Private sector depends on public subsidies to compete with public sector

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:



Business Can't Win the Privatization Game Without a Handicap
Private sector depends on public subsidies to compete with public sector

June 4, 2012 | by David Morris


Handicapping occurs in sports to equalize the winning chances of contestants of varying abilities. Sometimes, as in horse racing, superior horses, based on past performance, are required to carry more weight. Sometimes, as in golf, poorer players are allowed more strokes.

Unbeknownst to most of us, the competition between public and private sectors is also handicapped. But contrary to the popular wisdom, it is the private sector that often cannot compete without being given more strokes.

Consider these three examples.

School busing

About 75 percent of Pennsylvania’s school districts now use private firms to bus their students. Yet according to a new by the Keystone Research Center (KRC), “Contracting out substantially increases state spending on transportation services. We estimate that if all districts switched to the self-supply of transportation services, total spending on student transportation services would fall by $78.3 million dollars…” ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/magazine/business-cant-win-privatization-game-without-handicap

[senseandsensibility]

1. You'll never hear about this on the corporate media

for some reason.

[xchrom]

2. Corporations LOVE taxes on the masses.

That's an ever re-newing of money goodness.

Corporations want the money from taxes but don't want the public sector to do the actual job.

They're not coming w/ a New & Improved product dependent on their abilities to Produce(hello education & ACA, etc) - they're coming up with new ways for tax payeres to fund their businesses.

[elleng]

3. Really depends on the particular business.

Some/many are more public than others, similar to natural monopolies.

[Lns.Lns]

4. And they do a worse job for more money

Privatize everything is the mantra... schools, prisons, enegy... you name it they get their piece. If it is a common good not meant to make a profit, they lust after it until they can put it on the scoreboard of extraction.

[Jake2413]

5. Been in the private sector all my life

and never found out-sourcing to be cheaper or improve services. And I've done many a study. The third parties make it sound great but there are many hidden costs and they don't care about your customers.