Privatization is a YUGE con perpetrated on the American people, run not by “the best minds” but by the greediest -- Now threatening to turn Ben Franklin’s libraries into corporate profit centers
It is certainly more than money and greed. In terms of libraries, there would be control of what literature is stocked in the library. Control of information - sound familiar ?
It is clearly about censorship by the elites. Sadly for them the factory workers need to be able to read for their jobs. We have seen this with Wal-Mart as the largest distributor of books in the country and how the Waltons have decided what books should be sold and available for people to read. Not unlike Texas determining what goes into school textbooks used in other states like California and where slavery is treated as beneficial to the captive blacks.
I would also expect that the value of the real estate on which city libraries sit would be worth looting by the private hedge funds as they have been so hungry to take over the real estate owned by the U.S. Postal Service. The hedge fund money used to take over Sears and then cease its business operations and putting its workers out on the street has been very profitable by the conversion of the stores and resale of the properties. What the media missed is that a Sears department store is an "anchor" tenant and so when it closes the traffic to the mall decreases and many small retail businesses are forced to close as well. Great for Wal-Mart but not for the communities that pay $400,000 per store in subsidies to the store workers and their families for food stamps and healthcare and rent assistance.
This is yet another crucial message that needs to be shared with our fellow citizens because outsourcing the management of our commons has been proven to be a bad idea for a lot of reasons (that Thom has noted). Or, as Daphne Greenwood (Professor of Economics at UCCS) wrote in her 2014 book (found at https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/the-decision-to-contract-out-understanding-the-full-economic-and-social-impacts/- check out the Key Findings of the full report) “unless there is real innovation that leads to greater efficiency or higher quality, communities will see a net negative effect on the wider social and economic level.” Basically, she found that the private sector is much more likely to provide unsatisfactory value for our tax dollars. Dr. Greenwood’s study reveals that the most effective way to run America’s education system, as well as our military, our prisons, our healthcare, and all of our other commons, is with public sector-managed solutions. There is a fundamental difference between private/public sector solutions vs. public sector only solutions. The private sector has a fiduciary responsibility to make the most money that it can and try to make more of it every quarter. In addition, if a corporation has enough capital to control our three branches of government, they can make their public sector whores give them open-ended cost-plus contracts (with little or no oversight). Compare that with public sector solutions that are made to provide maximum general welfare promotion for our citizens (if they are given the staff and resources to do it right). Today, the oligarchs tell our government’s decision-makers to defund the federal programs and agencies that get in the way of their acquisitive obsessions. Then they trash them with their MSM subcontractors who relentlessly sell the fiction that “the private sector is better than the public sector at everything.” After our elected decision-makers cut their budgets, our government’s agencies degenerate into incompetence followed by irrelevance. Defunding any organization and then blaming it for its ineptitude is just another element of the big grift.
This whole conversation has opened my eyes. Thank you for the link to Dr. Greenwood’s book. I moved to Texas four years ago and I began to see this disturbing trend. I had to take a toll road to get anywhere without taking surface roads to destinations in my local area. Then I noticed road work contracted out to private companies. Then I learned that libraries function with private companies determining programs. The list goes on. I am not saying this didn’t happen in the state I moved from, California, just saying it is more noticeable, or perhaps, I am awakening from slumber.
leenie-I want to apologize to you and anyone else who followed the link I put in my comment. I made an error in copying (so it didn't take you where it should) and subsequently I have fixed it so it will take you to Prof Greenwood's analysis of outsourcing public sector duties to the private sector. I hope it didn't cause you any inconvenience. (And you have my deepest sympathy for having to deal with the poorly educated and lethally hypocritical sociopaths that run Texas. Menu-driven neo theocons are the worst.)
I am very grateful for this Report. I live in a small-ish red county 40/60 split for Trump in the 2020 election. Our commissioners make a decent salary, but as usual, it's never enough. One of the three is a Dem, but all of them managed to get cozy with the fossil fuel project owners we were fighting. It's disgusting, and it's corrupt. They might like the LS&S scheme.
If you don't have space or money, a library card can be your most valuable possession. So many people use the computers, and the librarians help them with forms and applying for jobs and assistance. I use our county-wide system every week (books, audios, DVD's), and I still go there to print having given-up on a series of home printers.
Half-way through the Truth Out article I knew how it would end. Every place of employment is going to have a percentage of management with right-wing ideology. Privatization is perhaps their favorite concept and con. Thanks to Thom, I'll be watching and have the arguments ready. I know just who will help me watch-dog this issue and our commissioners.
It is certainly more than money and greed. In terms of libraries, there would be control of what literature is stocked in the library. Control of information - sound familiar ?
