Robert Reich explains the theft plan buried within Trump's so-called "infrastructure" plan (h/t Jennifer Nix on Facebook)by Gaius PubliusAll you need to know about Donald Trump's theft of your dollars under the guise of an "infrastructure" plan is explained neatly in the video above. I call it "theft" because as Reich points out, it steals from the public twice — once with a massive tax giveaway and once more with a bunch of extracted tolls ("usage fees").
Are private prisons worse than others? It’s hard to tell. But if they are, we should all remember that the customer is king and if there is anyone to blame for the poor state of private prisons, it’s their only customer: the government.
New era for infrastructure? Please. It's nothing like that. The public relations element of this administration’s actions is wildly outstripping the reality. That is both good and bad. The unwelcome parts of the Trump agenda (protectionism, drug warriorism, travel restrictions) have so far proven to be as overblown as the welcome parts (health care reform, tax cuts, and privatization).
A protester takes part in a rally against the privatization of the state-run water utility, in Thessaloniki, Greece.(AP/Nikolas Giakoumidis)
Blackwater founder Erik Prince listens during a panel discussion on protecting people and physical security hosted by North Carolina Technology Association in Cary, N.C., June 7, 2007. (AP/Sara D. Davis)
The notion of a colonist as cannibal in Haiti is widespread. This idea, called manje moun (eating people), could hardly qualify as superstition, given the experience of colonialism. It is daunting to find a better description for those who grab control of water and food, and then calculate the minimum caloric intake a population needs so that a maximum of labor may be extracted from its emaciated and zombified workers without killing them. The neo-colonists may call themselves humanitarians, but their victims know exactly what they are.
As a program, Social Security is bankrupt and it's a bad deal for workers. House Democrats want bigger entitlements financed by the highest tax rate in the developed world, but the obvious solution is personal retirement accounts.
On the 13th of April, the Dáil (the Irish parliament) decided to get rid of the 2014-introduced domestic charging schemes for water consumption. The legislation had forced many Irish citizens to pay individual water charges, as opposed to water being a universal good provided solely through the government, free of charge. As the first bills arrived in January 2015, thousands of people took to the streets to protest what was perceived as austerity measures.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, left, talks with Bolivia’s President Evo Morales during a welcome ceremony for presidents attending a meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July 4, 2013. (AP/Juan Karita)
Bolivian President Evo Morales on Thursday slammed ongoing right-wing opposition protests in Venezuela, claiming they serve the interests of multinational elites looking to privatize the country’s oil resources.
The video shows a pair of English comedians mocking efforts to privatize the U.K.’s air traffic control system. Fortunately, the privatization happened in the U.K., followed by similar privatizations in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and Switzerland. In all of these countries, safety and innovation have stayed the same or improved.
