[Dissent-bristol-info] PFI Sheet

anarchist606 at hushmail.com anarchist606 at hushmail.com
Wed Mar 23 09:24:41 GMT 2005


I like it!


On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:49:48 -0800 John Mayford <john at avoncda.coop> 
wrote:
>Finally! Amended PFI sheet.
>Just needed to amend re two key economists: Keynes and Friedman 
>and the relationship to the drive for
>privitisation, use of the term "mixed" economy and to put in the 
>Anarchist economic model; which is the 
>workers co-perative : co-operatives operating with a free market 
>being neither private nor public 
>
>See what you think
>
>John
>
>The Agenda of PFI; Creeping Corporate Control. 
>
>Public and private economy
>
>Private
>The Private Economy is the Capitalist model where sole traders, 
>partnerships and companies exist to make profit as the key driving 

>force. When Companies register as 
>"corporate bodies" - in this country under the companies act- they 

>legally assume the rights of a person, and the legal purpose of 
>their existence is profit - making - or to exploit labour for 
>profit - or as Michael Moore says "The bottom line is the bottom 
>line" Costs such as wages, impacts on the environment are 
>externalized
>and therefore marginalized. Corporations are the single most 
>powerful driving force
>in society
>
>Public 
>Industry in state or government control - such as the NHS, 
>Schools, Army, Police, the Civil Service, and local government is 
>known as the public sector.Forms of Socialism committed to State 
>ownership of the ecomony following the Communist Manifesto in 1848 

>and the rise of the Trades Union movement in the same century the 
>aim of Communist and Socialist theory . Clause 4" The Labour Party 

>in this country committed them to a manifesto of State Ownership 
>until it was abolished under Neil Kinnocks leadership and with it 
>the Liberalisation of the party.
>
>Mixed Economy
>In reality most economies are a mixture between private and 
>public,for example President Roosevelt adopting the "New Deal" to 
>rebuild America's infrastructure through public expenditure in the 

>1930's /40's. Many European Economies support their transport and 
>energy industry through state support, while Russia and China have 

>opened their markets up to Western Multinational Corporations.
>
>Until the mid seventies, all Western government's operated to 
>economic model founded by JM Keynes - who believed that the 
>relationship between inflation and employment was inverse, and 
>that government could stimulate the economy through public 
>expenditure in times of recession as Roosevelt had done. In the 
>seventies this theory was exploded when inflation and unemployment 

>occurred at the same time. A new economist, Milton Friedman, 
>expounded a theory called Monetarism according to which sound 
>economic growth was based on a low inflation economy, and the 
>single biggest cause of inflation is public expenditure. This 
>Thatcher the intellectual backing to slash public expenditure on 
>that basis privatizing Steel, Oil, Coal, the Railways, Post 
>Office, Buses and to line up education and health. It also gave 
>her the opportunity to smash trades union power, particularly that 

>of the Miners.   
>
>Neo Liberalisation or Naked Capitalism?
>Curiously selling off State assets has become known as 
>Liberalisation. Curious because Liberalism has historically been 
>linked to a mixed economy approach, and what the real meaning is 
>simply that of opening assets to corporate control. In an 
>international context, multinationals are seeking to develop 
>control of developing nations, such as Coca Cola's attempt to 
>control water in Columbia, and multi -national attempts in Africa. 

>
>
>An alterative to Corporate or State Control.
>In 1840 Pierre-Joseph Prouhdon published "Qu-est-ce-que la 
>propriete?"  which represented the first linkage of the term 
>Anarchy as a political system of thought. His Anarchist vision 
>forsaw a society based on co-operatives and collectives and 
>decentralized forms of government. In Spain in the 1930's 
>following a period of 50 years of an Anarchist movement driven by 
>Anarchists trades unions, FAI and CNTthe model was followed
>The co-operative movement was born in Rochdale in the same decade, 