It is clearly about censorship by the elites. Sadly for them the factory workers need to be able to read for their jobs. We have seen this with Wal-Mart as the largest distributor of books in the country and how the Waltons have decided what books should be sold and available for people to read. Not unlike Texas determining what goes into school textbooks used in other states like California and where slavery is treated as beneficial to the captive blacks.
I would also expect that the value of the real estate on which city libraries sit would be worth looting by the private hedge funds as they have been so hungry to take over the real estate owned by the U.S. Postal Service. The hedge fund money used to take over Sears and then cease its business operations and putting its workers out on the street has been very profitable by the conversion of the stores and resale of the properties. What the media missed is that a Sears department store is an "anchor" tenant and so when it closes the traffic to the mall decreases and many small retail businesses are forced to close as well. Great for Wal-Mart but not for the communities that pay $400,000 per store in subsidies to the store workers and their families for food stamps and healthcare and rent assistance.
This is yet another crucial message that needs to be shared with our fellow citizens because outsourcing the management of our commons has been proven to be a bad idea for a lot of reasons (that Thom has noted). Or, as Daphne Greenwood (Professor of Economics at UCCS) wrote in her 2014 book (found at https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/the-decision-to-contract-out-understanding-the-full-economic-and-social-impacts/- check out the Key Findings of the full report) “unless there is real innovation that leads to greater efficiency or higher quality, communities will see a net negative effect on the wider social and economic level.” Basically, she found that the private sector is much more likely to provide unsatisfactory value for our tax dollars. Dr. Greenwood’s study reveals that the most effective way to run America’s education system, as well as our military, our prisons, our healthcare, and all of our other commons, is with public sector-managed solutions. There is a fundamental difference between private/public sector solutions vs. public sector only solutions. The private sector has a fiduciary responsibility to make the most money that it can and try to make more of it every quarter. In addition, if a corporation has enough capital to control our three branches of government, they can make their public sector whores give them open-ended cost-plus contracts (with little or no oversight). Compare that with public sector solutions that are made to provide maximum general welfare promotion for our citizens (if they are given the staff and resources to do it right). Today, the oligarchs tell our government’s decision-makers to defund the federal programs and agencies that get in the way of their acquisitive obsessions. Then they trash them with their MSM subcontractors who relentlessly sell the fiction that “the private sector is better than the public sector at everything.” After our elected decision-makers cut their budgets, our government’s agencies degenerate into incompetence followed by irrelevance. Defunding any organization and then blaming it for its ineptitude is just another element of the big grift.
This whole conversation has opened my eyes. Thank you for the link to Dr. Greenwood’s book. I moved to Texas four years ago and I began to see this disturbing trend. I had to take a toll road to get anywhere without taking surface roads to destinations in my local area. Then I noticed road work contracted out to private companies. Then I learned that libraries function with private companies determining programs. The list goes on. I am not saying this didn’t happen in the state I moved from, California, just saying it is more noticeable, or perhaps, I am awakening from slumber.
leenie-I want to apologize to you and anyone else who followed the link I put in my comment. I made an error in copying (so it didn't take you where it should) and subsequently I have fixed it so it will take you to Prof Greenwood's analysis of outsourcing public sector duties to the private sector. I hope it didn't cause you any inconvenience. (And you have my deepest sympathy for having to deal with the poorly educated and lethally hypocritical sociopaths that run Texas. Menu-driven neo theocons are the worst.)
I am very grateful for this Report. I live in a small-ish red county 40/60 split for Trump in the 2020 election. Our commissioners make a decent salary, but as usual, it's never enough. One of the three is a Dem, but all of them managed to get cozy with the fossil fuel project owners we were fighting. It's disgusting, and it's corrupt. They might like the LS&S scheme.
If you don't have space or money, a library card can be your most valuable possession. So many people use the computers, and the librarians help them with forms and applying for jobs and assistance. I use our county-wide system every week (books, audios, DVD's), and I still go there to print having given-up on a series of home printers.
Half-way through the Truth Out article I knew how it would end. Every place of employment is going to have a percentage of management with right-wing ideology. Privatization is perhaps their favorite concept and con. Thanks to Thom, I'll be watching and have the arguments ready. I know just who will help me watch-dog this issue and our commissioners.
Question, is the Progressive Caucus aware of or involved in correcting this? Anyone in the media besides our people.
You can always tweet articles like this out to specific members; maybe they'll take notice...
Thank you for responding. Your on vacation! (WELL DESERVED)
How may we learn which of our libraries are under the control of LS&S, and therefore privatized. So called public – private partnerships.