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Published on Monday, August 3, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Purloining the People's Property
Every week, Marcia Carroll collects examples of privatization (that is, corporatization of the peoples’ assets). Looking at her website, privatizationwatch.org, will either make you laugh helplessly or make your blood boil.
The “off the wall” giveaways at bargain-basement prices of what you and other Americans own eclipses imagination. The latest escapes from responsible government are called “public-private partnerships” and are designed to enable the likes of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to take over highways, meter-collecting, and public buildings in deals that are loaded with complex tax advantages for the investors.
Here are two of her latest entries. Arizona lawmakers and Governor Jan Brewer are moving to fill a $3.4 billion budget shortfall by selling state-owned buildings. These include not only prisons, but also the House and Senate buildings. That’s the state legislature, fellow Americans! Metaphor becomes reality!
The proposed sale has bipartisan support and will require a leaseback by the buying corporation to the lawmakers with the right to repurchase the premises within twenty years.
The Arizona Republic reports that the deal, which includes 32 state properties, would bring in $735 million in upfront money and entail state lease payments totaling $60-70 million a year.
“We need the money,” State Minority Whip Linda Lopez, a Tuscon Democrat said, adding, “You’ve got to find it somewhere.” Well, why not rent out the backs of the state legislators to their favorite corporate funders? At least the public would get full disclosure of ownership.
“I look at it as taking out a mortgage,” practical Arizona House Majority Leader John McCormish, a Republican, told the Wall Street Journal.
The second item comes from the Denver Post, which reports that the foreign consortium, auto-estradas de Portugal (Brisa), operating the toll road Northwest Parkway under a 99-year lease, objected to improvements on a nearby public road. Under the complex leasing contract, the company could cite the improvements as an “adverse action” reducing toll revenue and the number of vehicles using the parkway. This action would presumably entitle this foreign company to compensation from Colorado taxpayers.
Last year, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell tried to push through the legislature a complex, 75-year lease of the storied Pennsylvania Turnpike in exchange for $12.8 billion up front. All kinds of tax breaks and trap-door evasions filled the 686 page lease. The Governor was prepared, for example, to agree to pay the consortium of foreign investors if new safety measures or emergency vehicles entered the toll road and affected the flow of traffic. Fortunately, the legislature rebelled and blocked the deal.
The Indiana Toll Road was turned over to private companies in 2006. The 75-year lease was for $3.8 billion, which is a little more than the cost to repair the Woodrow Wilson bridge over the Potomac River between Virginia and Washington, DC.
Tolls on the Indiana Toll Road have already doubled and are expected to double again within ten years, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Last year, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago privatized the city’s parking meters. Chicago’s inspector general concluded that the meters were worth nearly twice as much to the city as the $1.15 billion that the city received under an agreement rushed through the City Council with no civic input. A fourfold increase in meter rates this year has driven many motorists to residential neighborhoods in search of free parking spaces.
Indiana, a leader in outsourcing governmental functions to private corporations, gave the servicing of the state’s welfare program to IBM. According to the Indianapolis Star, error rates since corporatization have risen 17.5 percent last November and 21.4 percent in December.
The myth that corporatization is “better, faster, and cheaper” is falling apart. This year, the IRS announced that it will end the use of private tax collectors after consumer groups argued that taxpayers were subjected to immediate payment demands by private collectors while IRS employees would offer citizens an array of options to help pay their tax debt.
Then there are the corporatized water systems where the companies deliver poorer service at higher cost.
Since the 19th century, privatizing public functions has opened the doors to kickbacks, price fixing, and collusive bidding.
New depths of corruption were reached in Pennsylvania recently when two state judges pleaded guilty to taking bribes in return for sending youths to privately-owned jails.
After reading report after report about the vast, relentless waste, fraud, and abuse arising out of corporate contractors to the Pentagon in Iraq, why should readers be surprised at this domestic scene whereby taxpayers pay through the nose for corporations to govern them?
So, you’re not surprised. But are you indignant? Are you ready to make sure the politicians hear from you in no uncertain terms, hear from you to stop this recklessness and restore public control of the public infrastructure under accountable government?
