Privatize This!

-by Dave Sherbula



Here in Wisconsin, you may have heard, there is an ongoing fight between Republicans and Democrats about the philosophy of big government vs limited government and public vs private sector "solutions."



The Republicans want more school vouchers because they think the government can't run education efficiently or successfully. They want to outsource what were previously government jobs/functions to the private sector which supposedly can do them cheaper and better. They say this is all philosophy driven. Government can't be trusted to do anything right, and must stop interfering with private enterprise. Strict Constitutional interpretation ( when it suits them ).



Let's ask those Republicans if it is the governments place to run a sports franchise? It sure doesn't sound like Rick Perry would be for it. How about Michelle Bachmann? Ron Paul, can you hear me?



If Republicans truly believe in limiting government to certain responsibilities and a narrowly defined purpose, then what the Wisconsin Republicans must do is pass a law outlawing government ownership of professional sports teams. 



That's right. Make Green Bay, Wisconsin sell the Packers to a private party with no strings attached (to get the best price, they could be the LA Packers).



What a win-win situation for the die-hard Republicans! Get government out of the professional sports business (which they clearly should not be in since it is not mentioned in the Constitution) and the residents of Green Bay would each get an enormous payout as part of the deal (since George Bush decided government can't sit on taxpayers money). No real estate taxes in Green Bay for the foreseeable future, and a cash payout to boot! A billion dollars or so would go a long way in Green Bay. That's enough to make a corporate raider green with envy.



Think of all the companies that would be rushing to move to Green Bay to take advantage of the tax breaks! It would be amazing to see. Since that is what Republicans say determines where a company locates.



The Republicans can argue the the team would be better run and more successful in the private sector. Wisconsin is not exactly a big market place in terms of generating the revenue needed to be a Word Champion team. 



Those titles that were won in the past are just flukes. No rink-dink town like Green Bay could possibly be home to a successful sports franchise over the long run. Think of all that potential revenue the team could make in private hands.

 

What, with a government subsidized stadium and a big market, a group of investors could make a killing. And don't forget the investor group/corporation are people to, and would have to pay taxes on all that money they would make. Wealthy investors are just ordinary people who want to own a team too. 



The last selling point is the kicker. The whole Green Bay arrangement smacks of Socialism! "The People" own the team collectively, and it is unionized. This cannot go on. If you allow this, what next? A State owning a Bank to the benefit of it's citizens? Oops! I forgot North Dakota already does that quite successfully. Shhhh, don't let that get around. These Socialist threats must be stopped!



And may I suggest a perfect time to announce this plan? 



How about at the opening day game of the NFL season? At Green Bay with the World Champion Green Bay Packers.



I hear there will be a pregame concert and party outside the stadium. I'm sure Paul Ryan, Scott Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers would be proud to announce this legislation then and there. The NFL would surely accommodate them (since it would be in their interest. They have never been comfortable with the arrangement and do not allow it anymore). I know it is short notice to put a bill together, but when you control the House, Senate and Governors office nothing is impossible. I've seen some of their "out of the box" thinking before.



I can just imagine the response from all those Republican sky box and season ticket holders. I'm sure the atmosphere would be electric with all of them chanting, Sell the team! Sell the team! No more socialism! No more socialism!



This would also be the perfect foil to our (socialist) President Obama's socialist speech he will be giving before the game about Jobs.



Wisconsin has been leading the country lately in Republican ideology. What better way to solidify their credentials than this?



Man up boys, let's see if you walk the walk you talk and talk about.

If Greece Sells Mykonos Or Lesbos and Austria Sells A Couple Of Alps, How Soon Before We Sell Off The Rest Of Yosemite?

Yesterday Ken did two posts about the "austerity" movement, by which the very rich hope to even further entrench and enhance their positions in society-- "Austerity": the price we've gotta pay to keep the World's Greediest rollin' in dough and then one poking around one of the loudest public voices of the movement, David Brooks, the NY Times columnist paid to be a mouthpiece for that class which bought the entire "free" press, vowing to never allow themselves to be victimized and held up for public opprobrium by muckrakers again.

How could he have possibly missed this story about how Austria had decided to start selling off its Alps so that the rich could get even richer.

Austria has postponed the sale of two Alpine peaks after a public outcry that underscored the lofty challenges faced by cash-strapped governments that attempt to sell treasured national assets to raise funds.

The Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft, or BIG, Austria’s federal real estate company, proposed divesting two peaks in eastern Tyrol for a minimum of €121,000, but public opprobrium put a brake on the sale.

The agency received an avalanche of calls from irate Austrians, while a series of political figures spoke out against the privatisation of the pair of craggy peaks.

The sale process was temporarily suspended on Tuesday pending further evaluation, with a future sale now likely to be restricted to “Austrian institutions."

“Tyrol is not Greece,” a satisfied Günther Platter, governor of Tyrol, told an Austrian newspaper, adding that the proposed sale had been a “Schnapsidee”, or “crackpot idea."

The comparison stems from a headline last year in Bild, the German paper, urging Greece to sell off some of its most treasured tourist attractions instead of relying on a European Union bail-out.

“Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks! And sell the Acropolis too!” the paper proclaimed. George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, has insisted the country will not sell these assets as it pushes ahead with a €50bn privatisation programme.

The Austrian affair echoes a similar climbdown by the British government, which in February was forced to abandon a sale of state-owned forests.

In Spain, plans to privatise the popular state lottery as part of a planned multibillion-euro sale of public assets have so far raised few objections.

Like most EU countries, Austria is running a budget deficit, but its debt is rated triple A-- the highest level-- by the credit agencies and the country has no trouble financing itself in the markets.

Laugh, but in our country, where conservatives always opposed the whole concept of publicly owned parks and fought the establishment of the national park system, the masters of the universe now feel the time is right to sell them off or, as David Brooks will one day soon urge, privatize them. And they have just the politicians in their pockets to do it for them, shills to great wealth like John Kasich in Ohio, Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Rick Snyder in Michigan, Rick Scott in Florida and, more tragically, even financially hard-pressed "progressives" in progressive states who have been taking the likes of David Brooks seriously. Yesterday, in a plea for donations, Truthout e-mailed subscribers an ominous missive:

A growing number of politicians are doing their best to take the "public" out of everything in American life, including libraries, schools, government workers, environmental protection-- even parks and parking meters.

And the movement is fast succeeding at creating an environment where only privileged students have access to higher education, by cutting subsidies to state and community colleges to such an extent that tuition is no longer affordable for many young Americans and their families.

When fewer and fewer of America's young people can afford to attend public college, we know that the US is headed toward a third-rate future.