Rebirth of Hong Kong 1981

  Chapter 734 UK Coal Industry

  In the living room

  Yang Chen is discussing with Yuan Tianfan which industry companies to acquire in the UK. There are many car companies in the UK, and there are many choices. There is no need to worry about this.

  Others that are more profitable must be industries that are convenient for monopoly. As long as monopoly is involved in anything, there will inevitably be unimaginable benefits.

   Even a crematorium, the stakes involved, can be surprising.

Led by industries such as coal, electricity, oil and steel in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, as the most thoroughly industrialized country, has great demand in these areas, and these industries are also highly monopolized, and the scale of state-owned enterprises involved in the above industries is also large. Sell ​​shares, privatize, and turn a profit in no time.

   You may wonder why the UK, as a capitalist country, still has the problem of state-owned enterprises.

   This point must start after World War II.

  After the end of World War II, the British Labour Party came to power and set off two waves of nationalization, especially in infrastructure and important industries. After these two waves, the proportion of British state-owned enterprises in the national economy reached its peak.

   Especially in important strategic industries such as coal, power generation, postal services, railways, communications, and shipbuilding, the proportion of state-owned enterprises has almost reached 100%.

   In addition to these infrastructure fields, in many competitive fields, the proportion of the state-owned economy has also reached an astonishing height.

  For example, in the steel and civil aviation industries, the proportion of British state-owned enterprises exceeds 70%, and in the fields of automobile manufacturing and petrochemicals, the proportion of the state-owned economy is also close to 50%.

   Of course, after the war, the United Kingdom implemented nationalization, and there were unavoidable difficulties in it.

  After World War II, the British economy was in shambles. Facing a country devastated by the war, the state-owned economy played a very important role in restoring infrastructure and restarting strategically important industrial fields.

   With the help of the country's abundant capital, state-owned enterprises did not stick to the advantages of short-term effects, and gradually played a leading role in intensive industries such as infrastructure and heavy industry, which played a very important role in the recovery of the British post-war economy.

   However, as the war went away, the drawbacks of state-owned & enterprises were immediately manifested.

   First of all, the production efficiency has dropped significantly, and most state-owned enterprises are facing a very embarrassing situation, that is, the problem of profit and loss.

   Of course, there are some objective reasons. After the economic recovery, the tertiary industry represented by the financial and service industries has increasingly become the backbone of the national economy.

   And factories, led by heavy industry, are collectively in trouble due to shrinking demand.

   Especially the oil crisis in the 1970s further aggravated the plight of traditional industries.

   At the same time, British state-owned enterprises, inevitably, like state-owned enterprises in other countries, have drawbacks such as bloated institutions and bureaucracy.

  The big pot of rice lacks incentives, so that workers are not motivated, competitive and innovative.

An enterprise without innovation and competitiveness will only go to extinction in the end. In the 1980s, the world economy was in a stage of vigorous development, and the third industrial wave had been set off. Facing the rapid development of emerging economies, Mrs. Thatcher The Conservative Party, led by it, knows that if Britain does not change, it will really become a second-rate country.

  The former hegemony was robbed by the United States. If it loses its status as a first-class country, then the days of the United Kingdom will follow. I'm afraid it will be more difficult.

  The state-owned & enterprises have suffered losses for successive years, which has put huge financial pressure on the British government, the deficit has greatly increased, and the economy has also fallen into inflation.

   Selling state-owned enterprises to private individuals is the most urgent matter for the British government at present. Yuan Tianfan had received instructions from Yang Chen a long time ago to collect first-hand information.

   "Boss, I think we should not enter the coal mining industry for the time being. Now the trade unions and the British government are having a lot of trouble. If we get involved, it will easily lead to boycotts."

   Yang Chen said with great interest: "Why, do you think the British government will shut down all domestic coal mining companies in a short period of time?"

  Yuan Tianfan said: "This is hard to say, but with the widespread use of new energy sources such as natural gas and oil, coal is hard to say in other places, but it will definitely be gradually replaced in Europe."

   Yuan Tianfan's words can be said to be the cruelest reality facing British coal miners today.

   Once upon a time, coal was the bloodline that drove the British Industrial Revolution and was closely linked to the national fortunes of the British Empire.

As one of the countries with the highest coal reserves, the United Kingdom has a large number of coal mines in the British Isles, and the main coal-producing areas are located near rivers or close to the sea, which saves a lot of effort in transportation, because that allows the United Kingdom to transfer coal It is more convenient to send to various places.

  In the long history, coal, together with steel and steam engines, has been regarded as a symbol of the first industrial revolution originating from Britain. The rise and fall of the coal industry is closely related to the national fortunes of the United Kingdom, and has achieved Britain's leading position in the industrial revolution.

  The British anthracite has a high combustion value and little residue, so it has become the best fuel for navy ships of various countries.

   From the 1860s, the industrial revolution in Britain began, and coal became the core of British economic growth and the driving force for the industrialization of European and American countries.

At its peak, Britain had more than one million workers and more than 3,000 coal mines.

   Banning coal mines will undoubtedly ruin the jobs of countless people for the UK.

   Of course, the closure of coal mines in the UK does not mean that coal mines do not make money. On the contrary, coal mines in the UK are the most profitable of all state-owned enterprises.

   The main reason why the British government wants to close coal mines is the air pollution caused by coal and the outbreak of toxic smog incidents, which made the British government intend to completely shut down coal mines.

   Since the 1950s, severe smog has often occurred in London and other big cities, especially the famous "toxic smog incident". Under the heavy air pollution, London residents suffered from widespread breathing difficulties and caused more than 4,000 deaths.

   All this, the main culprit is coal.

   Yang Chen knew that several important strikes in the UK were all related to coal miners, but in the face of coal miners' strikes, the British government did not stop the pace of closing coal mines.

  The coal companies in the UK are very profitable. Under Thatcher's privatization reform, anyone who owns a coal company can enjoy the benefits.

   However, this kind of good things will not last long. Investing in coal may see benefits in the short term, but not in the long term.

  Especially the coal miners are under the strong suppression of the government, and it will be difficult for the British coal enterprises to obtain favorable development.

   However, what Yang Chen is looking at is not the coal itself, but the power plant behind the coal. The energy used for power generation in the UK has always come from coal.

   Those large coal mining enterprises have a very extensive power generation business. Electricity is a livelihood enterprise that can be met but not sought after. If you miss it, you will lose an opportunity.

  ——

   (end of this chapter)