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this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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Mildly Infuriating
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"They're a private company" (with a state-sponsored monopoly on an essential good).
I don't know how anybody is surprised by this. Who do you think would buy a privatized municipal water supplier, other than people trying to squeeze as much money as possible from a population with no recourse and no say in the matter?
It was a Thatcher-era thing, and despite being evil and wrong about nearly everything, she at least thought what she was doing would help normal people. In the case of privatisation, it was accompanied by a big push to get normal people to buy shares in the newly formed companies. As a result, the water companies are mostly owned by pension funds and there's a large chunk that's normal people owning a tiny bit each. That's then meant that any attempt to claw back illegally paid dividends (the companies have a legal duty to invest in keeping the water working and haven't been doing so) would tank loads of people's pensions, as would dissolving the companies or putting stronger restrictions on paying out dividends.
The whole system's all knotted together in a way that makes all the obvious solutions cause other big problems, and the government can't afford to cause big problems when the polls have Reform so far ahead on account of them just claiming the obvious solutions will work flawlessly and not giving a shit about whether that's true. Everything's so on fire that it can't be extinguished within a single electoral term, let alone rebuilt, so it's become the priority to avoid upsetting anyone before the next election, lest the flamethrowers get voted in again only with napalm as fuel this time instead of petrol because the Tories have been eclipsed.
Oh no, she did not think it would help normal people.
Just think about what kind of system you're describing: local people owning shares of their utilities. That's ownership by the populace. So, you know, public ownership. Like the system already in place.
The story you're describing is just an attempt to sell redistribution to people who are not willing to think. Even in the best case, this would be a giant rent-seeking scheme for banks and pension funds. And we're definitely not living through the best case here.
Stop trying to whitewash politicians. Especially not the ones who showed time and time again that they don't give a shit about the literal survival of anyone poorer than them.
Steal the cake from the public.
Slice it up and sell the slices to the fatcats at discounted prices.
Throw a few crumbs towards members of the public and claim that "now everybody can own it".
It's been the neoliberal strategy for privatizing public assets since the very start.