Rbs Chairman: Pfi Has Been A Fraud

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-42741079/rbs-chairman-pfi-has-been-a-fraud

Interesting and frank exposure of PFI. Question Time is on a bit late for me, so I hope to catch up later today on the iplayer.

[Islay]

Interesting - isn't his bank one of the many that needed bailing out due to mismanagment?

[mikey4444]

Not quite Islay !

Davies became Chair of RBS in February 2015.

That google feature is a marvellous thing on most PCs....get it on yours !

[Islay]

So RBS wasn't bailed out then?
Hmmm that means this article is wrong then?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/03/rbs-sale-fred-goodwin-bailout-years-of-losses

Google is a wonderful thing - you should try it some time!

[mikey4444]

Islay......yes RBS was bailed out, but not by Howard Davies !

So has nothing whatsoever to do with this thread, which is about PFI.

[Islay]

Perhaps I should have made it a simplier response for you and said
'isn't he in charge of a bank that required millions in public money to bail them out?'

[Islay]

Ooooo taken lessons from the puppet master again Mikey - better check those emails!

[mikey4444]

Nothing to say on the topic under discussion then Islay ?

[Islay]

Yes I think it is 2 faced for a man who runs a business that has been bailed out with public funds to slate PFI.

[Islay]

But I was just taking a leaf out of your book and changing topics as your so keen on doing!

[Kromovaracun]

RBS was bailed out from necessity though (or at the very least it seemed so at the time) as a firefighting measure. PFI arrangements are unnecessarily and wilfully set up by governments of both parties on a regular basis, and have been for decades.

[Islay]

I know Krom I worked on a project to bring and set up a PFI in the civil service - thankfully it ends in the next 5 years.

[Kromovaracun]

It's not quite fair to criticise Howard Davies over his bank then, is it?

[Islay]

I was pointing out that he could really complain about how much its cost the tax payer for PFI when his bank has taken loads of money too.

[Gromit]

Not really a revelation, everyone knew it was a fraud from the beginning.

It is a mess of our own doing. Yes Major and Brown both gleefully signed contracts because it was a political solution to a real problem.

Our infrastructure which had been badly neglected for a quarter of a century needed renewing. But it is seem as political suicide for any government to a spend money we don’t have. So if Labour and the Conservatives couldn’t borrow the money (more cheaply) they contracted building firms to borrow it, to keep it off the country’s books.

So next time you hear someone lob in the ‘magical money tree’ comment about any proposed borrowing to pay for manifesto policies, just remember that PFI is the alternative.

[youngmafbog]

//Interesting and frank exposure of PFI//

Not to me, but then with so much HP/leasing around perhaps I am in a minority. I was always taught if you cant afford it wait until you have saved for it. Something I have always followed, one exception being the house I live in of course.