Social Darwinism Explained

April 21st, 2012

The Privatization Of Everything

April 16th, 2012

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Just in time for tax day comes another reminder that the race to privatize the public sector, particularly the infrastructure we all paid to build, is an exercise which provides consistently diminishing returns.

The Sun-Times reports:

"Under the $563 million, 99-year deal that privatized four city-owned parking garages in downtown Chicago, City Hall made a promise:

It wouldn’t allow any parking facilities to open nearby.

That was six years ago, under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Today, though, you can park just a block away in a new garage at the 82-story Aqua building — and it’s cheaper, too.

That’s angered the consortium of investors who took control of the garages and thought they were safe from competition. Their group, known as Chicago Loop Parking LLC, has filed an arbitration claim against the city that could leave Chicago taxpayers on the hook for $200 million or more, documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show."

The story goes on to mention the legal mess Chicago is facing from one of Daley II's other privatization schemes, the wholesale turnover of parking meters (to what is also essentially Morgan Stanley, the controlling interest over the garages in the current dispute). They could have gone further and reminded everyone of the Skyway boondoggle. Or, they could have ventured just a bit to the East and examined Indiana's brewing privatization nightmare under Gov. Mitch Daniels.

But let's stop right here. I could catalog hundreds of examples from all over the country. This is just wrong in principle.

Supporters of privatization argue the real issue in this latest flap is that the city seems to have reneged on a legal agreement. With all due respect, this bargain was designed to create a territorial monopoly for an investment firm at the expense of the taxpayers who previously had already underwritten the properties. It was taxes that built and/or at least partially maintained these facilities. Now, Morgan Stanley is demanding that those same taxpayers pony up another couple hundred million dollars because a more efficient private corporation is offering them a better deal down the street.

This isn't rational finance. In nearly every instance of the privatization revolution, terms lasting as long or longer than the modern human lifetime are being doled out with anti-free market guarantees of exclusivity in exchange for dollar amounts that are only large enough to plug short-term budget holes.

This is akin to selling the store to paint the front door. And the taxpayer's formerly owned the store.

Had this parking garage deal been structured as something other than a one-time payment, it would come to a little over 5 and a half million dollars a year. If inflation were to stop dead in its tracks for the next century, it still wouldn't make sense. In fact it's nuts.

We can pretend to be a Capitalist culture all we want. That doesn't make it so. This isn't even worthy of being called "crony Capitalism."

This is Corporatism. Period.

This is also the new American "normal."

So...

As many of you file those last minute tax returns, just think what you might be paying for today that an organization like Morgan Stanley will buy for a song tomorrow. And then, for all intents and purposes, sue you for more.

Thomas Sowell Jumps The Shark

April 10th, 2012

Sigh. This is what passes for great thinking in the post "Derb" NRO offices?

In his column today, Thomas Sowell first regurgitates long debunked smears about half of Americans not paying their "fair share" (that would be the poor half).

That this is mendacious propaganda is illustrated HERE, HERE and HERE.

Short And To The Point

Sept 21st, 2011

Indeed

The Story Of Citizens United

April19th, 2011
This remarkable piece is from The Story Of Stuff Project

Quote Of The Day

April 17th, 2011

"A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay." -- Amos Bronson Alcott

"The Grass Is Blue"

March 27th, 2011
 

If you have never curiously clicked some of the links in the right column, our "reader's companion," you are really missing out. 

The excerpt below is from "The Book Of Cletis," a terrific blog that ranges from cultural and political observations to wonderful short fiction on Sundays. A native of Kentucky, the publisher takes some time here to lament the sad state of their senate representation today:
 
No Damn Wonder The Grass Is Blue
Ahhh, March Madness continues. Our beloved Kentucky Wildcats have made it to the Sweet Sixteen and will play Ohio State Friday night. Hopefully, we will prevail and move forward in our quest for a national championship. If, however, we fail, Kentuckians can take solace in the knowledge that no other state can boast two, that's right two, U.S. Senators even close to being as devoutly ignorant and self-serving as ours. Here's a few quotes to bring you up to speed:
 
"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." ~Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, (R-Ky.), October 2010
 
"Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers." Mitch McConnell December 2007 commenting on the deaths of Americans fighting in Iraq.
 
