Kleptocracy

When the English and Welsh water companies were privatised in 1989, the government took on their debt, about £5 billion in, I presume, 1989 pounds: so about £13 billion today. What that means is that the citizens of England and Wales (and probably Scotland as well) paid off this debt out of their own pockets.

Since that time the water companies have paid about £72 billion in dividends to their shareholders: presumably considerably more when corrected for inflation.

Today they have debts of £53 billion. Thames Water is probably about to go bankrupt, and if we assume the other companies do as well and get nationalised this will mean that British taxpayers will again be responsible for this debt.

This means that British taxpayers will have paid about £66 billion in 2023 pounds to pay off the debts accumulated by the water companies. As well, of course, as paying their water rates for 35 years.

And the shareholders of the companies have walked away with £72 billion, or much more.

There is a word for this: kleptocracy.