The privatization fad

[SHRED]

Brought to you by the Republican Party.

"Privatization" rarely, if ever, works.
Low bid contractors see Uncle Sucker as an endless stream of funds that they do not mind ripping off. Oversight, in many instances, is practically non-existent. Our tax dollars are not used efficiently this way.
It is a common myth that private contractors can do the job at less cost. Many Municipalities have studied it and backed off realizing this fact.

[annabanana]

1. If you look beneath the embroidery. .

You will see that the full equation is "Privatize the Profit, Nationalize the Cost"

[robcon]

2. There is no greater waste than municipal/state ownership.

The systems become patronage mills for the party in power. See the College of Medicine and Dentistry in NJ...

-Human Resource dept. lists of politicians ranked by number of patronage slots they can fill
-Extensive fraud

"Reports of Shredding Lead to Subpoenas for University"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/19/nyregion/19medical.html?ex=1156305600&en=c936915f0aa2b2b9&ei=5070

"New Jersey Medical School Gives Blatant Lesson in Spoils System"
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C12FA3B540C768CDDAD0894DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fU%2fUniversity%20of%20Medicine%20and%20Dentistry%20of%20New%20Jersey

[annabanana]

3. And private ownership is SO good for the commonwealth...

The whole damn country is being run like Enron...

[Selatius]

8. I would say greater waste is found in the for-profit private sector, too

If you look at private health care providers, you have costs associated with just advertising and public lobbying of politicians, and we have to look at the fact that these corporations exist to make a profit, first and foremost. Your health care is secondary to that goal, and we see cases proving that every year when they exploit loopholes in the contract to dump patients who have become "too expensive." Who pays for their profit margins, their advertising, and their lobbying campaigns? You, the lonely worker.

In a system run by the state, you can subtract the cost of advertising, and remove the profit margins, and the cost of public lobbying from the equation. All you have to worry about are the costs associated with providing care to people, and research and development into new medicine, new medical technology, and treatment techniques. However, the trade-off is that you now have to worry about bureaucratic waste.

In the absence of competition, there can be less pressure to remain as efficient as possible with respect to bureaucratic overhead costs, but if state-run health care could be run as efficiently as Social Security can, then the risks do not outweigh the benefits, especially if the system is set up to be largely independent of the whims of politicians and their system of awarding the spoils among the winners. This is why Brown got appointed to run FEMA, and THAT is what we DO NOT want with a state-run health care system.

[izzybeans]

5. That's what happens when a school is run like a business.

They call it the ol' boys network. Which is the biggest source of corporate waste as well.

[peacetalksforall]

4. Some say our country is superior to other countries. Some in our

country are superior at recognizing an opportunity, crafting it in propaganda to make it seem like a bonanza for the citizens, having the right friends in Congress to facilitate the takeover, and the desire to steal from the people.

The most outrageous act is privatizing our vote. Talk about no oversight (until recently by private, concerned citizens who did the work of our government).

Privatizing our water is coming. Privatizing our highways has started. They took our airwaves. They put corporate spying mechanisms in the satellites on our tax dollars to privatize knowledge and facilitate spying. The FDA is for all purposes multi-privatized.

Oversight - a process of listening to and believing lies?

How many atrocities against our country do we have to wake up to?

[GreenArrow]

6. the more things become privatized

the less your citizenship matters.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. We've been targeted 2-3 times.

At what point can we claim that we're being harrassed?