Thursday, Sep 03, 2009
No new world order here... carry on
Times online: NM Rothschild pitches motorway privatisation plan
A radical plan to raise £100 billion by privatising the motorway network has been presented to the three main political parties by NM Rothschild, the influential investment bank.
Sell us all into slavery!
Posted by matt_the_hat @ 06:46 AM (955 views) Add Comment
27 Comments
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1. uncle tom said...
Totally off-topic, but one should never forget that the role of motorways is not only to benefit the user, but also to benefit the communities they by-pass.
Tolls will just make motorways a plaything for the rich, and push congestion back onto the old roads..
..totally wrong.
2. japanese uncle said...
Given the current widening wealth gap, the majority of population will soon find themselves unable to afford any private car ownership, and start using public transport or cycling. So this strategy for yet another exploitation will end up useless and irrelevant.
3. crunchy said...
Alex Jones knew this and spoke about it years ago along with countless other natural events. lol
I wonder why. Lucky guess?
Get your chips on route 66.
So on topic matt.
4. braindeed said...
.....ah, but the free press will never let it happen.
We're doomed.
5. uncle tom said...
JU,
Unless you live in the depths of one of our major cities, and never venture out; public transport just doesn't provide a viable alternative to running a car. In terms of financial priorities, having a car ranks very highly for the vast majority of the population.
In the 1960's we had architects extolling the virtues of their modernist slums, while they themselves lived in period mansions.
Today we have government ministers swanning around in chauffered Jags, extolling the virtues of taking the bus..
- Such elitism does not go unnoticed..
If you want to take the environment issue seriously (which this government has yet to do..) then focus on getting homes and workplaces within walking distance of each other. At present, there is a total dis-connect between planning policies for business and residence.
6. braindeed said...
uncle tom @5
- Such elitism does not go unnoticed..
Sorry, old chap.........Mostly it does just that.
7. kruador said...
This country needs to recognize that some things work best if we all own them. Roads and railways are too damn important to be left to the vagaries of private enterprise.
Look at the M6 Toll. Vast motorway, one of the best designed in the country. It's barely used because people would prefer to struggle on the congested M6 rather than pay the tolls.
8. braindeed said...
kruador @7
Look at the M6 Toll. Vast motorway, one of the best designed in the country.
:)......... mostly it works precisely because the proles have been priced off - I can remember the M1 as a racetrack and blissful experience (although being this old, I can't for the life of me remember why I wanted to go Birmingham in the first place)
9. crunchy said...
7. kruador
Another one that is totally missing the point of all this.
The name NM Rothschild being connected to this is the clincher.
Thank god for Alex Jones and Co. If more people worried about the future world they or their children will live in instead of which house
my posts would not be seem so cryptic. Hey ho!
10. japanese uncle said...
UT
Studying ordinance survey maps, you will be astonished to find such a thorough railway network once existed in every region of this land (meaning Britain as a whole). They were rendered useless and not economically viable simply by the diffusion of motorcars. Such development and transition of the modes of transport in the past century can and should be reversed, given the inevitable changes in conditions and premises of equation, not least the higher fuel costs. My argument in this instance is not politically (environmentally) motivated, but purely commercial.
11. braindeed said...
JU @10
Did you know there was a time a man could walk to Norway?
12. japanese uncle said...
bs
Are you talking about 10000 BC?
13. braindeed said...
JU .....bs? - oh dear.
Are you talking about 10000 BC?
Well it could be - lets just say it was a long time ago, and unlikely to return a while .....sound familiar?
You don't 'Do' irony, do you, 古いやつ?
14. timmy t said...
100Billion should just about pay for the McKinsey report on the NHS which is not going to be acted on...
I'd love to drive around on congested B Roads so we can line the pockets of Management Consultants!
15. uncle tom said...
"Look at the M6 Toll"
I never have. Since the new road opened, the old M6 has been fine (until they rejoin again...) I think the old road is about four miles shorter too..
