News
TX: Commentary: Rick Perry’s announcement marks ‘the end of an error’. Under Perry, anything corporations could do better than state business, well, that got privatized too. The only problem is that Perry’s privatization has usually blown up in his face. In 2003, Perry replaced 2,900 state workers with private call centers that were going to make it easier for Texans to apply for food stamps, Medicaid and children’s health insurance. Not only did it make it harder for poor Texans to get help, but it also cost taxpayers $243 million. Perry calls that a win-win. Perry also “deregulated” tuition at state colleges and universities. This free-market reform increased tuition 55 percent in a decade. Not content to make college unaffordable, Perry has tried—so far without success—“to apply the cost-benefit logic of business to public higher education.” This is a great idea if you think a university should run its English Department like Enron. Apparently Perry does. Houston Chronicle
MD: County Commissioners done with large-scale privatization, Young says. The era of wholesale privatization in county government is coming to a close, and the surviving three quarters of the county workforce can breathe a sigh of relief, according to Commissioners President Blaine Young. Frederick News Post
KS: Child Support Workers Laid Off as Kansas Moves to Privatization. Division of the Kansas Department for Children and Families will be laid off by September 20, 2013, as the state moves to privatization of child support enforcement. HPPR
UK: Royal Mail Privatisation: Business Department Risks ‘Chaos’ In Announcement Of £3bn Move. The government’s plan to take the Royal Mail into private ownership is expected to be revealed this week, with critics warning the process could cause “complete chaos” for the UK’s postal service.”…. They’ve nationalized the debt and they want to privatize the profit. Not even Thatcher wanted to privatize it, she never wanted to do that,” he added. “There’s room for complete chaos in the privatisation process.” Huffington Post UK
House GOP apparently wants to be even more unpopular. The plan to privatize Medicare, perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Ryan budget, is the holy grail for conservatives who say major deficit-reduction can only be achieved by making this type of cut to mandatory spending. Salon