If the state politicos try to pull a fast one, demand public hearings with thorough reviews of the proposed contracts or leasebacks. Better yet, in states like Arizona or Colorado, require any such proposals go through the open, state-wide referendum voting process.
Corporatizations such as the above just pass on to our children the burdens that our generation should have assumed itself to run government within its means funded by fair taxation.
The “off the wall” giveaways at bargain-basement prices of what you and other Americans own eclipses imagination. The latest escapes from responsible government are called “public-private partnerships” and are designed to enable the likes of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to take over highways, meter-collecting, and public buildings in deals that are loaded with complex tax advantages for the investors.
Here are two of her latest entries. Arizona lawmakers and Governor Jan Brewer are moving to fill a $3.4 billion budget shortfall by selling state-owned buildings. These include not only prisons, but also the House and Senate buildings. That’s the state legislature, fellow Americans! Metaphor becomes reality!
The proposed sale has bipartisan support and will require a leaseback by the buying corporation to the lawmakers with the right to repurchase the premises within twenty years.
The Arizona Republic reports that the deal, which includes 32 state properties, would bring in $735 million in upfront money and entail state lease payments totaling $60-70 million a year.
“We need the money,” State Minority Whip Linda Lopez, a Tuscon Democrat said, adding, “You’ve got to find it somewhere.” Well, why not rent out the backs of the state legislators to their favorite corporate funders? At least the public would get full disclosure of ownership.
“I look at it as taking out a mortgage,” practical Arizona House Majority Leader John McCormish, a Republican, told the Wall Street Journal.
The second item comes from the Denver Post, which reports that the foreign consortium, auto-estradas de Portugal (Brisa), operating the toll road Northwest Parkway under a 99-year lease, objected to improvements on a nearby public road. Under the complex leasing contract, the company could cite the improvements as an “adverse action” reducing toll revenue and the number of vehicles using the parkway. This action would presumably entitle this foreign company to compensation from Colorado taxpayers.
Last year, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell tried to push through the legislature a complex, 75-year lease of the storied Pennsylvania Turnpike in exchange for $12.8 billion up front. All kinds of tax breaks and trap-door evasions filled the 686 page lease. The Governor was prepared, for example, to agree to pay the consortium of foreign investors if new safety measures or emergency vehicles entered the toll road and affected the flow of traffic. Fortunately, the legislature rebelled and blocked the deal.
The Indiana Toll Road was turned over to private companies in 2006. The 75-year lease was for $3.8 billion, which is a little more than the cost to repair the Woodrow Wilson bridge over the Potomac River between Virginia and Washington, DC.
Tolls on the Indiana Toll Road have already doubled and are expected to double again within ten years, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Last year, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago privatized the city’s parking meters. Chicago’s inspector general concluded that the meters were worth nearly twice as much to the city as the $1.15 billion that the city received under an agreement rushed through the City Council with no civic input. A fourfold increase in meter rates this year has driven many motorists to residential neighborhoods in search of free parking spaces.
Indiana, a leader in outsourcing governmental functions to private corporations, gave the servicing of the state’s welfare program to IBM. According to the Indianapolis Star, error rates since corporatization have risen 17.5 percent last November and 21.4 percent in December.
The myth that corporatization is “better, faster, and cheaper” is falling apart. This year, the IRS announced that it will end the use of private tax collectors after consumer groups argued that taxpayers were subjected to immediate payment demands by private collectors while IRS employees would offer citizens an array of options to help pay their tax debt.
Then there are the corporatized water systems where the companies deliver poorer service at higher cost.
Since the 19th century, privatizing public functions has opened the doors to kickbacks, price fixing, and collusive bidding.
New depths of corruption were reached in Pennsylvania recently when two state judges pleaded guilty to taking bribes in return for sending youths to privately-owned jails.
After reading report after report about the vast, relentless waste, fraud, and abuse arising out of corporate contractors to the Pentagon in Iraq, why should readers be surprised at this domestic scene whereby taxpayers pay through the nose for corporations to govern them?
So, you’re not surprised. But are you indignant? Are you ready to make sure the politicians hear from you in no uncertain terms, hear from you to stop this recklessness and restore public control of the public infrastructure under accountable government?
