Noami Klein on the Privatization of War...

[Ben]

[techi]

Privatizing state functions and/or infrastructure is just a bad idea.

We shouldn't even allow private armys to exist. They make us look like a shitty banana republic.

[yodajazz]

I have heard conservative theorists say that private business is always more efficient than government. However, the bottom line for business is profit, whereas the government's bottom line is accountablity to the people, via service goals. My 'favorite' government privatization is that of prisons. I still question what is their overall relationship between profit and turning out prisoners who would commit less crime upon their return to the community.

Anyway, this is a good and thoughtful video. Thanks for the link.

[hippifried]

I don't care about efficiency. War is absolutely the most inefficient use of resources possible, wo what does it matter? This is about promoting the acceptance of perpetual war as the norm, & profiteering as legitimate. We market war like soap. Ain't that glorious?

[techi]

Yeah, privatized prisons are probably #2 on my shit list after privatized armys.

How does society benefit from privatized prisons when the shareholders in the prisons are also the lawmakers and judges? It's just guaranteed profits at the expense of the taxpayer. It also encourages our lawmakers to write unworkable laws that are guaranteed to throw volumes of people in jail.

I completely agree that private companies are the most efficient at generating private profits. But private companies have absolutely no sense of public purpose, nor should they. In cases where private companies are working within the framework of a compeditive market place then some public purpose does emerge in the form of lower prices and higher quality goods&services. And in other cases, government laws and regulations can force companies to provide public purpose(environmental laws for example).

But if you give a private company monopoly control of needed infrastructure without any rules&regulations then you are going to get high prices and low quality. Makes sense for the company, they are maximizing thier profits. Sorta like Enron gouging California with mini-bar prices for energy.

In most cases I think it's best to just have government owning and managing the infrastructure of the country and private companies sticking with consumer goods. I don't want a government toaster and I don't want corporate tollbooths on every damn road in the country.

[trish]

In Pennsylvania last year two judges where indicted for taking kickbacks from private prisons for juveniles. The judges were essentially finding kids guilty and sending them off to prison for a fee.

[Rogers]

Other attempts at overthrowing foreign governments for the sake of big oil include Equatorial Guinea and Venezuela:

2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt
"The 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt was an alleged coup attempt against the government of Equatorial Guinea in order to replace President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo with exiled opposition politician Severo Moto, carried out by mercenaries and organised by mainly British financiers. Equatorial Guinea has vast oil and gas reserves. One US official called it "the new Kuwait".[1]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Equatorial_Guinea_coup_d'%C3%A9tat_attempt

Margaret Thatcher's son was involved:
Thatcher fined over 'coup plot'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4169557.stm
Pentagon link to Guinea coup plot
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004...uatorialguinea


2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt
"The Venezuelan coup attempt of 2002 was a failed coup d'état on April 11, 2002 that lasted 47 hours, whereby the head of state President Hugo Chávez was illegally detained,[1] the National Assembly and the Supreme Court dissolved, and the country's Constitution declared void.[2]"

"The coup was publicly condemned by Latin American nations (the Rio Group presidents were gathered together in San José, Costa Rica, at the time, and were able to issue a joint communiqué) and international organizations. The United States and Chile quickly acknowledged the de facto pro-US Carmona government, but ended up condemning the coup after it had been defeated.[7]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d'%C3%A9tat_attempt

[Rogers]

John Pilger's documentary on the Venezuelan coup d'état attempt covers Milton Friedman, "The Chicago Boys", and the Bush Administration's involvement through the "National Endowment for Democracy":
http://video.google.com/videosearch?...mocracy&emb=0#

Loose Cannon: The National Endowment for Democracy
"NED, which also has a history of corruption and financial mismanagement, is superfluous at best and often destructive. Through the endowment, the American taxpayer has paid for special-interest groups to harass the duly elected governments of friendly countries, interfere in foreign elections, and foster the corruption of democratic movements."
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=1552

[Rogers]

National Endowment for Death Squads? The AFL-CIO and the NED

"FEW TAXPAYERS ARE familiar with the National Endowment for Democracy, a publicly funded yet privately owned organization operating in at least forty countries. NED's mission? To help the United States set up capitalist economies around the world, backed by regimes that are friendly to U.S. big business."...

Octopus Arms
One Empire, One Development Model
ACILS: Reforming Or Restructuring?
Meddling in Venezuela

Iraq and Beyond

"A key strategic aim of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East is to break state control over oil production and reserves and open them up to the direct control of U.S. based energy conglomerates. The first act of L. Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. occupation of Iraq from May 2, 2003 until his early departure on June 28, 2004, was to fire 500,000 state workers including teachers, doctors, nurses, publishers and printers.

Next he opened Iraq's borders to unrestricted imports, declaring it "open for business." Enacting a radical set of laws unprecedented in their generosity to multinational corporations, Bremer allowed foreign companies to own 100 percent of Iraqi assets outside the natural resource sector, and to take all of these profits out of the country tax free with no obligation to reinvest in Iraq. The only remnant from Saddam Hussein's economic policy was—a law restricting trade unions and collective bargaining!"...
http://www.iefd.org/articles/for_death_squads.php

[Rogers]

Whatever happened to government of the people, by the people, for the people?

Democracy Cartoons
http://www.iefd.org/articles/cartoons.php

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
- George Orwell.