"This discussion reminds me, somewhat, of the conversations that were going on after the BP oil spill last year," Mr. McConnell said during an interview on Fox News Sunday. "I don’t think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a very good time to be making American domestic policy." Mitch McConnell March 13, 2011 regarding the catastrophic nuclear reactor meltdowns in Japan.
 
"We need to get insurance out of the way and let the consumer interact with their doctor the way they did basically before World War II." Rand Paul in an interview with Kentucky public TV on Dec. 2, 2002.

 

There's more...

He's Still Out There

March 23rd, 2011

Please support the efforts to recall Wisconsin's anti worker corporatists HERE, HERE and HERE

Don't let up. Don't capitulate. Don't give in. Keep pushing back.

The Corporatist's Dreamscape

March 15th, 2011

"School buses stop at dozens of cheap motels." 

Gov. Rick Snyder's Attempt To Subvert Elected Government

Mar 14th, 2011

CBS has finally picked up the story of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's unilaterlist and corporatist attempt to impose his own will over elected officials.:

"Michigan lawmakers are on the verge of approving a bill that would enable the governor to appoint "emergency managers" -- officials with unilateral power to make sweeping changes to cities facing financial troubles.

Under the legislation, the Michigan Messenger reports, the governor could declare a "financial emergency" in towns or school districts. He could then appoint a manager to fire local elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, eliminate services - and even eliminate whole cities or school districts without any public input.

The measure passed in the state Senate this week; the House passed its own version earlier. The two versions of the bill are expected to be reconciled next week, and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said he will sign the bill the bill into law.

Democrats and their allies are decrying the legislation as a power grab and say it's part of a wider effort taking place in several states, such as Wisconsin, to weaken labor unions.

"It takes every decision in a city or school district and puts it in the hands of the manager, from when the streets get plowed to who plows them and how much they are paid," said Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO. "This is a takeover by the right wing and it's an assault on democracy like I've never seen."

Yes, Virginia, It's Called Corporatism

Mar 11th, 2011

What is it called when elected leaders are merely figures serving at the whim of one who can remove them from office through decree? I call it corporatism. That's being polite in the extreme. Whatever you call it, it is neither American nor is it just. Welcome to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's vision for the future. Rachel Maddow shines a light on this scurrying corporatist who seems to want to really outdo his fellow enemies of the middle class.

We strongly recommend that Americans of good conscience contact Gov. Snyder and let him know these actions will not be forgotten.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Quotes Of The Day - Same As It Ever Was Edition

Feb 28th, 2011

Now

"America's corporate and political elites now form a regime of their own and they're privatizing democracy. All the benefits - the tax cuts, policies and rewards flow in one direction: up." -- Bill Moyers


Then

"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power." -- Benito Mussolini

Hey, Conservatives! FOXNews Thinks You Are Stupid.

Feb 9th, 2011

 

By Stephanie Baselice

I have been trying for years now to find a respectful way to reach conservatives, many of whom can be numbered among my own family. Respect for each other is important. This is especially hard these days, since the so called “conservative” Tea Party movement has become a uniting umbrella for right wing tribalism. This tribalism is rooted in a narrative that pits those who gained from civil rights and the other social changes of the past century against those who suddenly found their privilege undermined by a new morality. This narrative took the place of the galvanizing Freedom-Loving Capitalist vs. Red Menace narrative of the cold war, and has been over-fed by billionaire and corporate interests to all but eliminate any actual political discourse between conservatives and anyone else. So, respectfully, WAKE UP PEOPLE! Fox News is not conservative, and it does indeed think its audience is stupid. So let's not all be stupid. Conservatives and Progressives are not natural enemies. That conflict is trumped up for ratings and votes. Progressives must remember there is a very important place in democratic society for conservative thought. True conservatives slow the pace of change. They question the value of progressive ideas; bring up concerns about the cost of actions under consideration.