My Sometimes Conservative Wife Just learned How Privatization works.

[imthevicar]

AS she Prepares Taxes for a well Known franchise every tax season. She Had a Gentleman sit down in front of her who was injured on the job who was a "Thrower" for (Big Name Trash company). As he was Married and not quite understanding the filing process as so many of the poor do not, he wanted to file as single. My Wife sometimes has people who are insistent on this part, and many times become argumentative. She becomes firm in her manner. She then burst into tears while explaining the rest of the story. "He didn't deserve that treatment, he was patient and polite and after the rush and the stress..." After calming her down I got the rest.
He was injured on the job recently and was in pain. He offered no argument as she she explained to him he couldn't file that way. After collecting his w-2 form info she was shocked at what little he made. It occurred to her that he most likely was one of the Men who collected our trash and recyclables. She was shocked at his weekend physical condition at a relatively young age. "oh Yes," I said, "That's no job for a 50 year old!".
"But", she answered,"I thought city workers made more that that! HE works for (Big Name Trash company)". I said, "Yes I know that" I explained, &quot Big Name Trash company) Is not the city Dept of sanitation!
And now instead of many people getting a good wage working for the city Dept of sanitation, you now have many men getting a SHIT wage, with no pension while (Big Name Trash company) makes a big profit. The city actually doesn't save much of anything, except the Managing part, and they still maintain an office for complaints and questions. That's how privatizing works. That's what the city has been doing for years. Now that's what they want to do to Teachers, Firefighters and when it's their turn the Police. That will be their rude awaking as well."

[itsrobert]

1. Yeah, I see it all the time that a married couple wants to file single

They even want to divvy up the kids so they can get equal deductions. Or one is going to school and they want to not show the income of the other so they can get student grants and such. It's not that they don't understand they can't file "single", it's that they understand they can cheat the system this way. Or a family member or a friend has convinced them they can do it that way.

[imthevicar]

2. That's not quite the message what I wanted to convey.

[itsrobert]

3. I thought I could add to the discussion

Why would someone think they can file 'single' when married? They know exactly what they are trying to do.

[Cleita]

6. Used to be you could file separate tax returns if you both

worked even though married There was a tax advantage to it. I guess they have changed the rules. He probably thought it could still be done.

[pangaia]

8. If you are married you have to say so.

But, you can file separately.

[Helen Borg]

28. Yep.

If you want to file separately you can.

[TexasProgresive]

38. Not in Texas

I think it has to do with community property.

[itsrobert]

9. Yes, that category is "Married, filing separate"

Not "Single" which is a different category.

[Cleita]

22. He probably was confused as to terms.

I mean the guy's job was trash thrower. English may not have been his first language. All our tresh collectors are Hispanic. He probably meant he wanted to file as the same status as single but didn't have the words to explain it. Cheesze! Everyone wants to think the worst.

[QuestForSense]

27. I'm not understanding 'exactly what they are trying to do.'

You pay MORE when you're single. What am I missing?

[DallasNE]

34. That Was My First Thought Too

There is another category called "head of household" that results in lower taxes too. Besides, if his income is a low as the article suggests he probably doesn't own any income taxes so there is a lot about this story I don't understand.

[jtuck004]

10. lol.

Were you under the mistaken impression that you were posting in a place where people gave a shit about such things? This is the party that just signed off on the second reduction in food stamps in less than 6 months, who has been helping banks make record profits while the numbers of people on food stamps have increased while telling people "the economy might have gotten much worse if we didn't support the wealthy", (all the time ignoring the fact that the economy DID get worse for about 100 million people because they paid the bills for the richer ones). That makes us soooo much better than the evil low-life teabaggers, you see. And if you don't say so, we will beat YOU up, because it couldn't be the party that is the problem.

So instead of standing up against the corps and their lapdog politicians we focus on their victims, us, our neighbors, people who are being screwed each and every day, and talk about them as the problem. And when they don't vote, we say it's their fault.



We are getting EXACTLY what we asked for.

Great post anyway - some of us get it, but too few to make a difference, I suspect, despite all the clever sayings about the power of small groups.

