This is the typical Republican playbook. Privatize, their friends take control, and then they get the government to pay their cronies huge sums of money for the services the government used to provide for itself for a fraction of the cost. It’s what they are trying to do with school vouchers too.
Plutarch (Plut. Crass. 2.3-4) states that Marcus Crassus, one of the members of the ‘First Triumvirate’5, owed a good portion of his wealth to “fire and war”. In order to make the most out of the frequent destruction of houses by fire, Crassus bought over five hundred slaves, all of whom were architects and builders. He then proceeded to find homeowners whose houses had burnt down (or, in some cases, were still burning!) and negotiate the purchase of their property, after which he would reconstruct the buildings and sell them on at a price; the very literal sense of a real estate ‘fire sale’!
This is the typical Republican playbook. Privatize, their friends take control, and then they get the government to pay their cronies huge sums of money for the services the government used to provide for itself for a fraction of the cost. It’s what they are trying to do with school vouchers too.
don’t forget private prisons. after they’re done with all that, get ready to pay for your fire and police department subscriptions
Except that private weather companies use freely available government data and “enrich” it for the public for a fee.
Which is, imo, even more on brand with Republicans.
It’s thinly veiled stealing your money and putting it into their pocket.
Contracting public services to private companies is a core tenet of neoliberalist economics. Thanks Chicago School. /s