'Privatize' is doublespeak for 'Looting'.

[Melissa G]

Anytime a politician says they want to 'Privatize' Social Security that is code for looting it and funneling public funds to private interests. We, the people, and those representatives who stand with us need to call them on it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak
Doublespeak is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs, "servicing the target" for bombing[1]), in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions of meaning (for example, naming a state of war "peace&quot . In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth. Doublespeak is most closely associated with political language.[2][3]

[hifiguy]

1. Privatization is just the doublespeak name

for a slow-motion version of The Shock Doctrine. Nothing more, nothing less.

[forest444]

13. That was certainly Argentina's experience:

An excerpt from tales of woe from 11 years ago, before political gears were reversed and renationalizations began:

Privatizations were part of the formula pushed on developing countries like Argentina by the World Bank and the IMF, which provided technical and financial assistance to that end.

To overcome the debt crisis (mainly the result of dictatorship-era banking deregulation and bad debts), the government obtained special powers and tools from Congress, which enacted new legislation authorizing the sale of state companies and the capitalization of debt as a form of payment. The new debts only deepened the nation's crisis.

The large increases in the rates of public services, added to weak regulatory frameworks and constant renegotiations of concession contracts, brought large profits to the privatized companies.

Between 1993 and 2000, the 200 largest companies in Argentina racked up $28.4 billion in profits, 56.8% of which were earned by privatized companies, and 26.3% by firms that had ties to those companies.

In the 1990s, inflation virtually disappeared in Argentina; but utility fees rose in line with the U.S. inflation rate, constituting an additional source of earnings for the newly privatized companies.

The linking of public services fees charged in Argentina to the U.S. inflation rate "enabled the privatized companies to pocket $9 billion dollars by late 2000," stated a study by ARI.

In addition, "the privatized firms sent 70 percent of their earnings abroad," while failing to pay the annual concession fees and to make all of the investments stipulated by the contracts, the study added.

The companies also imported large quantities of inputs and goods produced by associated firms, contracting heavy debts in dollars while violating the law that required them to give priority to Argentine products when making purchases.

http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0401a/copyright/argentinaprivatization.html

[JDPriestly]

51. Sounds a lot like the US.

[sabrina 1]

44. Exactly. Let's hope no Democrat will go along with any kind of attack on SS.

[AtomicKitten]

2. Yes it is.

Exactly.

[JeffHead]

3. I call it profitizing...

Take a public service and inject a PROFIT margin and it's supposed to be cheaper? Just ask people in Chicago how that parking meter deal is going.

[JDPriestly]

52. Excellent post. That should be the start of a new thread. If you post it as a new thread,

send me a private message on my DU mail and I will recommend it. Thanks.

[Mister Ed]

4. And usually, so is "reform". n/t

[appalachiablue]

22. Righto. If you see "reform", "strengthen", "reinvest in" lock up the silver. "Healthy Poverty" is

another oxymoron straight out of the RW stink tank playbook. It's a new one; there's a DU thread on it now.

[JEB]

5. Privatize is doublespeak for taking a rusty wire brush

to the backside of US citizens.

[aggiesal]

6. I call it Profitize n/t

[Blue Owl]

33. Fits the bill...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. Dubya went all out on this and the Public gave a resounding "FU".

[Enthusiast]

39. It's the Bush Way.

[bvar22]

42. Its the Neo-Liberal way too.

Bill Clinton supported "Private Accounts" for Social Security.

Be wary of elephants in Donkey Costumes.

[Enthusiast]

47. I'm extremely wary of them. I've seen 'em in action.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

49. You can BET they're gonna try to "improve" Social Security under Hillary.

[JDPriestly]

53. I'm on Social Security, and that is one reason that I will not vote for Hillary.

I do not trust her to take care of the Social Security Trust Fund or America's senior citizens.

What goes on in our nursing homes is scandalous enough.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. ,

,

[calimary]

9. PIRATIZE.

[unblock]

11. that's the term i use.

[kairos12]

12. Outstanding language. I will add it to my vocabulary. Thanks.

[calimary]

24. You're welcome! It's because they're nothing but damn greedy PIRATES.

They're fucking PIRATES. That's all it is, and that's all they are. This "Privatize" bullshit sloganeering is just that. Something that sounds good, but sucks.

[hifiguy]

60. Blammo.

You hit it in one. And the Wall $treet Pirate$ have never seen a program they don't want to loot.

[unblock]

10. senior moment -- what was the term for hiring political supporters, before the civil service act?

anyway, this is a workaround. if you can't fire civil servants and give your friends nice government jobs, you can simply outsource to your favorite ceo's business.

[appalachiablue]

21. nepotism, or cronys?

[unblock]

25. the word i'm looking for is more specific to political hiring.

[unblock]

27. found it -- "patronage"

[Recursion]

28. Also broadly called the "spoils system" (nt)

[JDPriestly]

54. Also, Tammany Hall.

[appalachiablue]

56. Yep, Tammany Hall which lasted into the 20th c., with 1930s Fiorello LaGuardia & others. Thought

it was just the mid-1900s era until reading more about it.