(a side note - I was a preparer for a chain that has the felons (who sometimes have access to your tax records) in costume waving at people on the street. What a scuzzy business. Their franchising info helps you set it up so you are strategically positioned to prey on those with lower-incomes with high fees and prices. They are no better than payday loan companies. After work I would go home and take a shower to wash their stink off, then go volunteer for VITA and do tax returns at no charge. That is a group doing great work.)

[imthevicar]

41. Thank You!

At least I have one person so far who seems to get what I'm saying!

Opps My Bad, after the trolls who were complaining about who and who does not get away with what Taxes, their are a whole lot of folks who understand what I tried to say. One voice at a time they will understand that the people are being screwed. to all of you who get it You Rock!

[gLibDem]

45. Didn't get the memo? All you need is a D next to your name on the ballot.

Policy doesn't matter. And if you try to make I matter your get disappeared from the site.

[jtuck004]

52. >disappeared from the site.< Please let me refer you to Eleanor Roosevelt, one of my teachers.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

Eleanor Roosevelt US Diplomat and Reformer

I used to think that was a lesson the Democratic Party needed to learn, that their hearts were as black as any teabagger. . Then I realized that, for many, the problem is that they simply have no heart.

"Needy Americans who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are expected to suffer an average loss of $36 a month from a $275.13 per household benefit. There are a near-record 47.6 million Americans, representing 23.1 million households, on the program. The cost of the program will hit $63.4 billion in 2013."

Here.

A FAMILY CAN'T FUCKING EAT ON $275.13 A GOD DAMN MONTH. - THEY RUN OUT OF FOOD BEFORE THEY RUN OUT OF MONTH. AND THE FUCKING DEMOCRATS, WHO DIDN'T HAVE THE GOD DAMN SPINE TO STAND UP TO THE BULLIES JUST CUT THAT BY $36 WHILE CONTINUING TO PAY THEIR THIEVING WEALTHY BANKSTER DONORS 1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO PROFIT FROM.

Like someone else said, I welcome their hatred. The same hatred and contempt that took food off the tables of hungry children.

Cutting me from the site won't put the food back, it won't get people jobs, it won't make houses more affordable, lower the tuition rates, invest in our infrastructure, restore funding for research we need that has been cut or raise taxes on those who have been the recipients of Obama's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. And while I may get disappeared, that won't slow me down one iota from my habit of printing things out and taking them to where I talk with 20 or 30 people that trust me, clients who I influence, people who then influence their family and friends and workers. Hell, it may give me inspiration. Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues, eh?

So when I point out that I got killed off a site, yet the food didn't come back to the tables of the people the Democrats cut the food stamps for this week, that their customers, the ones who make up our economy still don't have any money (and are increasingly expecting to never have it), that their business is still suffering from a trade imbalance we refuse to correct because the government would rather beat up on the least powerful, what do you think will have more influence on their vote? Some self-important hack on an Internet bulletin board, or the information I give them?

With well over half the country undergoing a fundamental change in how they look at their future, beginning to understand it's policy, not their own decisions that have made it this way, and apparently giving full credit to Congress AND Obama for it, (something to read: ignore the anti-Obama fluff, but pay attention to the substantive stuff in the last 4-5 paragraphs about research into the change in people's outlook by someone who has been studying them for a long time, here), I think the next couple of elections are going to be damn interesting, and perhaps not in a good way.

The thing that I look forward to is that some of the people who are employed as political brown shirts today may find out what it is like to be looking for a new job in the country that has resulted from their own cooking. And I bet they won't like it one little bit.

If they can't take the criticism, maybe they should learn how to respect basic human dignity, and realize that people are more important than assets any day of the week.

[imthevicar]

64. They hate it when

you remind them of their insanity. and can't stand to taste the bitter truth. so you have to be disappeared.

[jtuck004]

66. I know. But what "they" (and that's any group) don't attach enough

importance to is the fact that you are only disappeared from their group, and they then lose any chance for input into what you do. And one may well have more influence by not being associated with them any longer.

