Privatization Horror Stories

http://gawker.com/here-is-your-bible-of-privatization-horror-stories-1476546354

Government sucks. Why doesn't it run more like business? Why don't we let business run more of the government? The good news is: We already do. The bad news is: Business sucks worse.

A just-released draft report by In the Public Interest, a nonprofit contracting watchdog, offers nationwide look into just how the push for privatization is screwing up everything, from sick nuns to broken roads to beaten foster children.

The full report—titled "Out of Control"—is available here; here are some of the highlights. Grab your gas masks and armbands:

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School-cafeteria workers in New Jersey saw their hourly wages cut by $4 to $6 an hour after their jobs were privatized. "[W]e use our personal sick days just to get paid so we can pay rent for the next month," one told investigators.

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Also, the the owner/operator of a youth detention center that paid a judge to convict thousand of youths and sentence them to his detention center, where he then collected fees from the government.

http://dismalpoliticaleconomist.blogspot.com/2011/08/pennsylvania-judge-sentenced-for-cash.html

And the private businesses that botched the Affordable Health Care web site. And Oracle, which botched the Oregon health care exchange.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/12/02/248225524/could-a-tech-giant-build-a-better-health-exchange-maybe-not