I call BULLSHIT on any Repub (or Dem) that wants to privatize government services.

[madinmaryland]

They say private companies can provide far better and cheaper services, but they have spent the last 30 years decimating government services such that they cannot provide adequate services.

[RKP5637]

1. AGREE!!! n/t

[blondeatlast]

2. Scottdale, AZ voted to end their privatized fire services--you read that

right: Deep, deep red Scottsdale, AZ.

I think that speaks VOLUMES. Big, k/r

Edot: proud to send this to the Greatest.

[sadbear]

3. Anything for-profit is NEVER cheaper

[madinmaryland]

4. The "profit" is just skimming tax dollars off to buy more yachts for the

company owners.

For-profit is fine for selling gadgets and stuff, but not for providing basic governmental services.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. PRIVATE COMPANIES GO BUST! Then what!

another smack from the global depression may wipe out companies. We have already seen this trend starting in the BUSH era.

[madinmaryland]

6. So government should be privatized?

Is that what you are suggesting?

[pinboy3niner]

15. Perplexing, isn't it?

In what alternate reality (or on what planet) is the notion of all private companies 'going bust' not absolute batshit whackadoodle?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

17. WTF?

No dear, the Republicans are suggesting to privatize. A person called Rosa Luxemburg isn't to about privatize America!

[pinboy3niner]

14. Deleted--wrong place

[SixString]

7. Haliburton , Blackwater , Enron...nuff said.

[madinmaryland]

8. Yeap. They are part of the problem.

[Ernesto]

9. You got that right!

I LOVE SMUD!
>>> In '84, I came down from Shasta Co. where everyone is owned & tormented by PG&E.>>>

[TheWebHead]

10. a lot of what privatization is about is getting liabilities off govt balance sheets

and as I've noted a few times on here the social security trust fund doesn't have tangible assets backing it up so for those in favor of the social safety net but alarmed by the political establishment on both side's desire to spend that money we're paying in as fast as it comes it, having our own accounts with our own CD's, money markets, treasuries, corporate bonds or equities has an allure because those are tangible assets in our control, not IOUs.

And on the issue of medicare, the fear is that as we continue to develop new treatments, technologies and drugs to serve more and more people suffering from more and more ailments at more and more cost, it by definition will grow at a rate well beyond inflation. If we had '60s style medicine today then medicare would easily be affordable, since the answer back then was almost universally, especially for the elderly, was about pain management and saying "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do." And if the innovation has led to sky high costs today, imagine the trend 30 years from now. The only way to define liabilities is to define the benefit in dollar terms, and if one wants treatment beyond those limits they'd have to purchase it. We're going to get to the point where nearly everyone living can have life extended to some degree or their health enhanced if they're willing to spend $100k+, and the math isn't there.

These (Social Security Trust Fund) balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other trust fund expenditures--but only in a bookkeeping sense. These funds are not set up to be pension funds, like the funds of private pension plans. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence of large trust fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the Government's ability to pay benefits.

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=1209&type=0&sequence=1

[cliffordu]

11. I dunno what the panic is all about.

They've already privatized Congress.

[madinmaryland]

16. Same with the Supreme Court...

[pinboy3niner]

12. If we had privatization, postage stamps would cost $5 each...

...and postal workers would be paid less than that.

[avaistheone1]

13. I strongly support you on this.

I am tired of these huge corporations and multimillionaires trying to privatize government services and enrich themselves at the expense of the American people. I am sick of it.

[ibegurpard]

18. Better start with our Secretary of Education