Interesting study in the field of networks, in the book "Big Data" as I recall. They got a hold of the metadata for some period of time for a whole country in Europe, and after a lot of high level analysis it turns out that the weaker links were the ones that impacted the longevity of the group, not the stronger or core communicators. The take-away is that when you get rid of the outliers, you may be doing your group more harm than good.

Funny how things work out

[imthevicar]

67. I thought they were called,

Loyal Opposition.

[busterbrown]

13. Oh, great!

Yea these people cheat the hell out of the system... Living the good life, with an elevator in their garages for their second and third car..This country has taken the middle out of the class and reduced it to the survival class.. This guy probably makes 10 an hr. for back breaking work which is worth at least 15 an hr. to start...

[itsrobert]

16. Is that an excuse to commit tax fruad?

Who says they are living the good life? Cheating on taxes is not just limited to the Mitt Romney's of the world. Shouldn't people pay what they owe? How do you scold the rich for evading their fair share of taxes when you turn a blind eye to everyone else?

[busterbrown]

18. I’m saying freaking right wing “Supply Side Economics” has screwed this country..

People who make $10.00 or less w/o health benefits are facing horrible choices..Filing separately is one of those choices...By the way, for the most part the rich are still able to live lavish lives after paying their taxes... $10.00 jobs are nothing but misery...How can you conflate the two?

[itsrobert]

19. Of course they can file separetly

I did not say they couldn't. It's called "married, filing separately"

Filing "single" (unmarried) is not a choice, it's fraud.

[busterbrown]

21. So you are still conflating someone who makes $10 an hr. who commits fraud to..

someone who is extremely rich and commits tax fraud.. You do not address the fact that living at poverty levels might be a huge consideration..
Your Answer... Fraud is Fraud.. Correct?

[itsrobert]

24. Not sure of the question

I just think nobody should be committing fraud on their taxes. Yes, consideration should be given during punishment. Someone defrauding the government of hundreds of thousands of dollars should face far greater punishment over someone defrauding the government a couple hundred dollars.

[busterbrown]

37. Just mis- reading ...

Have a good day.. Sorry about the Lakers..They are entering a tough period..
Ex New Yorker living in L.A. Loved the Magic Era..Not so much the Kobe times..

But at heart I’m still with NY Sporters..Loved my 69.72... Knicks...

[Democrat 4 Ever]

55. Sometimes it is not tax fraud. They just don't know any better. I work for the IRS and I see it

everyday. And a lot of the time it is preparer fraud. Some preparers put anything down on a tax form trying to get more of a refund. I am working with someone right now who's preparer told him to file single and claim the dependents since his wife was a victim of ID theft it would take too long to get his refund. She then stated he would file the 1040X, add the wife and get the rest of the refund. Long story, short, the preparer did not want to wait for her preparation fee so she advised taxpayer to file a fraudulent return. His refund has been sitting and not processing close to a year now because of that little bit of nonsense.

Another preparer (not the same one) advised a kid who works at a convenience store to claim all of his mileage to and from work and all meals he ate while at work. The unreimbursed work expenses totaled more than $3,000.00 more than he made that year! He also claimed his girlfriend's child as a dependent, tuition tax credit (he didn't go to school) and real estate mortgage interest and taxes although he lives at home with him mother and doesn't own anything. Had him all ready to receive a $9,000.00 refund and was very disappointed when he realized it wasn't coming.

There are thousands of great preparers out there but there are a lot of fraudulent ones who have gotten away with this in the past. And there are plenty of fraudulent filers who just want to milk the system. But I have found - on a daily basis - more taxpayers want to be compliant, pay the tax that is due and want their refunds.

Computer records and cross checks are making it much harder to file a bad return but the result is thousands and thousands of returns reject and sit on a desk waiting for an employee to slowly dig through the pile trying to verify, correspond with the taxpayer, get corrected returns, etc., etc, etc,. And due to the scope of the problem it just snowballs.

