Community Ownership & Challenging the GOP's Privatization Agenda

[Guest guest]

Privatization is a codeword for skewing government policy to give

corporate private profit while pushing the expenses onto the taxpayer

public in some way. It is just a complex way of robbing the public treasury and

giving unfair advantage to corporate biggies. Most people are just too ignorant

or filled with misinformation to see it and the fools just vote against

themselves year after year.

 

 

 

M

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:02:43 -0500

Fw: Community Ownership & Challenging the GOP's Privatization

Agenda

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/david-sirota/community-ownership-c\

ha_4636.html

 

 

 

Community Ownership & Challenging the GOP's Privatization Agenda

 

It seems that as Washington, D.C. tries to privatize more and more of

American life and turn it over to Big Business, there is a quiet but

growing battle in the states trying to do exactly the opposite. Call

it the Community Ownership movement – and hope that it comes to a town

near you.

 

Here are the basics: we are in an era where the right-wing's

free-market-for-everything ideology has been allowed to become reality

– and we are starting to see some serious downsides. Think Enron,

where Corporate America abused the unregulated market to gouge

consumers. Think Social Security privatization, where Wall Street will

be allowed to rip off unsuspecting taxpayers for billions. And think

Halliburton, where an oil company is being allowed to overcharge

America for the privatized work it is doing in Iraq.

 

But far away from the out-of-touch confines of the Beltway where free

market extremism reigns supreme, ordinary Americans are realizing that

there's an alternative path, whereby community ownership of certain

economic institutions and businesses are a pretty good deal. Instead

of allowing Corporate America to reap the windfalls of everything,

more and more communities are trying to get a piece of the action –

all while making sure the public is adequately served, and not abused.

 

The highest-profile example of this is in municipal broadband, where

city governments are developing taxpayer-owned high speed Internet

networks. Instead of allowing Verizon or other corporations to control

Internet access and rake in all the profits from it, these communities

are making Internet access a public utility and sharing in the

profits. These communities can make some money at it, while doing the

public a service by keeping rates low.

 

There are other examples. In Montana, a group of cities is making a

bid to buy NorthWestern Energy. If successful, Montana taxpayers will

actually own their own energy provider, meaning better protection

against Enron-style price gouging.

 

The community ownership movement is moving into some non-traditional

areas, too. Take Whitefish, Montana – the community helped build a

physical fitness facility, and will help administer the facility and

keep rates affordable.

 

Even in Washington, there have been a few courageous Community

Ownership initiatives, such as those trying to make sure taxpayers get

the benefits of profits they help generate. For instance, progressives

have long tried to make sure that when taxpayers fund the research and

development of a new drug, taxpayers get a share in the profits they

helped generate when that drug goes to market.

 

Clearly, all of this is much different than what we're used to seeing.

Usually, government is in the business of handing over huge amounts of

our taxpayer money to corporations, so that the corporations can just

take all the profits, and charge whatever they want to the customers.

That's been the backbone of the recent spate of high-profile stadium

deals, whereby city and state governments just fork over cash to

private pro sports teams, while getting no share of the massive

profits in return, and letting those teams charge higher and higher

ticket prices to the fans whose tax dollars are supporting them. It

has also been standard operating procedure in Washington, D.C., most

recently with the Medicare bill that gives away billions to the

pharmaceutical industry.

 

Make no mistake about it - Corporate America and its bought-off allies

in Congress are trying to preserve this traditional

privatize-and-giveaway-everything system. They are doing whatever they

can to stop the burgeoning Community Ownership movement. In Congress,

Members of the House and Senate are trying to stop the municipal

broadband efforts, and the telecom industry is also working feverishly

to get state lawmakers to prohibit community ownership. Similarly,

Congress has made sure that taxpayers continue to be cut out of the

profits taxpayer-funded R & D generates. Meanwhile, well-heeled

executives at NorthWestern Energy are working overtime to avoid being

bought out by citizens who are sick and tired of being ripped off.

 

The battle is sure to turn ideological: you can always count on the

right-wing to ultimately scream " Socialism " or " Communism " whenever

people propose making profits work for an entire community, rather

than just a few wealthy fat cats. The only thing Corporate America

wants government to own is services that don't make any profits, like

policing and firefighting – things that Big Business desperately wants

taxpayers to pay for, so that corporations don't have to. They want to

socialize everything that costs money, and privatize everything that

makes money.

 

Will the inevitable right-wing red-baiting work? Good question – but

it is a good debate to finally start having. For too long, our side

has rolled over and died when it comes to questions about how to

manage the free market so that it works for ordinary people. Now it's

time to have it out.

 

People know corporations right now have far too much power and far too

much leeway to rip off ordinary citizens - but there is a feeling that

that's " just a fact of life. " The Community Ownership movement shows

it doesn't have to be a fact of life, and that there is an

alternative. In other words, this is a debate progressives should

welcome, because it is a debate we can win.

 

Sources:

How Enron ripped off consumers:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/03/enron.tapes/

 

How Social Security privatization will rip off billions from Americans:

http://socialsecurity.ourfuture.org/issues/wall-street/

 

How Halliburton ripped off American taxpayers:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c9097118-aaf0-11d9-98d7-00000e2511c8.html

 

The municipal broadband movement:

http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet/

 

City governments pushing municipal broadband:

http://news.com.com/Municipal+broadband+and+wireless+projects+map/2009-1034_3-56\

90287.html

 

Montana cities make bid to buy NorthWestern Energy:

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/06/30/ap2119759.html

 

Whitefish, Montana helps create community-owned fitness center:

http://www.whitefishpilot.com/articles/2004/09/29/news/news03.txt

 

Progressives try to ensure taxpayers get drug profits they helped create:

http://bernie.house.gov/documents/releases/20011012115004.asp

 

Local governments give away taxpayer money to sports teams in stadium

deals:

http://www.taxpayer.net/bailoutwatch/stadium.htm

 

Federal government gives away taxpayer cash to drug companies in

Medicare bill:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/05/medicare_bill_a_study_in_d\

c_spoils_system?pg=2

 

House bill proposes limiting municipal broadband initiatives:

http://www.freepress.net/congress/bills/2726.pdf

 

Senate considers limiting municipal broadband initiatives:

http://www.freepress.net/news/8846

 

Corporations try to get state lawmakers to limit municipal broadband

initiatives:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24888-2004Dec1.html

 

NorthWestern Energy executives trying to avoid buy out:

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050724/NEWS01/5072\

40302/1002