At least in my country (Netherlands) the neoliberals have decided every single fucking thing needs to turn a consistent profit and the company who handles the grid is only allowed to upgrade when there is “utility and necessity” which in essence means any time they want to upgrade in anticipation of future demand everyone involved drags their feet.
The result of that policy is that now there is a ridiculous waiting list for commercial grid connections and there are plans to also restrict new high capacity residential connections. For a country that has been run by businessmen for the past 20 years we sure seem to have an awful lack of long-term vision.
Don’t even get me started on the attitude that people here have towards A/C. We don’t live in a country that’s only hot for 1 week a year anymore but lots of ppl just won’t accept that. I guess it’s climate coping/denial combined with wanting to feel superior to Americans.
We will be cooked (literally)
EDIT: I just remembered that yesterday they unexpectedly had to cut power to 10000 homes for 14 minutes and it wasn’t even a hot day.
It’s crazy to me because surely you would be extracting more wealth from working people (and raising the blessed holy statistic known as GDP) with a grid that actually works and can take on new customers. I know they’re evil but I guess they’re also just stupid.
First they underprice anyone to dominate the market and end up as the only one left. They do this on borrowed money and then they need to monetize. That’s the R, the rest is other people’s money who cares.
Stuff like infrastructure should most of the time not be privatized and remain in state hands.
As a business you just need to outbid your opponent for the electric grid or whatever.
Then you do the bare minimum to say you delivered within budget etc.
People are sheep and won’t notice until they are sitting in the dark.
The company that had a realistic cost in their offer was probably not picked.
Which means whoever does the picking also doesn’t care about anything further away in time than “project declared done, money has been payed”. Time for me to take a break (been lamenting about these things for too long now)
At least in my country (Netherlands) the neoliberals have decided every single fucking thing needs to turn a consistent profit and the company who handles the grid is only allowed to upgrade when there is “utility and necessity” which in essence means any time they want to upgrade in anticipation of future demand everyone involved drags their feet.
The result of that policy is that now there is a ridiculous waiting list for commercial grid connections and there are plans to also restrict new high capacity residential connections. For a country that has been run by businessmen for the past 20 years we sure seem to have an awful lack of long-term vision.
Don’t even get me started on the attitude that people here have towards A/C. We don’t live in a country that’s only hot for 1 week a year anymore but lots of ppl just won’t accept that. I guess it’s climate coping/denial combined with wanting to feel superior to Americans.
We will be cooked (literally)
EDIT: I just remembered that yesterday they unexpectedly had to cut power to 10000 homes for 14 minutes and it wasn’t even a hot day.
Well thats why, why would they ? why would voters elect them
Lots of temporarily embarassed millionaires + red scare propaganda still carved into people’s minds
Business men are myopic and not strategic for 30 years into the future? I am so shocked! 🙀 😲
They optimized their profit, just not yours you gotta understand. I.e the money is not gone it’s just somewhere else.
It’s crazy to me because surely you would be extracting more wealth from working people (and raising the blessed holy statistic known as GDP) with a grid that actually works and can take on new customers. I know they’re evil but I guess they’re also just stupid.
Take my upvote. I too fail to see how “make something work well, get more money” isn’t the obvious default choice for businesses
Because making it work well costs more than making it work barely, and those costs are ultimately profits not being paid to shareholders now.
Those making the decisions get paid their bonuses based on the now, not the maybe, in the future.
It’s really that simple.
Its like they only know the R in ROI. This short term thinking is the main driver of enshittification I think.
That, and the fact that the infinite growth model is a basic underpinning of capitalism. The Market must grow, always, or the whole carousel stops.
First they underprice anyone to dominate the market and end up as the only one left. They do this on borrowed money and then they need to monetize. That’s the R, the rest is other people’s money who cares.
Thank you. I still hate they don’t think about anything else at all, but this explains it
Stuff like infrastructure should most of the time not be privatized and remain in state hands.
As a business you just need to outbid your opponent for the electric grid or whatever. Then you do the bare minimum to say you delivered within budget etc. People are sheep and won’t notice until they are sitting in the dark.
The company that had a realistic cost in their offer was probably not picked.
Which means whoever does the picking also doesn’t care about anything further away in time than “project declared done, money has been payed”. Time for me to take a break (been lamenting about these things for too long now)