The IRS has been hit for the third straight year of significant budget cuts (including furloughs), they are not back filling positions when people retire, our workload has exploded and our resources are much more limited. The IRS is no longer assisting low income people with preparing their returns, they can't, they don't have the staff. So they are referring them to tax clinics, AARP, VITA sites. Unfortunately a lot of them will end up at a fly-by-night preparer who files the return, charges an outrageous fees (I've seen charges of over $500.00 for a 1040EZ!) gets the refund deposited into their bank account and close down for the year and disappear if there is a problem. There were over 600,000 known cases of stolen ID last year alone. Only about 60% of phone calls going to the IRS toll-free help lines are answered due to the call volume and it is getting worse.

And one final piece of advise - every single taxpayer signs their return - the jurat - under penalties of perjury that their return is true and accurate. It doesn't matter if it was electronically filed, paper return, it is the taxpayers neck that is on the line if there is any funny business going on. Don't blindly sign anything put before you, go over it, ask questions and if something looks questionable - don't sign and submit until you verify. And DON'T SUBMIT your return more than once if it is accepted. This automatically kicks it out and puts it in a limbo hell - the computer sees two returns and bam, they are gone - both of them.

Edit to add link - Pub 17 is a great resource - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

[imthevicar]

65. My Wife uses PUB 17 as lite reading.

[KT2000]

4. Yes - the money

is funneled to the top instead of to the workers. Redistribution.

[beemer27]

5. I got your message.

It seems as if every branch of government, big or small, is trying to figure out a way to "privatize". Privatizing seldom delivers on the promises made. It almost always cost more than projected, delivers less, and does this all at the expense of the little guy at the bottom of the food chain. If you really want to see just how bad privatizing can be, check out how we fought the last couple of wars in the Mideast. The private companies and private contractors made out very well, and the regular troops along with the tax payers got the short end of the stick. Another good example is the private prison industry in the US. Don't do any research on this if you have high blood pressure. It would not be good for your health.

[Cleita]

7. Milton Friedman economics used to be considered fringe crazy but it

has taken on respectability with the right wing of both parties. It's been a massive failure everywhere it has been tried, yet it seems like economists of a certain ilk keep pushing it like a steam roller. The latest failure is the austerity measures of the EU but still they persist because the very wealthy do benefit from this.

[bvar22]

20. Massive Failure?... I don't think so.

Privatization has been a HUGE success everywhere it has been tried.... for the 1% and their Mouth Pieces in Washington.

Privatization is a SCAM designed to transfer Public Money to the Private Pockets of the already RICH with little or NO accountability or Public Oversight.
It has worked perfectly.

[Cleita]

23. I thought I said that. It benefits the 1%. Otherwise it has

been a massive failure where it has been done. Look at what privatizing pension funds has done in other countries, what austerity is doing to the EU and what contracting government operations in our own country is doing, like our prison system.

[bvar22]

29. You did.

I wasn't being oppositional.
I agree with you 100%,
and was just playing with the words.

[Enthusiast]

56. We must focus on the destructive nature

of Friedman economics and make sure it is understood by the people of this nation the source of their problems.

Either the Democratic Party is with us, or it's against us. It is actually very simple.

[bananas]

53. Used to be fringe crazy, now mainstream with right wing leadership in both parties. nt

[maddiemom]

26. But you see, government IS the problem. St. Ronnie told us so. And a lot of ten

dollar (or less) an hour suckers believed him because he was such a nice, avuncular guy.

[jamejest]

11. Privatize

I saw a cartoon depicting a families house on fire while they are standing around a fire hydrant. The fire hydrant has a credit card
swipe/scanner and when it reads the card it tells the fire department if they(the family) can afford to have the fire put out! And just
to jog your memory do you remember the scene in the first Heavy Metal movie when one of the characters goes to the police department and the desk officer gives him the cost of doing a report, an investigation and if he wants one - an arrest, and of course
how much money he needs up front just to get started. Go Thom Hartmann - NO MORE BILLIONIARES!

[Enthusiast]

57. +1 a whole bunch.

