From: Chuck Watts

Chuck Watts shared Empathy Surplus Project’s post with you.

Empathy Surplus Project
Ethical businesses are not privateers

Political Private Practice
Privatization can be pretty exciting. It’s true! Just imagine a privatizer as a guy with an eyepatch and a carpet steamer. Let’s talk about it, people!

– – – – – – – – – – –

Op-Ed Columnist
Political Private PracticeBy GAIL COLLINS
Published: June 20, 2012

I know this is not a thrilling topic. I recently wrote a book in which I tried to juice up the subject by suggesting that readers might want to imagine a privatizer as a cross between a pirate and a sanitizer — a guy with an eyepatch and a carpet steamer. This was a desperate attempt at, um, humorization. I am so ashamed.

In the dreary world of the real, privatization means turning over a government function to the private sector. It has such a long history that it’s a wonder we still have any public sector left. The Ancient Greeks did it. The Han dynasty did it. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even Harvard Ph.D.’s do it.
. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/opinion/collins-political-private-practice.html?_r=2&emc=eta1