Lunatic Fringe
The repugicans in the U.S. say they want smaller government so they can
keep more of their own money - and there are a lot of them who feel
that way. But they ALSO want a government set up so that what you DO pay
in taxes, they can get their hands on. They want subsidies and direct
pay-outs for their corporate and big-farmer friends (in which they are
often invested), they want the military industrial companies located in
their states, they want social security and Medicare privatized, and
they want government work contracted out to private business so they can
invest and make profits off your taxes.
Don't ever be fooled - they are, for the most part, driven by selfishness that goes beyond what most of us liberals can even comprehend.
The big push to privatize government services began in earnest under Ronald Reagan when he proclaimed government to be the problem, not the answer. He cut government employment, but he didn't cut government services - he began transferring them into the private sector and huge, and I mean HUGE, government contractor firms began popping up everywhere. These same firms that were supposed to shrink government charged the government astronomical fees for doing what used to be done by modestly paid civil servants. Some firms command fees from the government of $400 per hour or more. And you can bet they claim hours the same way a lawyer claims hours. "Ooh - I made a five minute phone call - that's an hour!"
On top of the fact that this increases the cost of our government doing business, it puts a LOT of our private information in the hands of people the government has little control over (Edward Snowden, anybody?). Unknown and untested people are handling your private data everyday and this has GOT to increase the chance that your private information will be used unscrupulously, or that your life will get screwed up somehow by some poorly trained, poorly screened employee unsupervised by any sort of governmental agency.
Shit.
Don't ever be fooled - they are, for the most part, driven by selfishness that goes beyond what most of us liberals can even comprehend.
The big push to privatize government services began in earnest under Ronald Reagan when he proclaimed government to be the problem, not the answer. He cut government employment, but he didn't cut government services - he began transferring them into the private sector and huge, and I mean HUGE, government contractor firms began popping up everywhere. These same firms that were supposed to shrink government charged the government astronomical fees for doing what used to be done by modestly paid civil servants. Some firms command fees from the government of $400 per hour or more. And you can bet they claim hours the same way a lawyer claims hours. "Ooh - I made a five minute phone call - that's an hour!"
On top of the fact that this increases the cost of our government doing business, it puts a LOT of our private information in the hands of people the government has little control over (Edward Snowden, anybody?). Unknown and untested people are handling your private data everyday and this has GOT to increase the chance that your private information will be used unscrupulously, or that your life will get screwed up somehow by some poorly trained, poorly screened employee unsupervised by any sort of governmental agency.
Shit.
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