[Historic NY]

12. I just had this discussion with a guy complaining about union DPW..

workers in a small village. Apparently he is the part time Johnnie come lately. He thought the village should hire out the DPW work so he could get some more hours working there in another dept...(he is tea bagger material). They village apparently cut the pt employees in favor of not letting full timers go. When I explained it happened in our town, thats why the water dept doesn't fix leaks, the sewer dept doesn't clean the sewers, that private landscape companies mow grass. Its not necessarily cheaper for the town, yeah they might not be paying benefits but they are paying. There really isn't any incentive on the part of the contract employess in doing the job and there is usally high turn overs as the company contracting tries to squeeze more money from the town. They seem to think it costs less. Funny that some of the long time guys were rehired by the contractor all while collecting pensions or retired benefits. The town still must maintain some equipment & facilities. In the end privatization takes away, some civil service jobs. It replaces those jobs with lower paying salaries and revolving the door. Some loss of service and less say by the taxpayers in how the service is to be handled. Local jobs go away for the long term. The greatest loss experienced in my town has been "institutional knowledge", a hundred years or more of water & sewer plant systems and stuff that maps don't show. Privatization always costs in the end.

[Laelth]

14. Privitization (9 times out of 10) is a disaster. n/t

-Laelth

[bleedinglib]

15. The message is?

When I moved too Missouri our Dept. of Motor Vehicles was operated by the state.
After a Repug governor sold it too a private Co. the fees doubled.
After the infrastructure that was built by the tax payers is sold too these private parties at 1/10 their
value, they have a license too stick it to the tax payer.
The worst offenders are the penal system. Its all about the "profit" and we no longer have
control over them!!
This is why it's a baaaaaad idea too elect republicans too any position.

NO MORE PRIVATIZATION

[Walk away]

17. It always breaks my heart to see someone in their 50s or even sixties...

doing hard manual labor. This simply doesn't happen in civilized countries. It's cruel.

[Cleita]

25. I'm watching a construction crew build a house in what was once a pasture

behind my house. Most of them seem middle aged and quite a few with gray hair and bent shoulders. They seem to be physically struggling with the lumber and concrete blocks. I always remember construction crews doing the hard physical work as young guys with the foremen and not so strenuous jobs being done by the older men.

[maddiemom]

32. I used to work part-time retail for nearly twenty years. We would go out to the stock room to

organize the merchandise being trucked in. The drivers always had at least one guy along to help with the heavy unloading. In more recent years, I noted that these guys on the trucks were progressively getting older and older. They also were seeming more and more well-spoken and obviously educated. In full disclosure, I, myself, was doing this retail work to supplement my substitute teaching, as I was unable to get full time teaching work in my area after some years off after raising a family and a divorce. A middle-aged woman with a Master's degree, I, too, was hauling some pretty heavy stuff out to the floor.

[Walk away]

33. My Dad, who was an economist, took a part time job when he retired.

He was bored so he took a cashier's job at a wine shop that he frequented. Being a big strapping Irishman, he insisted on lifting and stacking the wine even though he didn't have to. He was pretty proud of putting in a hard day's work in his sixties.

When I asked him his secret he finally admitted that whenever he felt a back twinge he called the stock boy and just supervised the rest of the project. He said that he was proud of what he could do but lucky that he didn't have to do it every day. He's 87 now and does volunteer work behind a desk.

[Enthusiast]

58. I remember too. Your post tells many stories.

The story of the lost pasture, the challenge of physical labor by older workers that have no better options and the loss of opportunity for younger workers. This nation is clear off the tracks.

[DeSwiss]

30. Just wait until they perfect the bots. :-| K&R n/t

[Notafraidtoo]

42. I wonder how Conservatives will convince.....

I wonder how conservatives will convince their sheep to support the bots considering that it will be a huge boon for the 1%, wonder if their think tanks are working on this yet.


Here is a few that come to mind.

1. Bots don't pay taxes why should you?

2. Bots are people too!

3.Its your fault you don't have bots to produce wealth

4.If you would only work 24 hours a day with no break you could get a job.

5.Democrats fear technology and success

6.Terminator is just left wing propaganda

[Winning1]

50. Its so sad

Ive actually heard that nonsense repeated over and over by too many people.

