On 6/07/2016 5:30 PM, Chris Johnson wrote:
On Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:27:22 +1000 JanW wrote:
I find it amazing that the country could build an electricity grid,
a rail network, a road network, and HUGE water pipelines many many
decades ago, but now is afraid to invest in building the 21st
century equivalent. If people back then behaved as they are today,
we would still be walking or riding horses.
Not every network pays back its costs, and at any time - not only in
days of cost-benefit/user-pays/debt aversion - building improvements to
an existing network service is very expensive.
You would not be surprised if you looked at the history in a little more
detail.
The first British railway phase made enormous profits - subsequent
railways typically lost money but the larger network provided enormous
social benefits. ...
The second phase of railway constriction including Australian railways
never made much money ...
In Australian telecommunications, the rot set in when the Overland
Telegraph was duplicated. They used copper! The single iron wire was
more than enough. The unmitigated extravagance of it all!
I get the feeling that past generations recognised value beyond
short-term return on investment. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, for example,
eventually paid off the debt incurred in its construction, but its value
to the city and the nation remains far greater than its price.
Overall, the road network doesn't pay the costs of building and
maintenance, but its value is far more than its price. The same can
probably be said of most, if not all, infrastructure. That's probably
why involving the private sector is generally disastrous. That sector
needs short-term return on its investment, which natural-monopoly
infrastructure will not deliver.
Conservatives, in particular, have great difficulty perceiving value.
Cost therefore looms disproportionately large. Conservatives of the past
had more courage. They conquered their fears and got things done. Sadly,
today's Conservatives have degenerated to timid ineffectuality.
--
David Boxall | Illegitimi non carborundum.
| (Don't let the bastards
http://david.boxall.id.au | grind you down.)
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