If the state politicos try to pull a fast one, demand public hearings with thorough reviews of the proposed contracts or leasebacks. Better yet, in states like Arizona or Colorado, require any such proposals go through the open, state-wide referendum voting process.
Corporatizations such as the above just pass on to our children the burdens that our generation should have assumed itself to run government within its means funded by fair taxation.
Comments are closed
75 Comments so far
Show AllInteresting stuff.
Just read about GM having to give another 7500 pink slips to Americans because they couldn't get enough people to take early retirement or buyouts of benefits that they had earned over the years.
I think what we're seeing is the rape of America by corporations. A huge shifting of wealth upwards. This is the reason that anti-trust laws were established way back when.
I see revolution in the future.
It's gonna be ugly.
glb August 3rd, 2009 3:58 pm..............We could win the revolution without shedding a drop of blood......stop buying their shite.
glb August 3rd, 2009 3:58 pm
"I think what we're seeing is the rape of America by corporations. A huge shifting of wealth upwards. I see revolution in the future. It's gonna be ugly."
I think you're right!
Have you seen this?: http://drtenpenny.com/20090730.aspx
Obama and Bernanke will keep printing more greenbacks to hand out in the form of unemployment insurance. They don't want a repeat of 1932 when millions of unemployed, uninsured Americans showing up in DC and forced FDR to come up with solutions that benefitted somebody other than the corporations.
Mr. Nader - thank you, sir...you have individually, due to your dogged pursuit of truth and transparency, carved out an entire niche, that of consumer watchdog and citizen advocate, within our corrupted society...while it has not borne the fruit that I am sure you would hope, it has certainly made me, and many others, much more aware of the deadly serious games that are played above our heads and behind our backs...that you have persevered in spite of those who would like to dismiss you as a caricature is a credit to your character, and to the urgency you understandably, and correctly, assign your mission...
I do not know when or if the citizenry will respond to your call, but I want to thank you, as one citizen, for standing your ground on behalf of myself, and all others like me, and for continuing to put forth the terrible, ongoing realities, even though you are often returned only hostility and ridicule...I admire your work, and your diligence, very much...
Speaking of corporatization, what's going on is what starts from the flawed teachings of basic financing and accounting. Project your accounts receivable as earned income and engage in the whole-sale volume-sale mantra of putting quantity over quality and you get enronomics. The hidden and long term costs are so clever tucked away so that the public won't notice even when it hits them. Putting quality before quantity and enforcing pay-as-you-go against Corporate America is what is needed.
Sioux Rose
JB: Well-said.
The sickest thing (Sicko II?) about this is that it's the taxpayers' money allotted to the charlatans of Wall St that's then being used to buy the public's assets and rent them back to same public at no doubt usurious rates. We should all play Sting's "Sending out an S.O.S" very loudly at the same time 'round the world and hope extra-terrestrials like his musical style and can decipher the lyrics. That strategy can't be any worse than all the things not working to stem the tide of as you well put it, Enronomics! Now featured on steroids, coming to a state house, toll road, or bridge near you!
I went back and pulled out my book that I studied in Finance 101 and curiously checked to see if there was a new edition out there. I was told that the latest edition was supposed to come out last year but due to the market meltdown, they planned on waiting until sometime midway to late 2009 to release the next edition. Already, the current edition that's with me treats outsourcing and usory as if they're no harm. I have a very bad feeling that the next edition is being further fudged so that students will also be trained into accepting bailing out Wall $treet as "necessary" and not unethical or immoral.
I need to go back and look at the original Sicko. I didn't know that there was a Sicko II in the works.
"We should all play Sting's "Sending out an S.O.S" very loudly at the same time 'round the world and hope extra-terrestrials like his musical style and can decipher the lyrics. That strategy can't be any worse than all the things not working to stem the tide of as you well put it, Enronomics! Now featured on steroids, coming to a state house, toll road, or bridge near you!"
LOL ! I like the humor you put into the truth. :)
Michael Moore made a film about the sub-prime mess and financial meltdown, I believe. I can't wait to see it.
I wonder if includes a scene where Michael Moore endorses Obama as Obama endorses the TARP bailout?
