Here's an excerpt from the awesome Matt Taibbi's new book. He details how America too has embraced the eructations of the Fucking Stupid Idea Box and engaged in its own version of Private Finance Initiatives. As with our own PFI deals, the idea is for authorities to lease or sell every asset they possibly can to unaccountable private entities who can then proceed to manage them in a tyrannically profit-grubbing fashion with complete disregard for the society that depends on the services and functions provided by those assets. Its classic corporate sociopathy backed by foreign investment entities with little or no love for America. A beautiful irony! I can't wait for some Tea Party spokesman to pop up and call Taibbi 'unamerican', 'an enemy of the state' or something else equally fucktarded for daring to detail how their ostensibly security-obsessed, ultra-nationalist and exceptionalist leaders have sold their country's assets to the Arabs for a fraction of their value.
Gods Bless America.
Gods Bless America.
I'm a bit uncomfortable with Taibbi's article. He randomly mixes up various separate points:
ReplyDelete1) fraudulent politicians sometimes sell assets for far less than they're worth, and include far too few clauses to protect the public. Everyone opposes this, except for fraudulent politicians and tinpot businessmen, and it's good for society that Taibbi's bringing publicity to these terrible deals.
2) Any sale of public assets will turn into a disaster like 1. Which definitely isn't true - look at the infrastructure funds that went bust or chalked up massive losses during the GFC precisely because they'd agreed to spend more money under PFI deals than they could get back (in other words, which directly transferred money from their shareholders to taxpayers, not the other way round).
3) PFI is always wrong anyway, not for reason 2 but for broader moral reasons, which I know is your take on the subject. Fine, but Taibbi doesn't actually argue for this conclusion.
And, most disturbingly:
4) selling public assets is more wrong if you sell them to foreign businesses than to local business. As far as I can see this is pure and simple racism, and anyone making the argument is an arsehole.
Mate, you're a bit adrift at number four there but I'll deal with your points in order.
ReplyDelete1) You forget about Tea Party Activists and their ideological homologues across the globe who vigorously campaign for policies that increase their suffering and the nation's dysfunction.
2) I don't see how you can put that sweeping claim into Taibbibbibbibbibbibbi's mouth. Justify that.
3) I haven't got a problem with the concept of PFI as long as the private entities running them aren't part of a corporatist-government alliance staffed by frequent travellers through the revolving door. That and the absolute, fundamental necessity for transparency in the contracting process. Most of the PFI contracts were padded or rigged so blatantly that its just laughable that they are almost unscrutinisable due to their classification as "industry secrets".
4) Sorry but that's just cock for the simple reason that the security and integrity of a nation-state is dependent on its economic stability and anything that threatens that, such as these asset sales, is a threat to national security. Its the same reason why the government clings to its pretence of an independent nuclear deterrent. You or I know its cods but the government has to maintain the pretence that we're not really America's lapdog in the great, global missile-in-your-pocket game. Its also the same reason that various national governments in South America are renationalising industries run as monopolies by multinational companies in the aftermath of the many juntas. You can't deny that America's economic neocolonialism of the 20th century is roughly analogous to the parking meter scenario Taibbi describes. Ironic, innit.