Something at the ASI. Will Hutton should remember where he’s writing before he makes his statements.
Timmy Elsewhere
2 responses
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Of course, the Guardian prides itself on being the only paper with a “readers’ editor”, so perhaps his argument is not only wrong, but wrong by 180 degrees?
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Incidentally, what do you think of the argument that private equity firms are damaging the economy by buying companies, stripping their assets, selling them off and letting them go out of business?
Someone was saying the other day that something like 80% of Sainsbury’s valued price came solely from the land it owned rather than the business that it did – if that’s the case, then there’s a strong incentive for a private equity firm to buy Sainsbury’s, asset strip it, and close it down.
However, something tells me that removing a supermarket from the arena that Tesco hangs out in would not be very good for the British consumer.
Tim adds: Well, by your numbers the private equity bidders would be guaranteed a 20% loss, so I doubt they would do that.
However, if the land were more valuable as something other than supermarkets, then, yes, why not? Moving resources from low value to higher value uses is precisely what makes us all rich.
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