>1844, and it's principles recognized by the International Co-
>operative Alliance in 1895. Co-op principles have been applied to 
>work, food, housing and land. There are currently 750 million 
>members of the co-ops worldwide. Neither private nor public, this 
>is non hierarchical autonomous organization working within a free 
>market that is not Capitalist. There are 1500 workers co-ops in 
>the UK. 
>
>What is the Private Finance Initiative [PFI]
>The next phase of privatisation in the UK is being looked at in 
>education, health and transport. This is relegated in the media 
>agenda for discussion and contrary to popular belief the Labour 
>government has actually accelerated the Private Finance 
>Initiative, with much of the key assets of our economy. 
>
>Under the Private Finance Initiative, our schools and hospitals 
>are being sold off bit by bit to private companies that act in the 

>interests of their shareholders.. Local rural hospitals are closed 

>to build 'super-hospitals', making people travel further, using 
>taxpayers money to fund the profits of the building contractors at 

>a much greater cost to us taxpayers than a simple total 
>refurbishment would have cost.
>
>How does it work?
>PFI means going to the private sector to take out loans on which 
>interest rates are higher than normal for government borrowing, 
>and then paying private sector profits on top. These repayments 
>have to be made just like a mortgage over 20 or 30 years out of 
>income - whether that's a hospital's revenue that might otherwise 
>be used to pay doctors and nurses, or the school budget, which 
>might otherwise pay teachers, or a council's income that could be 
>used on other services. Ministers argue that savings made by more 
>efficient private-sector managers will more than offset the costs, 

>but the evidence so far is unconvincing. However, when the 
>contractors standards do not meet all of the requirements, or the 
>deal becomes not profitable enough, the contractor can pull out of 

>the deal, leaving its mess behind it. The government (taxpayers) 
>are left to pay for it to be refinanced and meanwhile the 
>school/uni/hospital must carry on.
>
>Like hire purchase, the government ends up paying several times 
>the original bill. This government is now building up debt for 
>future governments to carry. Firms can walk out at any point if 
>they decide on their own grounds, if they want to. Furthermore, 
>the new services are only designed to last for the contract period 

>- expecting that in 20 years time, another contract must be made. 
>The full effect of the PFI will not be felt until 20 years time - 
>when it will be FAR TOO LATE to do anything except regret mistakes 

>whilst private companies bleed our public services dry and the 
>politicians that made the mistakes will be long gone.
>
>Well documented are the mishaps of PFI, and are beginning to 
>emerge onto our newsscreens. So too are Public Private 
>Partnerships [PPP], most notably the London Underground. Despite 
>profits of £2 million per week, the private firms still failed on 
>87 out of 181 performance measures. Business elites cite the many 
>successes of PFI as a reason to continue with the sell-off of our 
>country to private firms. They take for granted a certain 
>proportion that goes wrong. But when people's health and education 

>are at stake, can we afford for a few projects to go wrong?
>
>And where does the G8 fit into this? The crucial thing to consider 

>is WHOSE INTERESTS ARE THE GOVERNMENT ACTING IN. Are they acting 
>in the interests of the people, as they have a democratic mandate 
>to do, or do they act in the interests of business? Are they 
>acting in your interests? Is the government making it easier or 
>harder for private firms to get hold of OUR (taxpayers) money? 
>These are questions we must never stop to ask ourselves.
>
>We must also think about how far the UK is willing to go along 
>with the Project for a New American Century. This forms the stated 

>aims of neoliberalism - private ownership of everything. Stop to 
>consider how far this can go if pursued to death, and whether we 
>want anything and everything to have an 'owner'. This goes from 
>material goods to ideas. Where will this stop? Who is going to 
>stop it?
>
>But surely, this privatisation has nothing to do with G8 because 
>they're not talking about it? EXACTLY. Its buried in the agenda. 
>Bu
>WE do not feature in any part of the decision making process on 
>key issues such as this. It all happens behind closed doors. They 
>set the agenda to talk about issues we have been talking about for 

>years. When the leaders talk at G8, think about what assumptions 
>they have made and what they are NOT talking about but is implicit 

>in their rhetoric.
>
>We all have the power to do something. Use your voice, your brain, 

>your body, your wallet and your vote wisely. And let them know at 
>Gleneagles!
>
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http://anarchist606.blogspot.com
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