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Privatization Of Energy

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Maarten

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A little while ago they were discussing privatizing the Energy companies, which are currently owned by the state. However, the fusion of two big companies in France right after they were privatized seemed to have scared our poor politicians, which led to the following remark by a member of our legislative branch, member of the PvdA (which literally translated would be the Worker's party) (probably comparable to someone in your House of representatives).

(I have to paraphrase a little bit because I can't remember the exact quote)

He was saying that it was a bad idea to privatize the companies in question, because then they would be very vulnerable for foreign take-overs (I don't see why this is necessarily a bad thing, but okay). When the journalist asked if forcing the companies to remain small (as they are now, compared to the Energy providers in other countries) would not harm their competitive power in other countries, the guy said something to the effect of:

Well, they should focus on the dutch market, they can make plenty of profit here.

This was just too much for me. By what right can someone ever justify the statement that "this person here is earning enough", and by what standard? It's probably just one more example of how statist most of our politicians are (at least over here), but it's very distressing that this is apparently regarded as a totally normal viewpoint. I mean, the guy was on the news (I think the economic news), although you would think that in a civilized country someone like this would get laughed off the air. Yet these types of people are given the sanction of having a reasonable viewpoint!

Edited by Maarten
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