Probably on the bonus DVD :-)
Jennifer says: Speaking of corporatization, what's going on is what starts from the flawed teachings of basic financing and accounting.
Yes, flawed teaching is the way they avoid exposition of the core criminal act: that of dividing, selling and destroying the planet...
were we educated, from the beginning, to understand the truly intimate relationships between our bodies, our souls and the very earth beneath our feet and the air swirling around us, we would never live the way we do...our philosophies are geared toward satisfaction (heaven) to come, leaving us resigned to horrors (hell) in the meantime...how many times have you heard the phrase, of someone deceased: they've gone to a better place? That sums it up...why should not this be the better place? If we truly fought to make it so, it would be...our philosophies, however, teach us not to fight...coincidence? I think not...flawed teaching, indeed...
I am the living embodiment of the earth and sky combined...whatever is done to this planet is done to me...
dubet, I notice that there is a huge difference between learning the right lessons earlier on vs learning them later in life especially the hard way. The latter method has put me through regrets and sometimes depression which I have been working on overcoming. I haven't even tried Zoloft or whatever anti-depressant pills and don't intend to btw.
Ask azjoe for some of his antidepressants, I'm sure he'd be willing to share :-)
I haven't seen him on here in a while actually...
i've seen a couple of az posts, but not as many as sometimes...
Jen - yes, the prevailing culture makes it difficult to truly educate our children, as so many truths are forbidden, and so many forced teachings fraudulent...one must fight a mighty headwind to think rationally, let alone pass along those thoughts and teachings to our young, when everything about them is teaching them incorrectly...sometimes, one even has to verge into the illegal to speak the truth, and behave accordingly...my personal belief is that we even discount the natural point of transition from childhood to adulthood, so the confusion is even greater...
Try this exercise: look back at your own life, and tell me when you became an adult, and why?
Hard to justify illegality in the name of truth to anyone so immersed in our culture, and unable to think for themselves, as to equate legality with truth...no wonder education regarding the truth is so difficult...fun topic!
"Try this exercise: look back at your own life, and tell me when you became an adult, and why?"
That's a good question. I would say it all depends on the issues. For some things, I think I've grown too old while for others I still feel that I am like a little girl. I would say that the day I moved away from living with my parents out in smalltown MO and moved to St Louis a few years ago is when I started to become an adult. Unfortunately, when I became so aware of so much that I had missed, I had mixed feelings of anger, unhappiness, and even depression. Up until this year, I would keep getting too angry with myself for what I missed and made mistakes in when I was younger. That by the way is what my therapist thought had slowly lead to my illness back in May. I had lived a sheltered life until I moved. When I look back and read on these sites, I'm getting more of a feeling that it wasn't just being a city girl that turned me into an adult. I still try to keep that kid feeling in me since I don't want to feel that I'm too old to date or get married or just enjoy life. I still need to think some more before I can be sure of the answer to that question.
the sad joke, to me, is that, as far as I'm concerned, we all become adults at the same moment...the moment we become capable of reproduction...the fact that our society doesn't recognize this fact with humans, while we do with every other form of life, is what leaves us with the vague, emotional mushiness that extends our childhood thinking and dependency far beyond this natural point of departure...the phrase 'babies having babies' would best sum up this mindset...if we acknowledged this simple, biological, and undeniable fact, and celebrated such transition with well-attended ceremonies and clear guidelines regarding rights and responsibilities, we would have, in my opinion, a great deal more of both, and a much higher average in the esteem department, both self- and societal-...
This adulthood thing is just one of the arenas in which I believe truth has been squashed to further agenda...an eternal child, nestled in the comfort of tv and fast food, among other things, is much easier to influence and control than a recognized, and encouraged, self-aware adult...
That's ok. I think he's had a lot of tougher times ahead. Living in CA poor is straining his life I'll bet. Besides, I don't think the pills can ever really work. I don't believe the bunk that chemical imbalances alone cause depression. It always ends up being something that caused one to unhappy to the point of snowballing into depression. The real cures go beyond the pills. I used to almost always be able to trick my family into believing that I wasn't unhappy simply out of fear. Most of the time it would work unless something seriously came up. After the trauma early this year, I just decided to give up and let it out. I was amazed at how much long depression I was getting over that I never knew I really had even when I didn't feel unhappy. Hence, no thanks for the pills. I have read a lot of azjoe's posts and I've grown to sympathize with him too. I hope he's ok out there and wish him lots of luck in that godforsaken state of CA.