[QuestForSense]

31. An excellent post; you laid it out very nicely.

I'm in Chicago, where they privatized the parking meters, and we all pay a fortune to a private corporation, instead of contributing to the City's coffers (thanks to Richie Daley). Now, even the disabled (thanks to Rahm Emanuel), who used to be able to park for free, have to get out of their car, walk to the corner, put their credit card into a machine for a ticket, return to their car, open the passenger-side door and place the ticket on the dashboard. All of this in three feet of snow, by the way. The politicians have become as heartless as the corporations.

[Enthusiast]

60. And Rham is one of the very worst of the corporatists.

It is telling that he was appointed by the President to head his cabinet. No wonder the President ignores our pleas to end this quest for free trade agreements.

[go west young man]

35. Towns across America have given away they're valuable recyclable material and resources.

This is who owns Waste Management. He's a multi-billionaire. Wayne Huizenga-Huizenga Holdings is an investment conglomerate that owns real estate, marinas, and marina-related companies, primarily in Florida. The company has increasingly been adding to its real estate holdings, which includes about a half-dozen marinas along Florida's Treasure Coast. Huizenga Holdings was founded by the aforementioned maverick entrepreneur, chairman H. Wayne Huizenga, the billionaire behind a few little ventures you may have heard of: AutoNation, Blockbuster, Waste Management, and Republic Services. Huizenga sold all but 5% of his stake in the Miami Dolphins football team in early 2009.

Waste Management basically comes into a town, tells the local government they will do it for less, the local government doesn't have to pay the wages or pensions, Waste Management cuts the wages in half, gets all the recyclable material just for the price of pick up and makes a fortune off it.

Adversely if local and state governments would do the recycling themselves.......they would make the fortune that could then be spent on social programs instead of Mr. Huizenga's yachts.

Part of the problem is that local governments are run by people with very little real intelligence or management experience. They just want to be in office, conduct a quick meeting or two, make the papers and go home. Thereby siphoning out all the work to companies like Waste Management and all the local resources in the process. They are literally giving away the farm.

Something similar has been happening on the local level with red light cameras. The companies come in, set up the cameras at no cost to the local government, the company keeps 80% of the revenue generated, adjusts the cameras and yellow light times to cheat drivers and create unsafe conditions at intersections, then the local government ends up with only 20% of the revenue generated.

If these local governments actually did the work themselves they'd keep all revenue and actually have money for social programs and improvements thereby making America a better place. Instead we continue to give it all to billionaires who have taken all their fortune from we the people for far too long. The tables need to turn.

I feel for this poor man who makes very little and is suffering because of greedy corporations like Huizenga's.

[maddiemom]

51. Or Tony Soprano's legitimate profession? "Waste Management"?

More proof that you don't have to be a notorious present day gangster to be an even worse crook and exploiter. Years ago I had a friend who was literally "married to the mob." Her then fiancee, later husband (I was invited to the wedding and really always regretted being unable to go) was part of a family in a close neighboring state of NJ, not usually connected to the usual "mob" activity.

[bravenak]

36. I've seen this in action working payroll for a subcontractor.

The contract would pay us 30 dollars an hour for the worker plus health and welfare and we'd okay them 15 or so plus the health n welfare.

We should let people making under a certain amount file in whichever way benefits them the most financially. I don't consider it fraud when they are kind of being frauded them selves and are just trying to stop the bleeding. We have companies making billions while recieving subsidies, but we want to point the finger at the little poor man and scream FRAUD. We are idiots.

[EC]

39. And your sometimes conservative wife

was she for privatization? And now that she sees the effects that the liberals have been saying for years would happen, does she change any opinions?

[imthevicar]

43. Let me say on her behalf, She has a good heart and I love and respect her dearly.

She's come a long way since we first met. otherwise we would not be together still.
She had never seen how the other side lived and it's been a shock and education.
And yes their of course has been a change of opinion as things become apparent.

[nikto]

46. Accepting reality is the only cure for Conservatism

The change-over must be very painful for them.





That is why so few Conservatives are able to change.

[liberalmuse]

40. Thank you for laying out...

why privatization is a fail for most of us, and exactly why the 1% want it so badly, and will pour their millions into founding and funding front organizations where the ill-informed of the 99% can shill for their cause and vote against their own interests (i.e.; "The Tea Party&quot .