[appalachiablue]

29. patronage, spoils system, flacks? (leech, parasite)

[unblock]

30. patronage was what i was thinking of. piratizing gets around the civil service laws

you can't fire civil servants and give their jobs to political supporters, but you can give no-bid contracts to them....

[JDPriestly]

55. Precisely. Gives what look like jobs to the children and friends

of those close to the top oligarchs. Keeps the good ol boys system going.

[Initech]

14. It's also double speak for "zero regulations, accountability, oversight, or ethics."

Because the companies that believe in privitization also get away with treating their customers like shit.

[ErikJ]

15. Privatized prisons is a real racket

They need a quota of prisoners to make a return on investment so minor drug arrests go up with longer sentences. Even the judges are cronies of it.

[staggerleem]

40. Ask yourself this question:

"What motivation does a for-profit prison have to rehabilitate their prisoners, so they won't just be jailed again once they are released?"

The obvious answer is: NONE! in fact, recidivism (which government-run prisons seek to avoid) actually HELPS a private prison's bottom line. Prisons-for-profit essentially mean that the state has completely given up on any possibility that any person who violates any law can ever be rehabilitated, and that the prison system is simply about keeping the "bad apples" separated from the "good citizens" - FOREVER!

[brewens]

57. Of all states, Idaho wised up and booted the private prison crooks out.

Corrections Corporation of America or whatever they are called. The got caught violating their contract, short staffing to maximize profit among other things.

We may just now be in the process of taking control of the prisons back but the privatization thing has clearly failed. You'd think it the half-wits in this state could figure it out, more may come around.

[Scalded Nun]

16. ANYTIME you hear that word

check the back door. I guarantee you there is someone (another pol or a friend of one) waiting there with a wheelbarrow just waiting to fill it full of taxpayers (our) money.

These people have no conscience, no morals and no soul.

[Enthusiast]

38. +1

[Overseas]

17. K&R. It certainly has been so far. Privatizing the military made millions for Cheney and friends.

We got better services when military was in-house. Let's not forget the moldy food served by KBR and electrocuting troops in their showers due to faulty wiring. And moms having bake sales to buy armor for their kids in the service because our privatized contractors couldn't supply enough.

Privatizing our prison system has brought with it lobbyists pushing for tougher laws to bring in more business.

Privatizing our healthcare made it really expensive. At least the ACA is holding down costs now.

Privatization was sold to the public as a way to make things less expensive and supposedly less corrupt and has brought the opposite results.

I hope we can de-privatize all those things and more.

[duhneece]

61. You nailed so much, with so few words

Thank you...except I'm envious of your ability to express with such brevity.

[Overseas]

62. thank you for the kind words.

[billhicks76]

18. FLEECING>>>LOOTING...Make A Dem Talking Point

Pur side needs to grow some courage and be called on selling out to corporations.

[pansypoo53219]

19. or profiteering.

[Gumboot]

20. As the word 'deregulate'...

... always means 'decriminalize'...

Don't wanna go to jail? Just change the rules.

Many thanks to Greg Palast for that one.

[Enthusiast]

37. Yup.

[staggerleem]

41. Yeah ... that thing that I did that was illegal ...

howzabout you make it legal - retroactively - and I'll make a REAL nice contribution to your campaign fund.

Is there ANYBODY out there who thinks the above was never spoken to a lawmaker - or doubts that it's been done in the past?

[hibbing]

23. Tax Reform = More tax cuts for the 1%

[Enthusiast]

36. Precisely.

[Cleita]

26. K&R

[demigoddess]

31. EXACTLY!!!

[Baitball Blogger]

32. And its wayward cousins: fraud, conspiracy and coverups.

[FiveGoodMen]

34. Yes, yes, a thousand times, YES!

[Enthusiast]

35. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

'Privatize' is doublespeak for 'Looting.'

Pass it on! Truth.

[CrispyQ]

43. We don't have a democracy, we have an auction.

Privatized profits, socialized risk. It is a perversion of the
free market that they claim we have.

[bvar22]

45. Some things that should NEVER e "privaized" in a Democracy:

*Retirement (Social Security)

*Prisons

*Armed "contractors" (Mercenaries) in War Zones (or anywhere else)

*Schools

*Voting and vote tabulation machines

*Armed Police

*Hospitals and other Health Services

(feel free to add your own)

The privatization of ANY of the above should raise screaming red flags to Americans.

[KamaAina]

46. No, it's doublespeak for "Finding".

Remember?

[lame54]

48. Only if you are black - if you're white it's called gathering

[stage left]

50. Hear! Hear!

You also have to watch them when they say they're going to protect something. It usually means they're going to do their damnedest to destroy it.

[Oldtimeralso]

58. Privatize was the mantra...

for the Indiana Toll Road and the Chicago Skyway Bridge. The corporation that bought the rights is now bankrupt and the charges to the public for use of property that their tax and bond money built is skyrocketing.

[mstinamotorcity2]

59. Until I learned

the dictionary meaning I thought that's what it meant