privatisation is a 4 letter word

whenever the word privatisation is mentioned, it means several things, improve efficiency, improve profits and higher price or cost to the users. the problem here is that improve efficiency may not take place. but higher profits and higher price/cost can be guaranteed. the reason is simple. it is now a private organisation and is answerable to shareholders and must return profits to shareholders. and profits is never enough, be it $10 mil, $30 mil or $100 mil. every year the profit must increase by a certain percentage to show growth. so $100 mil profit this year, next $100 mil again is no good. it must be $110 mil at least. what it means to the consumers is very simple too. you have to pay more. that is only a natural thing in privatisation especially in a monopolistic business. the other problem associated with privatisation is the change of priority. the business objective is no longer the service or products but profits. hospitals now find it their business to generate revenue and profit. not to provide medical care. no money...just too bad. you must pay for your medical service which comes at a level equivalent to how much you pay. the reason and objective of public transport is not public transport per se but profit. if education goes along the same path, then educating the young of the nation is not important but profit. can't afford to pay for quality(ie expensive) education, go elsewhere. and the cost of all these quality stuff must only go up. privatisation is a word to be fear in the singapore context. is there such a thing called 'not for profit' organisation in the private sector? even charitable organisations talked about revenue and profits to motivate their stuff and pay them well. it is only a matter of time before we privatise the govt and the whole country.