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Posted by: Radiofreeeuropa 8 months ago
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Radiofreeeuropa8 months ago
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Privatization was a disaster when Gov.Whitman did it in N.J. in the 90s. Virtually every "privatized" program was simply looted by Whitman's cronys and dumped back in the states hands in later administrations. For instance the division of motor vehicles... when handed over to private concerns to run did lower pay for the workers but had to be profitable for the new "owners" offsetting any savings from cutting workers pay. They eventually conceded they couldn't run it and the state took it back. The very idea that is somehow falsely adhered to by many Americans that sticking a layer of owners-managers-speculators who siphon funds out of an enterprise somehow will lower the cost has no merit whatsoever. Allowing an agency that issued driver's licenses, tags, etc. to be handed over to a for profit private company was insane at best. Criminal at worst.
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And it certainly did not benefit taxpayers.-
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fsev418 months ago
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And the privatization of services to our military (Haliburton) and State Department security(Blakwater), how have they worked out. It seems we got fraud, outright theft, murder and rape all at the same time Cheney's buddies were getting rich. And that was under the "fiscally conservative Republicans".
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nostalgia8 months ago
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And Obama is different?
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You really like to bury your head in the sand, don't you?
Obama's Blackwater?
Federal records obtained by AlterNet reveal a multi-million dollar contract for a private U.S. paramilitary force operating out of Jerusalem.
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama's advisers said he "can't rule out [and] won't rule out" using mercenary forces, like Blackwater. Now, it appears that the Obama administration has decided on its hired guns of choice: Triple Canopy, a Chicago company now based in Virginia. It may not have Blackwater's thuggish reputation, but Triple Canopy has its own bloody history in Iraq and a record of hiring mercenaries from countries with atrocious human rights records. What's more, Obama is not just using the company in Iraq, but also as a U.S.-government funded private security force in Israel/Palestine, operating out of Jerusalem.
Beginning May 7th, Triple Canopy will officially take over Xe/Blackwater's mega- contract with the U.S. State Department for guarding occupation officials in Iraq. It's sure to be a lucrative deal: Obama's Iraq plan will inevitably rely on an increased use of private contractors, including an army of mercenaries to protect his surge of diplomats operating out of the monstrous U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_5538...-
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nostalgia8 months ago
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Blackwater got a new $22.2 million deal from the State Department
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Days after the Baghdad government decided it no longer wanted the company then known as Blackwater in Iraq, the State Department signed a $22.2 million deal in February to keep the embattled contractor working there through most of the summer, contract records show.
The decision keeps Blackwater - since renamed Xe - in Iraq months longer than anyone has suggested publicly, while raising questions about why the U.S. would pay a contractor for work in Iraq if it may not be able to operate there legally.
The State Department has been under pressure from Blackwater critics, including several in Congress, not to renew the company’s contracts in Iraq. Much of the concern stems from a 2007 incident that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead and six former Blackwater guards facing manslaughter charges. One of the guards pleaded guilty, but the company was accused of no wrongdoing in the incident.
In late January, the Iraqi government said it would not renew Blackwater’s operating license and that the company would have to leave as soon as a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee completes its work on guidelines for the operation of private security companies. State Department officials said they would honor the decision.
On Feb. 2, a department spokesman was asked whether officials planned to renew one of Blackwater’s contracts past May. The spokesman, Robert Wood, said the department had told Blackwater “we did not plan to renew the company’s existing task force orders for protective security details in Iraq.”
But records available through a federal procurement database show that on that same day, the State Department approved a $22.2 million contract modification for Blackwater “security personnel” in Iraq, with a job completion date of Sept. 3, 2009.
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2009/03/18/blackwat...-
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fsev418 months ago
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Your sources seem to confirm that these contracts worked out poorly. The second cite speaks of a contract renewed Feb 2 which was just two weeks after Obama took office. He hadn't had time to get a full cabinet in place let alone revising major procurement policies. No where in my comment did I say that such contracts were no longer in place.
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My point was that privatization frequently does not work well, as the original article claims also. I suspect that you will be seeing less privatization and fewer no bid contracts over the next four years.
My eyes are wide open.
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