Ah, I guess you didn't quite get the implication. Azjoe grows his own weed, not quite the same as a pill, although I don't use it myself.
Tom Jefferson said, “No country and no people can be free and ignorant at the same time.”
Our corporatized media and government have confused and deluded many Americans into questioning Obama's birthplace. The corporate media's marginalization of Mr. Nader is yet another indicator of where we are on that scale of ignorance.
Americans are being groomed to embrace that flag-wrapped cross of totalitarianism.
The stage is being set for Jefferson's next prophetic statement. “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”
We could really make a difference if we all acted by calling and contacting representatives once a week. They won't listen to the people unless we rattle their cages.
If we don't become freedom fighters, no one else will do it for us.
Oregoncharles
Nothing wrong with questions. At least they don't kill people.
No matter where Obama was born, he is complicit in the murder of thousands of innocent people, he is guilty of spying on Americans, torture, looting the American tax payer .... etc.
You are naive if you think simply making phone calls to your sold out representatives will produce the results you want .... unless you are prepared to grow a spine, just like you ask of them. By that I mean: refuse to vote for them unless they start representing We the People, period. Easy.
Remember, it's your vote they need, they could care less what you think.
Haven't you noticed?
"Well, why not rent out the backs of the state legislators to their favorite corporate funders? At least the public would get full disclosure of ownership."
Absolutely hilarious!
The rest of the article, absolutely depressing and enraging. And great. Ugh.
Ralph Nader is loved and hated by more people in the US than anyone except maybe Bush. I'm one of the former.
Oregoncharles
His middle name should be Cassandro.
Let's each and every one of us go to our representatives' offices and tell them we are breaking up with them and their party of the rich and powerful. Several people in my town have done just that.
You want to rattle their cages, this is the way to do it.
I say to all you serious progressives: Making phone calls is only the first step.
If you want your rep to grow a spine, how about you show up in his/her office and show them how it's done!
Thanks Ralph. for telling us to make sure our politicians know.
I hope we do.
Jim Shea
Milwaukee has proposed selling its water utility to private operators.
We've already sold the US Congress, so why should we be surprised about privatizing a few highways? What? Me worry?
I could kick myself for being angry with Nader in 2000 because HE WAS RIGHT--there is no difference between the conservative republicans and the democrats. The biggest cause of my shame is the sincere financial and emotional support I had last year for Obama. I donated A LOT, I volunteered, I argued the points of his "message" of change and hope, and I prayed. I guess those who say, "Be careful what you wish for" are spot on. I feel Obama is the biggest traitor in my 66 years on this planet. Starting with Emmanuel, Summer, Geithner, AND Bernanke, Obama is selling us down the river. He is not managing his political capital by managing his party. Rather, he is being managed by ALL the corporate interests. RALPH NADER HAS BEEN RIGHT ALL ALONG. I AM SO SORRY RALPH. YOU WILL CERTAINLY GO DOWN IN HISTORY WITH A FAR BETTER LEGACY THAN ANY OF THE SELLOUTS WHO CALL THEMSELVES "THE PRESIDENTS."
Patri August 3rd, 2009 6:55 pm...........I have the greatest respect for Nader and have voted for him anytime he ran. BUT, he will not go down in history, because history will be re-written if we the people do not rise up NOW! And rising up may take many forms...the best place to start?....STOP BUYING what they are selling. It's a beginning...go from there.
WE are a fascist state...there can no longer be any denial.
Patri, I know how you feel and while I proudly voted thrice for Nader, I understand what you have been through and I forgive you. While you won't be able to take back your vote, you can still correct that mistake. Rise and fight back. From local elections to state elections to Congress and the White House, we cannot afford to let the duopoly continue the way they are. Vote on the issues with an open heart and mind and you'll be amazed to find the candidates that can really identify with you compared to the corporate media picked ones. Don't give up.
