Privatization of Public Services Works Poorly

Michigan prisons recently were the subject of a report by Bill Moyers. The first paragraph sums up the problem with privatizing any public service.

Advocates of privatizing public services promise that the magic of the free market will result in better services for fewer tax dollars, but time and again those ideological claims run headlong into reality. Private companies have to turn a profit, and that means cutting corners, paying lower wages and often failing to provide quality goods and services.

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Sold to the Poor for the Benefit of the Elite

Diane Ravitch - One of Our Best Friends

If you have not read her books, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools and The Death and Life of The Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, or read her blog do yourself a favor. She always has new content several times a day. It is always relevant and powerful. Over the past several years Diane has made several hundred posts a month. If you are looking for thoughtful critiques of Common Core or teacher evaluations or privatization or any other hot issue in education you will find it here.

Mike Green is ALEC

Mike Green is my state senator. He is also the Michigan state chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council. This group and Americans for Prosperity are front groups for David and Charles Koch. These groups exist to foist their priorities and their values on the rest of us.