[Verse 1]
Talk about the pipes beneath the Seine, privatized then pulled back in
2010, the contract lapsed, Eau de Paris began again
No dividend to shareholders perched in some glass tower
Just a city drinking from a budget it could finally devour
Twenty-five years leased to strangers, now the meter's theirs to read
The tap came home to City Hall, no middleman to feed
[Chorus]
Renationalize, watch the balance sheet realign
Paris took the tap in twenty-ten, Berlin followed right behind
Thirteen was the year Berlin bought back what it had sold
Glas Cymru runs on members, not a shareholder to hold
Public wealth, not private debt, the menu turns, the story's told
[Verse 2]
Berlin signed the deal in 2013, clawed the cables and the mains
Paying premium for pipes it lost, counting long-term gains
No dividend extracted, just the surplus staying home
Glas Cymru's Welsh design, a company that bonds, not clones
Members instead of shareholders, profit poured right back to stone
A single A credit rating built on trust, not loans alone
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Detter and Fölster wrote the book in 2015, called it Public Wealth of Nations
Said the state's a balance sheet, not just tax and allocations
Manage assets like a fund, don't just sell the family silver
Twenty twenty-four, Westminster answers with a National Wealth Fund quiver
Billions aimed at grids and carbon capture, infrastructure gilded
Can transition keep its books clean, or get PFI-rebuilded?
[Bridge]
Three questions haunt the essay, carry them into the exam
Can the climate grid get financed without another off-book scam?
Ageing bones, rising rates, defence bills climbing like a stair
Will repression creep back in, the quiet tax on savers' share?
And is selling ever neutral once you count the full net worth?
The debtor state's old menu, served again since Tudor's hearth
Gresham's loans, the PFI wards, the arithmetic stays true
[Verse 4]
Buy it back or lease it out, the sums still have to add
Net worth hides in pipework, airports, land the ledgers never had
Privatize the asset, keep the debt, that's the oldest trick in town
Count the equity you lost and watch the "saving" fall right down
[Verse 5]
Look at Thames Water drowning in the debt it piled up high
Private equity took the cash, left the pipes to rot and sigh
Thirteen billion in the red, the regulator wrings its hands
Nationalize the losses now, that's how the old game stands
The ledger never lies for long, the public always pays
When private gain meets public pain, that's the oldest play
From Paris to the Thames estuary, the pattern holds its shape
Asset rich and cash flow poor, there's no easy escape
[Chorus]
[Outro]
Paris, Berlin, Glas Cymru whisper low
Buy it back before the next wave starts to flow
Public wealth or private lease, the menu's still the same
Study hard, the fiscal tide will call your essay's name