First the World Bank came to privatize ... (orig. posted Oct 14, 2005)

[arendt]

First the World Bank came to privatize Andhra Pradesh...
by arendt

...but I wasn't a poor Indian farmer who had his state support replaced by corporate loan sharking; so I did nothing.

Then the US Military-Petroleum Complex came to privatize Iraq in violation of the Geneva Convention on occupying powers; but I wasn't an Iraqi victim of Saddam Hussein, so I did nothing.

Then Haliburton came to privatize and ethnic cleanse what was left of New Orleans after years of neglect by the Bush Junta; but I wasn't a member of the black underclass that was hanging on by the skin of its teeth; so I did nothing.

Then, they came for the middle class entitlements, and no one was there to help me.

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You want a platform for the Democratic Party that is true to its legacy? Then defend the poorest among us because it is in our own self-interest to do so. (If you are religiously-minded, because it is our spiritual duty to do so.)

Aren't the poor around the world, at home and abroad, being regimented into corporate wage slaves to destroy the American middle class and the democratic institutions that created that class?

Then, "fight them far from home so you don't have to fight them here". Fight the rollback that the corporations are running at the periphery of the First World economy. Fight them over there, in Chinese sweatshops, South American maquiladoras (or whatever they are called in places like Ecuador and Nicaragua).

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Privatization is simply a codeword for the destruction of democracy.

When democracy is gone, middle class entitlements soon follow. Witness: the proposal to remove the mortgage deduction; the de-funding of decent pensions by bankruptcy of companies with "inefficient cost structures". (Translation: old companies who made a pension contract are run out of business by new companies with
no benefits. The retirees are screwed.)

Bottom line: a promise from the powerful lasts only as long as their is counter-vailing power to enforce it. Privatization kills the power of voters.

As corporate lawyers are fond of telling everyone: "democracy stops when you walk onto our property." Corporations are hierarchical, authoritarian structures. Workers sign away many political rights when working for them.

Now, we have a corporate-puppet government that is gutting what little is left of the "public space", the "commons", etc. Its all pay-to-play. No lobbyist, no vote. No political contribution, no access. Not an insider?: secrecy, witholding of information, etc.

Meantime, as more and more of sales price flows to profit and less to wages, the profits are being sent to the Third World to create bald-faced corporate states. (As the joke goes: Bush's tax cuts created jobs - in China.)

Basically, the middle class is paying to construct its own jail. It is training its own jailers. (And, this is not to bash the Chinese. Fully 2/3rds of them are dirt poor rural peasants - a "reserve army of the poor" to keep the other 400 million Chinese in line.)

It all comes back to David Korten's distinction between "creating wealth" (i.e., investing in new and unpredictable stuff) and "extracting value" (i.e., squeezing everyone for all they are worth and dis-investing wherever possible).

The thing that people forget about why public services are public is that this is to prevent corruption and abuse. The rising level of private police, and military mercenaries is a harbinger that citizens are totally losing control, even as they are paying for these unaccountable thugs.

To tie this back to the original thread: we need to oppose privatization, especially of services to the weakest members of our society. That includes the siting of pollution-spewing factories and garbage dumps. We need to stop paying to ship our livelihoods overseas.

This is the kind of issue that will separate the corporate DINOs from the true Democrats.

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Freedom and democracy - only for corporations

The fundamental lie of the corporate mafia that is running America today is that everything they do is to increase freedom and spread democracy. They can say it with a straight face because they mean freedom FOR CORPORATIONS to do as they damn well please vis-a-vis mere consumers, and democracy FOR CORPORATIONS who get listened to and helped by the corrupt government in Washington.

The latest instance of democracy and freedom for corporations was a vote to subsidize the construction of oil refineries while slashing environmental regulations on them.

This is a "three-fer'. First, the reason there is a shortage of refineries is that they are the LEAST PROFITABLE part of the business. So, once again, they dump the unprofitable part on the public to keep the high-margin stuff for themselves. Second, these are the most profitable companies in the world at a moment of windfall profits - and citizens are subsidizing them? Third, this is another backdoor assault on the environmental laws. The crooks have now discovered that the word "emergency" means that they have the freedom to do anything they please.

[Dr.Phool]

1. No public space or commons left.

We started out this year needing 5,082 valid signatures from registered voters in our congressional district to get on the ballot. We had 100 days to do it, plus get enough to cover rejects, and still get the number.

Back in January, we got tossed out of all the parking lots at Wal-Mart, Publix, Home Depot, you name it.

This is one way they stifle democracy. Signatures, or $10,000 filing fee.

We made it with over 1,000 to spare, but it wasn't easy.