Re: Re: Brits want nationalisation of rail.

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:26 PM 12/21/2000 -0800, you wrote:
> Chris writes about the privatized British railroad system.  It makes me think
> that we might do well to construct a web site with a catalog, short
> description and links to failures of privatization and deregulation.

today I went to the Target mega-variety store  [non-union, like all of its
ilk, WalMart, etc.] to buy some Xmas lights. A Black woman behind me in
line asked me if I was going to be showing them outside my house. No, I
said, they're for indoor use for only a couple of hours a day (at most)
because of the electricity emergency. What do you know, but she starts
trashing electricity "deregulation." Even since we started all this
deregulation, she says, it's been going bad. I agreed, natch, giving her
the example of the airline industry. Then the woman behind her in line
chimes in: "deregulation is just another word for 'screw the consumer!'" --
adding that it was going to get worse during the next four years. The line
moved forward before the riot started. These folks know economics pretty
well, better than most economists.

On the other hand, I noticed at the grocery store yesterday that "TV
dinners" are now called "family meals." Sign of the times. (For those who
don't know, these are frozen dinners, complete with inedible corn or
what-not. My son _loves_ them.)

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine