You want privatization? I got your privatization right here.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Another good email from MakeThemAccountable.com:
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You want privatization? I got your privatization right here.

By Carolyn Kay

Privatization is happening all around us, but I had hardly noticed until it jumped up and hit me in the face, twice just this week.

When I started to send in the paperwork this past Monday for an extension on filing my tax return, I thought I’d get a confirmation number, as I have in the past. Yes, I’m always late filing. I just never seem to get my tax information together on time. There used to be an automated service you could call, enter what you owed and what you were paying, and get a confirmation number. This year, there were only private services to call. You couldn’t call the IRS. I didn’t contact any of them. I just put the paperwork and a check in the mail. Hopefully, I’ll get a confirmation back, also by mail.

Later in the week I decided to do something for which I need a certified copy of my birth certificate. I thought I didn’t have one, so I visited the website of the Louisiana department of vital records, where I learned that to get a birth certificate directly from the agency, I had to show up in person, and show a picture ID. Otherwise, I had to go through a private company. The private company would accept a photocopy of my driver’s license faxed to them to expedite my order. My birth certificate would cost a certain amount, which the private company would pay to the government agency, then there would be an additional amount for shipping and handling.

Now I know that the real shipping costs aren’t anywhere close to the quoted amounts, so I’m forced to conclude that most of the charge is to pay the private company for its costs associated with the transaction plus a profit. So unless I can show up in person at a state office that can issue a copy of my birth certificate, I have to pay the state for its costs and then a private company for its costs and its profit.

Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

Then, I happened to notice that the company website linked to from the Louisiana vital records website is “a ChoicePoint company”. You know, the company owned by big Republican donors, that was paid millions of dollars to help Florida remove tens of thousands of African Americans from its voter rolls prior to the 2000 election. Why African Americans? Because they’re likely Democratic voters. It was the digital version of Jim Crow.

So these are the questions that come immediately to mind:

If a private company can accept my driver’s license faxed to them as proof of identification and send me a birth certificate, why can’t a government agency do that?

Why do I have to pay twice for my birth certificate—once to a government agency and again to a private company?

Why do I have to pay a company that will use the money I send them to keep Republicans in power, when I’m a Democrat?

And the last question is, why is it again that privatization is supposed to be GOOD for me?

Permanent link
http://makethemaccountable.com/caro/Comment_060421_IGotYourPrivatizationRightHere.htm


Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com


Religious fundamentalists believe God gave us a brain, but doesn’t want us to use it. Political fundamentalists believe the founders endorsed free speech, but didn’t want us to practice it. Free market fundamentalists believe there should be no interference with markets, except by CEOs of gigantic corporations.

[cassiepriam]

1. While we were sleeping, the country was turned over to the Rethugs.

Lock, stock and barrel.

Their motto is : Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated. :(

[snappyturtle]

2. You watch.....

states that are complaining about the costs of issuing Real IDs in 2008 will HAVE to privatize the matter!!!! The Feds aren't going to pay for it.....maybe some of *'s friends can make a few bucks issuing the IDs! :sarcasm:

[Canuckistanian]

3. Doesn't anyone feel uncomfortable

That Choicepoint has access to your private records?

What safeguards are there to ensure that this infromation doesn't get "shared" with some OTHER divisions of Choicepoint?

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I don't think I'd want ChoicePoint to have my personal info.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/17/technology/personaltech/choicepoint/

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - ChoicePoint Inc., a national provider of identification and credential verification services, says it will send an additional 110,000 statements to people informing them of possible identity theft after a group of well-organized criminals was able to obtain personal information on almost 140,000 consumers through the company.

According to a statement on the ChoicePoint (Research) Web site, the incident was not the result of its systems being hacked but rather caused by criminals posing as legitimate businesses seeking to gain access to personal information.

[anoraksia53]

9. me neither

they put together data from all kinds of places.....law enforcement.....voter registration (!!!!).....DMV.......health care.

Wonder how they got the contract or license.

[unblock]

5. "piratization". the correct word is "piratization."

robbery on the high seas....

[IronLionZion]

6. because they can be fired

Privatization can be good in certain areas. When it's profitable to do the right thing, like build quality buildings, then I'd rather have contractors bid for it then to have state employees do it with absolutely no incentives for doing it well or quickly. If the contractor fucks up, then they can be fired easily and replaced. It's in their best interest to not fuck up.

You run into privatized hell when it's not profitable to do the right thing, like social security or insurance.

If you don't like the "piratization", fire the elected leaders, then elect leaders who will fire the contractors and get someone better.

[Nadienne]

7. It's not good when

you try to get something the government normally provides and they refer you to a business you would rather not patronize.

It's not good when you consider the reasons services are privatized: it's cheaper for the government to pay a private company to do something - and, as private companies are interested in making profits, where do you think the profits are coming from? The private companies are free to charge their "captive" customers more, for one thing, or they are paying their employees far less than the government pays its employees for the same job. Either way, it means more money for those who already have plenty, and less for those who need it.

As for what you said about it being in a private company's best interest not to fuck up... I somewhat disagree. It's in their best interest to hide what they fuck up. And their "fuck ups" are usually the result of cutting corners - and in this day and age, if you can't cut corners, you can't compete.

[oscar111]

8. Private co's use profits to buy elections. Privatizing destroys democracy

so , privatizing is never good.

Political economy looks at the whole thing, how economics alters the political structure.

Privatizing co's elect those who allow monopolies to form.

Look at S Korea, moving close to one old man owing a conglomerate that owns everything.. and the folks there BTW, work seven days every week, till they get old. Not sure if they ever retire.

Divide every gov agency into three parts to guard against a lack of choice there.