Corruption Disguised as Economic Development

At this point, it would be easier to document the cases in which privatizing government services either improved service or saved money. Because there aren't any.

DSWright at Firedoglake:

America’s economy is awful. Unemployment is high, young people can’t find decent work, and according to a Wells Fargo survey 37% of middle-income Americans expect to work until they die. It’s not a wonderful life – unless, you happen to have some friends in state government.

In a new report, Good Jobs First details the growing use of “public-private partnerships” (PPPs) to promote economic development and the conflicts of interests they carry. Unlike traditional economic development which is run from a department of government (Commerce for example), PPPs allow private interests to borrow public authority to promote an economic agenda. Not surprisingly, that agenda often benefits the private interests that propose it. What was supposed to be a program for economic development quickly devolved into the most base form of government corruption and crony capitalism.