How can anyone fail to see through PFI?

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How can anyone think using private money to build hospitals and schools is a good idea? As far as I can see the reasons not to are screamingly obvious and pretty irrefutable - am i missing something?

If it's private, it's an investment. If it's an investment, they'll give money now in return for more money later. If they want more money later, it'll have to come from the taxpayer. Ergo, the total cost to the taxpayer in the long term is greater with PFI.

Is this not the bleeding obvious?

Comments

And more ...

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Everyone who has replied so far is correct; there are many reasons why the "screamingly obvious" truth Paul identifies is ignored by government. Here's another one. Politicians are elected for a four or five year term; most elections are followed by a re-shuffle. That imposes an event horizon on accountability for political decisions, as a new minister can always blame their predecessor. However, proximate spending decisions can get a minister into a fight with the Treasury, who are the nastiest bunch of bastards in the civil service and who almost always win. And a minister who picks fights with the Treasury and loses doesn't look like a strong leadership contender.

The way I was given it by a mid-level civil servant, who got it from an EDS manager, is that if a government department needs a computer system, and is given a choice between paying £100M now and £1M a year for ten years, or paying £20M a year for ten years, they will always pick the more expensive option because it still works out cheaper over the period of their tenure in office.

Re: And more ...

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Of course, we all know how well EDS-built government systems work...