't know. I don't think a nationally owned rail service is the answer to the problem of monopoly, but equally I don't think that privatisation has been that smashing for the railroads either. It does beg the question what the hell we should do with, for example, the railways, though. In the public sector, the railways were a joke. In the private sector they are still shit and still take up a lot of public funding. What can be done to create an efficient rail service? Or should we just give up on the whole fucking thing?
Answers in the comments section, please. There is a prize for the best one. Well, a (virtual) pat on the back, anyway.
Labels: Nationalisation, quotes, Rail, Random, The Moai
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 12:31 pm
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Well, it's clear that privatising monopolies to create more monopolies (or, at best oligopolies) simply doesn't work.
The barriers to entry created by the government (monopolistic contracts to deliver regional services) are the reason why rail travel is such a festering shitpile. Anybody should be free to provide a service on any route.
That is the only way to improve services and rates.
Build more track, specifically from my front door to wherever I want to go and at the times I want. It should go through Rock Ridge where we'll work up up a Number 6 on the locals who get in our way.
Personally I'm looking forward to the Number 6 Dance.
Thorny issue that TNL and one I daren't expose more ignorance than I normally do.
One idea I've raised in the past is to sell off the right to operate the railways, but on the condition that the operator pays a percentage (say 10%) of their current valuation of the business on an annual basis to the Treasury. The valuation would be public knowledge and anybody prepared to meet the valuation would be able to force the current owner to sell.
The advantages I can see would be:
-It would introduce a profit motive, thereby creating an incentive to innovate which isn't present in a state monopoly.
-It would reduce the scope for generating monopoly profits that exist in a normal private monopoly, as they would be reflected in value of the business and paid over to the Treasury in the percentage charge (reducing the need for other taxes in the process).
-It would allow for longer term planning than exists with franchises, where the franchisee often has no incentive to think longer term than the end of the current franchise.
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