Privatization of Heathrow blamed for the mess

[emsimon33]

As I sit stranded in London because Heathrow can't seem to deal with the cold and snow, I am pleased to learn that the mayor of London is blaming the mess that has continued at Heathrow on the fact that the for-profit Spanish company that now owns Heathrow did not spend the money necessary to be able to handle weather like London has experienced the past few days.

I hope that the real cause of the mess at Heathrow makes the U.S. press so that Americans will think twice before they sell everything off to the highest for-profit bidder:


"BAA, the operator at Heathrow, owned all the big airports in southern England. BAA’s owner, the Spanish Ferrovial, had borrowed heavily to buy the airport operator. It had big debts to service. Thus BAA shunned investment in basic infrastructure in favour of quick profits. The only real money spent on Heathrow went on expanding the terminals’ lucrative retail concessions...."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6c2aa45c-0c75-11e0-8408-00144feabdc0.html#axzz18jDgHyR7

[BlueIris]

1. Heh. "Britain shamed by Heathrow's terminal mess."

At least their papers are a little less ashamed to call it like it is (a mess...created by corrupt corporations.)

[spanone]

2. k&r

[Celebration]

3. gosh, I hope you get out of there soon

It does seem ridiculous. London, of all places, is likely to get snow--it isn't as if it is in the tropics!

[emsimon33]

10. This is what happens when profits are the only motive.

[ikri]

17. London very rarely gets much snow

This is the worst snow that London has seen in about 20 years. Britain as a whole doesn't as much snow or cold weather as other countries on the same latitude thanks to the gulf stream & the sea (though we don't get as hot in summer either), London gets even less snow largely due to urban warming so they tend to panic if they get an inch of snow.

[malaise]

4. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Snow is trickling down - fuck the neo-liberals.
The good news is that the Chambers of Commerce have shot themselves in the foot supporting all the crazy privatization. The bad news is that lots of people won't make it home for Christmas.

[spanone]

5. just saw the mayor on nbc...'i don't control the airports.......yet'

privatization is ONLY about profit. doing the right thing seems to not be the option.

[Habibi]

7. Saw that NBC report too.

Is it true that the airport shut down over *5 inches* of snow??

[emsimon33]

8. Or less...yes

With Heathrow so easily disabled, I don't see how London got the Olympics.

The major streets are clear in London but they can't seem to get Heathrow cleared. My flight to Zurich today was canceled. I grew up on Virginia Beach, VA, and this little bit of snow that Lonson experienced would have been cleared from Norfolk Airport in a day or less. This is a real crime.

[gratuitous]

6. They shunned investment in infrastructure for quick profits?

Nobody could have foreseen that!

God, this just gets so depressing whenever a public accommodation gets turned into a would-be profit center. If running an airport was so damned lucrative, you'd see private airports springing up everywhere. But running and maintaining a major airport isn't profitable enough to run as a private enterprise, which is why it has to be subsidized through all kinds of taxes, levies and surcharges, visible and not-so-visible. As we see with Heathrow, when the choice comes down to servicing its corporate debt or making airport improvements, Ferrovial is going to make sure its creditors are happy and travelers can go hang.

[emsimon33]

9. Yep, you nailed it.

[Starry Messenger]

11. No! Have faith in the invisible hand!

It will right all! :sarcasm: Somehow those free market "fixes" never *do* get around to doing what its priests insist it does.

[bullwinkle428]

12. I wonder if it's the same Spanish company that purchased the Indiana Turnpike?

[WinkyDink]

14. I'm thinking it's "leased" for 99 years.

[WinkyDink]

13. My beloved (no snark) DEMOCRATIC Gov. Rendell wanted to "lease" our Turnpike to Spaniards, also.

We nipped THAT one in the proverbial bud.

[emsimon33]

15. Good thing that you did or when it snowed

they probably would not have invested in snow removal equipment and supplies because making obscene profits are more important than human lives.

When are people in the US going to wake up and realize that they are the government but they have to stand up and let this truth be known! Government is only as good as the people.

[Hannah Bell]

16. such a longstanding pattern, I don't know why people aren't WISE TO IT YET!

Buy a corp using debt, buy more assets & run up more debt using the corp assets as collateral, let the existing operations & assets run down & go to hell, declare bankruptcy, sell off the assets for a song to your cronies, & get off scot-free.

this is the plan for public assets also.