16. 51ck-6-51x said...
JU @11:01
I agree. Maybe privatising the motorway network would make that happen. Why would the state consider privatisation when they could lease though?
17. Robh said...
We should all fight for the right for people to spend their lives queued up on motorways in little tin boxes; presumably driving between work and a plasterboard box on a new estate. Much better than distubing me and my fellow railway passengers with their dreadful phone conversations
Given the likely direction of fuel prices and availablility over the next few years, it would be a rather canny move to sell off any infrastructure with a limited future and reinvest in something useful
18. doomwatch said...
timmy t: allegedly the McKinsey NHS cuts report was "free". mmm I suspect they have been paid excessively in the
past and will be in the future for "other" reports. Another organisation that is likely to be lodge based at the top of the pyramid.
19. uncle tom said...
Why do people have such a love affair with the railways?
A great invention of the 19th century, it is now incapable of functioning without massive taxpayer subsidy.
Steel wheels carrying heavy carriages on steel rails are an antiquated and inflexible method of travel with very low braking speeds, and no means of avoiding obstacles.
Light carriages with pneumatic tyres running on asphalt are cheaper to build, cheaper to operate, have good brakes, can avoid obstacles, and need less energy to operate.
In other words, most commuter rail lines would function better as express coach routes..
20. Holyroller said...
If they do this, they will need to increase road tax to cover the extra wear and tear on the minor roads.
21. japanese uncle said...
UT
If millions of drivers give up private car ownership switching to trains, railway will suddenly proive a totally viable/wholesome business model, as it was 100 years ago. Revival of waterways transport must also be seriously considered.
22. braindeed said...
My mate Barney has a car that runs on nothing but his feet through the bottom - and you should hear his stereo
23. bystander said...
Wasn't Mandelson on Rothschilds yacht with Osborne a few months ago - so basically this is already a done deal and the spin will start very soon to tell us all what a great chance for better, safer, less congested roads we have if only we embrace the Rothschild way. I hope I'm wrong, but know I am not.
24. braindeed said...
bystander @21 ....Mandelson on Rothschilds yacht
Advice; Pack a case and flee.....Munchy hasn't been heard of since 09;56, and he's hardcore.
PS Avoid Switzerland.
25. letthemfall said...
All round road pricing is a more likely future than motorway pricing which is likely to make congestion worse elsewhere. Personally I look forward to it, though don't expect to see it. Living in the south is road traffic hell, and I'd put up with the changes and inconvenience necessary to live in a quieter, cleaner environment. Of course, as things stand the rich will benefit most from this. It's that old fairer society thing again.
26. drewster said...
This would conflict with the government's planned national road pricing scheme. If they sold off the motorways, they couldn't then also charge per mile.
The proposed pay-per-mile system would also be a handy mechanism for tracking all cars as they travel around the country. The government likes spying on people and would be loathe to sacrifice the tracking system.
Personally I don't object to paying tolls if they are a form of congestion charge and/or road maintenance charge, as long as the money goes to the government. Paying a private landowner is just wrong though.
Viewed from the investor's perspective, investing in toll roads is very safe and is particularly suitable for including in a pension. It delivers stable consistent long-term index-linked returns. As an investor, I'd rather buy a share in a toll road than government bonds. (Beware of peak oil though.)
27. shipbuilder said...
I have to say that this is an incredible turnaround from the usual private vs public debates.
Actually I'm all for privatisation of roads and everything else. The communist utopia was tried and failed, let's see if the free-market capitalist utopia works, I'm willing to give it a go.
Let's replace big government with the big business that everyone seems to think will run things better and bury the evils of socialism forever.
The idea that the citizens should ever have any common ownership of their country! Who comes up with these ideas? Much better that we imagine that a piece of paper backed with the threat of violence can secure a piece of our millenia old earth for an few decades old individual.
Perhaps the resultant corporatocracy will teach the next generation the lessons we have failed to learn, who knows?