I learned that the Sheriffs Department in NJ still has workhouses for people who cant pay court fines

If you like Dickensian England, you're gonna love Romneyian Amerika.

graft masquerading as ideology - that's perfect. Don't forget the privatization of military & intelligence functions through "contractors."

Very Dickensian (also in NJ). Nerd Cred, forget about contractors? On the contrary, that's who I'm alluding to. Like Blackwater was.

The government is shot Kosher we are living in a state of corporate free for all. The only thing that’s going to change it is to what extent how many people are willing to go in order to achieve that change.

Well put. Especially the efficiencies as myth part.

Lezlie

Tom has it right. r.

I know you only had one sentence, but don't forget about the selectivity of service provision that is also part and parcel of privatization.

Privatization has a lot of drawbacks. Selectivity of service is one of them. That's been true of schools for years - it's the main reason private schools can claim to get better results, by rejecting the students they don't want.

This was almost the post I had been hoping for. Excellent point, though. This has been on my mind lately. This idea makes the point very nicely.

When primary schools go "charter" across the country, McDonald's will get the contract to feed 'em.

I got so excited so fast reading your sentence, Kosh, I missed the combat part. ::blush::

Bill,
Given what I threw at you in PM, that this is almost the post is pretty amazing. Kate, yes, that's how it works, and that's basically why Congress is lobbied for privatization. NC, it happens.

This was actually inspired by a Paul Krugman column. My father sends them to me. He was talking about some scandal or other and saying that people are treating it like an isolated incident when it's anything but. Of course it's anything but. When you're in government, your mission is ostensibly your job, though if you're enough of a bureaucrat it can become your fiefdom. When you're in private industry, particularly if your company is publicly traded, your mission is about money and everything else is secondary. There are disadvantages with the private sector and that's one of them.

Excellent post. Pithy. Spot on.
The privitization of government and the corporatization of humanity. The only good news is that insanity is not sustainable. r

Yep.. yep.. yep.

Rated for agreement.

Delia,
Thanks. It isn't sustainable. One of the silliest factors involved is that it's not only not politically sustainable, it's not economically sustainable either. There are costs to screwing up these tasks and costs to eliminating those government jobs, and those costs all involve money, to a far greater extent than most acknowledge.

Seer,
Thank you.