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While I can agree with you on the effect such a move would have on ISA's etc and those investors that have come to depend on them you do have to remember that this is also a vestige of Thatcherite policy. The bold dream of putting shares into the hands of everyone was always doomed to failure because of the other great legecy, greed. It was always inevitable that, once distributed all other economic factors were going to result in those shares accumulating into the hands of a monied few and the large financial institutes they support. Those same people that were bailed out in the Lloyds fiasco when their incomes were threatened as a result of the very wagers they were living off. They 'bet' that Lloyds would always profit and then cried when their 'bet' did not win, if I went to the bookies three days in a row, won the first two and then lost on the third would I get my money back?
As to 'inherent inifficiencies', how are nationilised industries any different to private? The work force, those that keep every business going, are the same, working for the same wage. The only difference is in the management who would be working to a different set of rules whereby profit would go straight back into improving the business. Are you saying that without greed there would be no motivation to do a good job, and, if so, what does that say about doctors, nurses, teachers, health care assistants, PCSO's, firemen, lifeboatmen etc. etc.?