Our government has sold itself out to the highest bidder. Why now be surprised if we privatizing tangible assets.
I am VERY PROUD to say I've voted for Mr. Nader every time he has run for president. History will remember him as a man who tried to set the country up on a path to benefit its citizens in a way that is morally correct. His values comes from his parents, who in their own way were remarkable people.
When, given the choice, we vote for a Kerry, Bush or Obama, we then only have ourselves to blame.
At least you admit you were wrong.
But, don't be wrong yet again. The question is not is there "a dime's worth of difference" between Democrats and Republicans overall, but is there "a dime's worth of difference" between the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate in a given race. There may be, or there may not be. You must do your homework.
I did mine in early 2008 when the Democratic primary was down to just Hillary and Obama. I started by compiling a table comparing their positions on the issues, and I added McCain and Nader too. But, I soon realized that some candidates' stated positions varied from day to day (especially in Obama's case), and were therefor difficult to summarize in a table. So, on the theory that actions speak louder than words -- and since Hillary, Obama and McCain were all in the Senate at the same time (2003-2008) -- I decided to compare their actual voting records.
I then discovered that there was indeed a dime's worth of difference between them. More like a whole dollar's worth of difference.
It turned out that Obama's anti-war image and people-power speeches were just a facade. His voting record was closer to McCain's than to Hillary's.
Hillary's record was even more surprising. Contrary to clever Republicans' and corporate media's portrayal of her, she actually voted to end the Iraq War, to ban future NAFTA-like trade deals, to reign in the big banks, to facilitate class-action lawsuits against corporate criminals, and against the privacy-destroying FISA Act. She actually voted the progressive way on 10 of the 14 issues I charted.
More than than, she stood with just a handful of the most liberal Senators in opposition to Bush's nomination of the environment-destroying Dirk Kempthorne as Interior Secretary, she took the lead in demanding Iraq War architect Don Rumsfeld's ouster, she introduced the highly-regarded Count Every Vote Act to combat vote-count fraud, and following revelations of rape, torture and murder, she co-sponsored a bill with the Senate's most liberal member, Bernie Sanders, to ban the use of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama took the opposite position on each of the specific votes and issues mentioned. So did McCain.
So, in the 2008 presidential election, there was indeed a dime's worth of difference.
I think, bottom line, it's wrong to reject or endorse anyone based on party affiliation only. We must do our homework.
I also agree with Danny Schechter's August 1 commentary that "A new movement has to develop outside the Democratic party in the same way that the right acts outside the GOP, and has built a capacity for independent action with echo chambers, message points and personalities." We can do both -- support major-party candidates when they are indeed worthwhile, AND develop the left in other venues.
"His voting record was closer to McCain's than to Hillary's."
And what's breathtakingly amazing is how this was brushed aside by the "progressive" side of the media. It raises the question: Who's really running the "progressive" media?
sierra7
The only "spine" the American people need is one that will overthrow the Whoredom in State and National Capitals.
The problem there is that we have "no plan" for recovery.
One solution is to all re-register as NON PARTISAN voters and keep all those prostitutes guessing; along with a "sit-down" strike of no participation in the consumer society except for food and energy and the less the better.
No change will happen until the citizenry has a true "consciousness" of his/her predicament.
So far, it's not happening except when it is up front and personal when you loose your income.....
I like part of ".....leasing out the backsides"....but, I would carry it further as they are already leasing out their but%%%%#$!
enough
Ralph,
I agree with you wholeheartedly - especially on the attempt to privatize highways.
Sure, private highways perform better, look better, and cost less, but I mean, we have a responsibility to keep government big.
Whatever you do, do not keep an open mind. Gov't is the only way.
And we need to work to censor www.reason.tv .
Yes, Charles, as a Californian let me just say that privatization is dream come true. Enron served our state so well.
Wanna hear a joke?
Trader 1: “They’re f-----g taking all the money back from you guys? All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?”
Trader 2: "Yeah, Grandma Millie man. But she’s the one who couldn’t figure out how to f-----g vote on the butterfly ballot."
[Laughing from both sides]
Trader 1: "Yeah, now she wants her f-----g money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her a-- for f-----g $250 a megawatt hour."