Your wife is much too compassionate to be a true conservative, or rather, what passes as being "conservative" these days.

[greymattermom]

44. Gay marriage?

For more folks than you know, marriage is a really bad deal. I never understood the push for gay marriage. Why not just get some lawyer type documents? Pick and choose what you want, and avoid the huge marriage tax that still exists.

[JDPriestly]

47. Can we spell C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N?

The resort of those who want to make lots of money without needing any imagination or creativity, without having to compete beyond the initial contract bid (and sometimes not really even tne), without having to fight to collect the bill and all on the public dime. I would like to know how much money taxpayers have placed in the pockets of the utterly unnecessary and useless middle-men we call government contractors.

[Enthusiast]

61. I would like to know

how much unnecessary utter waste we paid for in Afghanistan and Iraq. It might represent a majority of the cost of those wars. I'm sure it is inaccessible national security information.

Then there is this relentless push for charter schools even after the numerous examples of fraud and inferior performance. WTF?

This country is clear off the tracks.

[Lasher]

48. Reminds me of the story of West Virginia American Water Company

In my area of West Virginia we once had smaller community owned and operated water systems. Each system had its own treatment plant. Everything was working just fine.

Then our County Commissioners bought into a proposal from a group of German investors. They sold our water systems to these investors, thereby privatizing them. Before long these and other smaller water systems were connected together until we had 300,000 people served by one big system. Separate treatment plants were closed in favor of one big one that draws its water from a single vulnerable source in the heart of West Virginia's Chemical Valley. Source reliability and diversity were sacrificed on the altar of privatization.

The rest of the story is by now well known. Our water was poisoned by a chemical leak. Freedom Industries has been harshly criticized for having leaked the chemical, and rightly so. But government officials don't seem to think WVAWC deserves any part of the blame. I think they must all be good friends.

We keep getting reassurances that our water crisis is behind us, but then we hear of yet another school that had to be closed because its water lines had to be flushed. Again. I've started to suspect we've been lied to all along.

[Enthusiast]

62. There is always an ulterior motive

when they seek to privatize a publicly owned water system. ALWAYS!

The County Commissioners were very likely handsomely rewarded for their betrayal of the community.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

49. K & R. Fk privatization and its proponents.

[Enthusiast]

63. + one!

[ctsnowman]

54. K & R

[abelenkpe]

59. The push for privatization and the idea that government should be run

Like a business are two concepts that need to be laid to rest. They just are not true. Even outsourcing from one company to another in the private sector. I've worked for large companies that have outsourced work and have seen how it would clearly be more economical and efficient to do the work in house but once it's gone to some high paid CEOs friend it doesn't come back no matter how well one can illustrate that it isn't cost effective.

Trouble finding work in his fifties? Yeah, seems to be common not only for manual laborers but also for former middle class tech workers as well. In my industry hundreds were pushed out of work last year and forced to leave the city for jobs. Most have gone to New Zealand, Canada, or the UK because the studios opened offices in those places to take advantage of subsidies offered by other countries. Those left are either switching careers or competing for temporary freelance work. No one expects the work to come back unless our government offers higher subsidies (bribes) to win the work back.

That is what the world has become. A place where corporations demand bribes from local governments, use their resources for free, labor on the cheap and move on when offered a larger bribe by another location. Corporations have no ties to community or country. And our governments serve them by steadily cutting social programs to feed their ever increasing demands.

Closing in on fifty? Corporations see you as one who will have medical problems requiring healthcare and days off. Why hire someone who will have outside concerns when they can hire a younger worker in their prime willing to devote all their time to the company? We needed single payer to level the playing field in terms of healthcare costs per worker. Even then though there are still currency differences and subsidies offered by other countries that we need to combat in order to keep work from being offshored. No one in either party is talking about or offering real solutions to deal with these problems. Until someone really addresses this corporations will continue to take advantage of a desperate workforce pitting different locations and age groups against one another.

The only difference between the parties is that republicans blame people for their problems and want to cut off all aid. Democrats want to offer social programs that do nothing to address the problem and only cover a small fraction of the true cost.