My Two Cents on the 'Public v. Private' Debate

"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all." -John Maynard Keynes

Deregulation and privatizing what used to be public is only a benefit to those with the power and resources to monopolize the industry and it typically comes at the expense of everyone else. Argue what you will, but performance is the only true measurement of policy. And the policies promoted by the Republican Party simply do not work, no matter how good they look on paper or sound when a pundit is regurgitating them.

In regard to performance, here in California we deregulated and privatized our energy utilities in the mid 90s. Even I was for it at the time because we were all led to believe that we would be able to pick our electrical provider, like we do with our cell phones and internet providers, and that competition would raise the quality while lowering the price. Well, 16 years later, my electricity is no better. It also isn't cheaper, in fact, it is quite a bit more expensive, and since deregulating, we have had numerous periods of rolling blackouts, something that never occurred when regulated. So the result is that the price has continued to go up while the quality has gone down.

Essentially what happened was that once regulations were removed, energy providers monopolized territories and were no longer required to keep ahead of the demand. They quit building new power plants, they quit improving existing ones so their operating costs went down, and as the demand steadily increased, the supply remained the same. That sent the prices through the roof. And as the demand surpassed the supply, we began to experience rolling blackouts where entire grids were shut down and millions went without power for hours and even days at a time.

So now, a couple of people have gotten extremely wealthy, the cost of electricity is significantly higher, and during peak power usage periods, electricity is an unaffordable luxury for most. Great! Let's privatize everything! Just don’t ‘slippery slope’ my opinion, I'm all for people working hard and making a great and prosperous living, I am just against manipulating the market through illegal and unethical channels that allow individuals to get extremely wealthy very quickly, and at the expense of everyone else.

The oil companies basically do the same thing. Remember when gas prices first hit 4.00/ gallon during the Bush years and the Saudis offered to increase production to flood the market and bring the price down, and Bush said no thanks? Keeping the supply closer to the demand allows those with the supply to charge more because there is seemingly less. Allowing manipulation of the market like this all the while providing tax breaks and subsidies to those companies who have also reported recod high profits ever since the government invaded an oil rich country sounds criminal when you say it out loud.

Another example is how privatizing prisons has both affected the freedom of private citizens and cost the taxpayers more than having a publicly run prison system. Occupancy quotas in the contracts owners of private prisons have with state governments require 90% or more of the prison cells to be filled at all times, or at least paid for. The state is then obligated to keep prisons full, even if crime rates are down and people get arrested and incarcerated for less and less. And if the prisons are always full, it might seem like we always need more.

People who think deregulating and privatizing everything seem to be living in a fantasyland where everyone is out for fair competition like they’re saying, "May the best man win!" And that no one in this fairy tale would ever manipulate the system from behind the scenes or cheat their way to the top. Performance shows that leaving some people to their own ethical discipline is harmful to over 90% of the population and that is simply unacceptable. I’m sorry but those greedy, money-grubbing, corrupt, unethical, opportunistic vultures ruined it for everyone.

When it comes to utilities and services that everyone needs for day to day living, allowing that market to be manipulated by a few extremely wealthy people who stand to get significantly wealthier while the masses of people suffer is dangerous and it is precisely what makes third world countries third world countries. Undeveloped countries don’t have public infrastructure, and companies and wealthy individuals who have no interest in the culture or the general welfare of the people largely dominate the markets. Utilities are completely private and are unaffordable luxuries for the masses. Just a handful of people own everything and those same people control the political process, and while that may be good for them, it is not good at all for anyone else. Because of that, I am left to conclude there are some things that just shouldn’t be left in the hands of private, profit-driven interests. That’s not the USA I want.