[Harder Laughing]
Get it?
I get it. The old should be fleeced and mocked. Young shitheads aspire to do so.
"Sure, private highways perform better, look better, and cost less, but I mean, we have a responsibility to keep government big.
Whatever you do, do not keep an open mind. Gov't is the only way."
charles,
I certainly hope that this is tongue in cheek, and that you do not believe this rhetorical flatulency. A hundred and fifty years ago there were many private roads and private bridges and ferries. People paid to use them and many lost their lives crossing unsafe bridges and sinking ferries. Since the Eisenhower Interstate system was created by the government, we as Americans have had easy access to all major cities in the US, mostly on safe roadways. NO private company could have, nor would have created such a system.
Private corporations would LOVE to take over something once it has been created, rake in the profits and leave the taxpayer with the expense of upkeep or cleanup at the end. There may be "private highways" someplace that were NOT built with the partnership of public monies, but I don't know of any. Those that I am aware of rely heavily on government subsidies in the form of tax breaks or 'partnerships' with the state. Again there may be some out there, BUT, to accuse Ralph Nader of not being 'open minded' shows an unprecedented ignorance about the man. Mr. Nader researches ALL sides of an argument and in many cases can tell the advocates things in their proposals that even they were not aware of. AFTER looking at all sides, Mr. Nader asks himself what is the best for the public at large.... THAT is the side he comes down on. Mr Nader is indeed one of the true humanitarians of our lifetime. You may not like him, you may not agree with him, but he will be, and has always been true to his beliefs and painfully honest with the public.
Charles,
This is not privatization, Nader uses the right word by calling it corporatization. And Reason mag is not libertarian, it's corporatism posing as libertarianism. I suggest you broaden your understanding of libertarianism. Even Chomsky considers himself a libertarian and understands the problem with big government. But this sort of thing is not making the people any freer and it certainly isn't providing opportunity for innovation and entrepeneurship. It is a handout to big corps as only big gov can do, two evils making each other even worse. It is what Ron Paul would call "crony capitalism." This sort of privatization has happened in Russia and developing countries and there is nothing free market about it and believe me we don't want it, libertarian or progressive and everyone in-between.
Another great article as usual by Ralph Nader. But also (sadly) as usual--it's not stopping the corporate juggernaut. The priveledged do not answer to reason nor to the peoples pleas that we be treated with respect--so why do we keep trying to communicate with them in this manner?
With Mr. Nader knowing better than anyone, that our elections are rigged by the two parties, who are controlled by the monied interests--why are we still playing by the rules when they don't?
Call your member of Congress and complain?
Send your rant to the newspaper?
I wonder if, knowing what he knows today, Mr. Nader would have still played by the rules and tried to change things by running for president, or would he have supported "uncivil" disobediance?
And if he had, would that have been such an "unreasonable" choice?
Thirty years from now--we all might be asking the same question.
All I know is--they aren't listening.
Let's draft Ralph Nader to run against {AIG} aka Sen Dodd.
The connections of Dodd and the Banking and Finance Industries
are enough to topple Dodd and his gang.
Dodd's competitor, Simmons, who has anounced his candidacy
is more of the same only worse as he has yet to raise an issue.
Just replacing Dodd with another Bush-look-a-like will not cure the problem. We need Nader in the Senate, now.
I think that's not a bad idea either. The Senate could sure use a lot of folks ala Nader and Sanders. I wonder how Franken does on the economic issues. I hear he's progressive there.
This is "for the next time around".
While it becomes increasingly more difficult, hopefully you still maintain the pessimism of the intellect and the optimism of the will as suggested by Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci. Perhaps, to paraphrase Bill Moyers, you really do see the world as it, is without rose colored glasses, and you still want to try to change it, despite what you know.
If so, it should be very difficult for you to vote either Democratic or Republican ever again unless one of the political parties repudiates its policies and practices of the past decades, a most unlikely scenario. If they do not, and you know they will not, you must decide on one of three alternatives.
* Ignore reality; remain passive, and don’t vote at all. This is the old plantation mentality, exactly what those in the manor house want you to maintain.
