Capital Economics (Part 2)

Amidst the government cuts and pressures on the National Health Service and the even deeper cuts that are eviscerating local government there seemed to be an encouraging moment recently when it was announced that Mr Osborne was fighting for something!
But wait – it was to protect bankers’ bonuses against the predations of those dastardly Europeans. I suppose that at least this has an awful consistency with the equally determined fight against a financial transactions tax that would have taken some of the casino out of capitalism and helped to pay down the debt by less punitive and partisan means.
But more importantly for ministers, along with any bonus reductions it would also have taken out some of the major financial contributions to conservative party coffers. Could there be a connection here? If ever a case was being made for reform of political party funding it is here. But are we likely to see it? Which will come first, putting country before party or a signal from extraterrestials? My money’s on ET!
Still on the fantasy front we come to HS2. What a colossal expenditure for so modest a gain. An acquaintance who was a senior executive in the rail transport field told me that the claims for jobs generated were totally incredible. What would all those people be doing? There are many regional rail transport improvement schemes (including at least two in Birmingham) that would make a huge and very real difference to local economies cut down on traffic pollution and reduce commuting times for many more people.
And finally in this second of three related pieces I note the excellent performance of the one rail franchise in public ownership. This was taken back after the private operator gave up, having failed to make a go of it. The result? Substantial profit to the public purse and highly satisfied passengers. The government view? Needs to be re-privatised as soon as possible!
When practical experience and good sense conflict with right wing doctrine, guess which prevails. It doesn’t matter what the public sector does; it will never be good enough. Such are the irrational strictures of capital economics.