No wonder I'm looking for the crahs to happen; it's not schadenfreude, it's the desperate need for these people to be wiped out by reality from dominating the bullypulprit and poisoning public discourse with their ideology while their friends steal and steal and break and break.
Unfortunately, I´m not sure it happens this way. Capitañlism needs periodic crises to soften up the populace for ever more extreme measures - higher prices (to reduce demand - not increase profits - you understand). When the brown-outs do start you can expect carte blanche for inexperienced "entrepreneurs" to move in and take over the industry.
I was once fortunate enough to lead a really innovative and advanced team in a particular field of technology in a global business. We had a track record of successfully implementing this technology in subsidiaries - but not yet in head office. I made a play to have our technology accepted as the global standard to be implemented in head office as well.
A technology "strategist" who had an office next to the relevant main board direct produced a powerpoint presentation promising similar benefits (having seen our solution) with a totally untried (and as yet non-existent) technology. His "solution" was declared the corporate standard.
It was never implemnted, but that was not the point. He got millions of ponds for a ridiculous project with only a tenuous chance of success. Capitañism is really an old boys club which is about favouring OUR people/shareholders and not THEIRS - especially the French.
Any focus on actually producing something useful is actually rather boring and counter-productive - I was gobsmacked that powerpoint vapourware could be favoured over a proven production solution with actually delivered superior capabilitities.
But I got it wrong. I should have produced a fancier powerpoint presentation, asked for a lot more money, and gotten an office next to the relevant Director. I wasn´t in the club. And neither is EDF. "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
As to 'being part of the club', I don't think it matters much here, as reality asserts itself. The irony is that the shareholders might still be vindicated: for instance, if there are brownouts in the UK, turning into a major political crisis, and the government ends up making expensive promises to ensure immediate investment, power prices would jump and then remain high, giving BE more value for its residual production (and you'll have yet more crowing about how government is incompetent...). On the other hand, a crisis might also force the UK government to sell at any price to whoever will take the damn company off their hands, which might mean a lower price. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
