Headlines
Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools
Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal
Spending cuts and privatization have ravaged the economy – opinion
MI: Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools
AZ: Former Arizona Commerce Authority chief Cardon’s bonus stirs questions
LA: Panel OKs privatization of Bossier City developmental center
Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
Locking up illegal immigrants has grown profoundly lucrative for the private prisons industry, a reliable pot of revenue that helped keep some of the biggest companies in business. And while nearly half of the 400,000 immigrants held annually are housed in private facilities, the federal government — which spends $2 billion a year on keeping those people in custody — says it isn’t necessarily cheaper to outsource the work, a central argument used for privatization in the first place. The Associated Press, seeking to tally the scope of the private facilities, add up their cost and the amounts the companies spend on lobbying and campaign donations, reviewed more than 10 years’ worth of federal and state records. It found a complex, mutually beneficial and evidently legal relationship between those who make corrections and immigration policy and a few prison companies. Some of those companies were struggling to survive before toughened immigrant detention laws took effect. AP
Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools
The investors gathered in a tony private club in Manhattan were eager to hear about the next big thing, and education consultant Rob Lytle was happy to oblige. Think about the upcoming rollout of new national academic standards for public schools, he urged the crowd. If they’re as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad, their students testing way behind in reading and math. They’ll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software and student assessments will be right there to provide it. “You start to see entire ecosystems of investment opportunity lining up,” said Lytle, a partner at The Parthenon Group, a Boston consulting firm. “It could get really, really big.” Indeed, investors of all stripes are beginning to sense big profit potential in public education. The K-12 market is tantalizingly huge: The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from ages five through 18. The entire education sector, including college and mid-career training, represents nearly 9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, more than the energy or technology sectors. Reuters
Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal
…It’s hard, in this pass, not to wonder if the Right Wing is forcing the issue by creating a crisis, then pressing for action. This, after all, has been its strategy for shrinking the Federal Government — systematically starve it for money by cutting taxes and larding it with debt, then call for drastic reforms to stave off disaster, a la the Ryan Plan. There’s even what amounts to a business plan for privatizing the USPS, published by the AEI in 2011, called “Return to Sender: Reforms for the Failing Postal Service.” The premise: The USPS is obsolete and doomed, and the taxpayers’ interests have to be protected by getting it off the government’s books as soon as possible….But the idea raises a question: If Geddes and the AEI are correct and the USPS is such a bottomless money pit, why would anybody want it? Who ever heard of buying a service company with no upside? What’s in it for them? Well, real estate, actually, and Geddes and every commenter hints at this. Privatizing the USPS has the potential of being one of history’s biggest — and most profitable — real estate deals ever. Here’s how it could work. Huffington Post
Spending cuts and privatization have ravaged the economy – opinion
Americans overwhelmingly underestimate the benefits they receive from government involvement in the economy and increasingly place the blame on too few of the people responsible. The overall effect is a collapsing democratic society and economy. The United States of the past century benefitted from the creation of a robust national highway system, an educational system that was the envy of the world, a space program that took us to the moon, a military capable of facing down almost any threat imaginable, and a computer network that reached across the entire globe. A social safety net designed to ensure that the weakest members of the population remained insulated from absolute poverty added to the overall stability of the system. Each of these public-sector achievements allowed the United States to create an equally robust and successful system of private enterprise, ranging from small businesses to what are now multinational corporations. Today, every piece of this American puzzle stands ravaged by privatization and spending cuts. For reasons escaping all logic, our civic and corporate leaders embarked on a campaign to cut costs, corners, and jobs around 30 years ago. These cuts run counter to any intelligent notion of economics.Charleston City Paper
MI: Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools
The public school district in this hard-luck city has come up with a radical answer for its troubled education system: It is outsourcing all of it. Highland Park School District, one of the state’s lowest-performing academically, says it will turn over its three schools and nearly 1,000 students to a private, for-profit charter school company—the second district in Michigan to take such a drastic step to avert financial collapse. The abrupt news last week sparked concern—and in some cases, relief— from parents and other residents who packed a Wednesday night meeting in the faded industrial city, which is nearly surrounded by Detroit. New York Times
AZ: Former Arizona Commerce Authority chief Cardon’s bonus stirs questions
Former Arizona Commerce Authority CEO Don Cardon, who recently quit with more than two years remaining on his contract, is eligible for a “discretionary bonus” of up to $75,000, records obtained by The Arizona Republic show. Critics, meanwhile, say the situation is yet another example of the agency’s lack of transparency. Under Commerce Authority policy, part of the CEO’s compensation is to be paid by private-sector interests served by the authority’s economic-development work. It is unclear whether enough private funds have been raised to cover the bonus or if taxpayers will be on the hook. Cardon officially left his state post July 6. However, he remains tied to the agency as the paid executive director of Team ACA, the non-profit arm that raises private money to pay for some of the agency’s expenses. Some of those expenses include part of the commerce director’s compensation. Team ACA does not plan to disclose Cardon’s salary or how much donors are giving, raising other transparency issues, critics say….Brewer pushed for creation of the Commerce Authority, a public-private partnership that began last year. Although it is a state agency, it has a board made up of local business leaders. It uses taxpayer money, including a $25 million deal-closing fund, to lure businesses to Arizona. During Cardon’s short tenure, the Commerce Authority says, more than 5,000 jobs were created, totaling more than $321 million in capital investment, prompting Brewer to praise his work. “They should be transparent on whether he is getting a bonus or not and where the money is coming from,” said Serena Unrein of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, a public watchdog group that has been critical of the Commerce Authority. “We have concern that the Commerce Authority is not showing taxpayers how their money is being spent.” Arizona Republic
LA: Panel OKs privatization of Bossier City developmental center
A state panel has approved Louisiana’s plans to hire private companies to run state facilities in Bossier City and Hammond that care for the developmentally disabled. Shreveport Times