I never said anything about ‘oppressive capitalists’. Those were your words, not mine. I work IN a company, I work FOR companies; and I know them to be staffed and owned by human beings. Ergo, self-interest.

Nor id I say they were ‘lining their own pockets at the expense of the poor’. What I said was that the captains of industry always appear to pay themselves what was in the contract, even when the company clearly isn’t fit for purpose.

I also suggested (referring specifically to the railways) that the practice of sub-contracting services to the cheapest bidder had compromised safety. That’s not a blanket criticism of capitalism – there are plenty of companies who don’t do that because they know it compromises what they do; and there are plenty of government departments who force it on local councils (they disguise it with weasel words like ‘best value’ but they mean ‘cheap’) because they’re making such a fudge-up of managing the public purse at the top.

Please read again, and stop yourself before you start chucking around phrases like ‘lefty rant’. Yes, I don’t much like the principles of capitalism, but I’m not exactly keen on the state-dominated alternative either. I figure it’s about time we stopped clinging on to all these outworn economic models and political groupings and started figuring out a system that works for the 21st century.

I respecfully suggest, sir, that it is you who doesn’t wish to leave the cave, and the blind comfort of clinging to a worldview where capitalism and socialism remain diametrically opposed for all time.

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Were that only true.

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The only difference between a ‘state-run’ organisation and a private one is the shareholding. Saying that state-run industries don’t work is equivalent to saying that the management appointed to such organisations has been poorly selected historically. The upshot of this is that hasn’t worked is not the same as CAN’T work.

For the record, and to prove the lie in “Wherever and whenever it has been tried, it has resulted in poverty, suffering and totalitarianism.” I recommend you examine Telkom, Vodacom and Eskom in South Africa. All are publicly listed organisations which are predominantly owned by the South African government. These companies are highly profitable and, according to consumer reports, provide better service than their UK counterparts.

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As captain B. said there is no competing railways – studies show that improving public services performance benefits from both public/private management techniques (recent ESRC + Oxford Univ research project although transport is not included)..

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What a typical lefty rant. Yes, companies work out of self-interest. Shock horror. They are in the business of making money, which means they are required to strike the right balance between offering a better service and a cheaper price than the competition. If they end up compromising the service, then the punters will vote with their feet and go elsewhere. It’s a win-win situation.

Now obviously, as I’ve already said, such competition cannot exist in a private monopoly like the train lines, so this is a bit of a farce. But to dismiss private enterprise and the free market as a bunch of oppressive capitalists lining their own pockets at the expense of the poor is rubbish.

Unfortunately, many people are consumed by such envy and resentment that they cannot stand the idea of other people having more wealth and power than themselves, even if it results in companies like Tesco and Ford, who employ millions and provide cheap goods and services for millions more. Oh, of course they’ll dress up their prejudice as being caring and compassionate. They’ll babble on about the contradictions of capitalism and point to world poverty, as if free trade is to blame. They’ll happily ignore the way that it has lifted countless millions out of lives of penury and, if they get stuck, they’ll probably start ranting about environmental damage and animal rights. But history is against them, and they know it.

These are the doomsayers who warned against leaving the cave, who told the early explorers to turn back, and who smashed the textile machines to hold back progress. They’re the ones who view other people’s success as a slight and other people’s suffering as proof of life’s injustice. They look upon nationalisation as a way of foiling the people they hate: the willing, able, confident people who have made them feel inadequate all their lives. The state is an expression of their own hopes and wishes: an avenging angel, whose wings they can hide behind as it deals out ‘justice’ on society.

The idea that state-run industries and workers co-ops can provide a quality service at a reasonable price is such a load of bunkum that I’m amazed people still have the audacity to believe it. Wherever and whenever it has been tried, it has resulted in poverty, suffering and totalitarianism. Unfortunately, some think this is a small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing the people they hate suffer.

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