* Ignore reality; vote for whomever you believe is the lesser of two evils. This will assure the current reality trends continue; put the Democrats in now, the Republicans later. Either way the plutocracy of the corporations and the super rich, the uberelites, win at your expense.
* Accept-understand reality, if you choose to vote ever again the only way your voice be heard is to vote for a third party.
The Electric Utility, "Central Maine Power", has been sold to
a Spanish Company located in Spain. Last year, the Company
sent some $50,000,000 of profits made from Maine Consumers
to Spain. We have yet to read in the Maine newspapers who the
lawyers were and how much money they made from this sale to
a Spanish Company. This is the Free trade that we got from
Bill Clinton and the Bush Family. Maine Consumers are now paying amongst the highest electric rates in the nation.
The Press in Maine is part of the problem. Like the three monkeys, they see nothing,hear nothing, and know nothing
Forget 'revolution'...Events at Kent State pretty much proved there are plenty of 'americans' willing to shoot the rest of us down like dogs. Fat, ignorant and compliant though we are.
Veteran '66-68
The American voter has been conditioned to choose ANY alternative to a tax increase, even one to pay for a couple of wars.
Reluctance to pay as we go, when times were relatively prosperous, translates to impossibility today.
While the public holds title to anything marketable, we can go blithely along, whistling a happy tune as the debt piles up.
The American voter is terribly confused. We mistakenly believe that higher taxes must not be allowed because we are being taxed to death---and that is true. The working people are paying most of the taxes and get no benefit to speak of---but the RICH ARE NOT PAYING TAXES!! No, they get a lawyer and a tax accountant and an off shore bank account and don't pay taxes.
We don't need more taxes on the working people. We need to return to the tax rates that were in effect at the start of Ronald Raygun's administration. TAX THE RICH!!
People always complain that they think that government is not spending their tax money wisely, but do they ever ask if the local near-monopolys that the average suburban right-winger depends on (Kroger, Wal-mart, Rite-Aid etc.) are spending the considerably greater amounts of money they give them wisely?
Meanwhile, they somehow think the road they used to get there just sort of fell out of the sky.
We incessantly hear free marketeers characterize government as wasteful and inefficient and private enterprises as paragon of efficiency, but never providing some side-by-side evidence beyond simply saying that had to stand in line at a DMV or something - not noticing that this is evidence that they ARE being frugal with taxpayer funds. If there was no wait, it would mean they hired too many people.
But in fact, there have been a lot of side-to-side comparisons on the efficiency of private firms vs. government done done. Starting under privatizer Clinton and continuing under Bush, there was a program called "A-76" where any govt. agency performing a task that was not "inherently governmental" had to make a competitive bid against at least three private companies to perform the same function. To the free-marketeers dismay, the government agency submitted the winning bid most of the time.
Of course they could - and still pay their employees better! They didn't have to turn a profit, play the stock market, or or pay exorbitant upper management salaries. The average spread in the lowest paid and the highest paid at the agency-level in the US government is perhaps, a factor of 4, compared to at least 150 or something in a corporation.
Should it be a surprise that the Indiana turnpike tolls went up so much for the same service? The highway is now a for-profit monopoly with absolutely NO accountability to the people. When the government ran it, it was answerable to the voters. Why can't people see this?
“We need the money,” State Minority Whip Linda Lopez, a Tuscon Democrat said, adding, “You’ve got to find it somewhere.”
Bullshit. People don't need money. People don't need money fabricated out of thin air by a gang of fascist bankers. What people do need is a routine anti-elite march through the streets to instill some routine fear into the elites.
johnny chung korean comedian once joked that in korea you
bribe a politician you go to jail. but in america you bribe
a politician you go to washington! when john got to heaven
he saw st. peter in a huge room with more clocks then the eye could see. he said to st.pete what are all the clocks for?
st pete answered they keep track of all the lies you tell by
the moving of the hands. whose clock is that asked john? its
abe lincoln it only moved twice. and that one? mother
theresa's it never moved!he then asked wheres obama's
st. pete answered its in jesus office he's using it for a
ceiling fan! to answer one post about. why the people don't see this scam
the smart ones are probably posting somewhere right now.
Abe Lincoln was a lawyer and he only lied twice? Mother Theresa was living a lie.