How Phantom Accounting Is Destroying The Post Office

Date: 29 May 2012 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 2 Facebooktwitterredditmail

As every 6 year old learns, there is real and there is make believe. The massive Post Office deficit that is driving management to commit institutional suicide by ending 6 day delivery, closing half of the nations’ 30,000 or so post offices and half it’s 500 mail processing centers, and laying off over 200,000 workers, is … Read More

Everything You Wanted to Know About Private Equity

The hottest phrase on the campaign trail right now is “private equity”.  Mitt Romney made his hundreds of millions as head of Bain Capital, a major private equity firm and insists the company has created jobs and improved the efficiency of the American economy.  President Obama just as strongly insists that Bain and other private equity … Read More

The Euro and Local Self-Reliance: A Flashback

In May 1998 the European Union voted to adopt a single European currency.  A few days later David Morris set down his thoughts about that momentous decision from a local self-reliance perspective.  Fourteen years later, as Greece and Europe revisit the costs and benefits of the Euro, we thought it appropriate to offer that column on … Read More

What are people — and the Post Office — for?

On May 15, 2012 Mark Jamison wrote a heartfelt valedictory letter to his community.  He begins,  “It’s likely that I will be the last postmaster to serve the town of Webster, North Carolina.”  And goes on to tell us what he thinks the post office was and should be and what it is becoming. As most … Read More

Pennsylvania Handsomely Subsidizes School Bus Privatization

Still one more empirical study finds that privatization costs taxpayers dearly.  This time the issue is school bus transportation.  In a new report, Runaway Spending: Private Contractors Increase the Cost of School Student Transportation Services in Pennsylvania the Keystone Research Center concludes, “Contracting out substantially increases state spending on transportation services. We estimate that if all … Read More

Five Reasons Why Privatizing Michigan’s Prisons Is a Bad Idea

Both chambers of the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature are pushing to privatize that state’s prisons.  Like a similar bill introduced by Florida Republicans that was narrowly defeated, the Michigan bill would require shifting 1200 inmates to a private prison if 10 percent savings would be gained.   The Detroit Free Press published an Opinion piece by Michigan … Read More

Romney, Hoover, Eisenhower and that Pipeline

Date: 9 May 2012 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, The Public Good | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

After winning the Illinois primary, Mitt Romney delivered a victory speech in which he deplored America’s lost “can do spirit”.  Unsurprisingly, he blamed it on government.  If elected he promised, “We’re going to get government out of the way”.   Then he offered a few examples of what he meant.  “We once built the interstate highway system … Read More

Tea Party and NAACP Help Defeat Privatization Bill in Florida

Earlier this year, Florida’s Republican Governor and legislature proposed to privatize all 26 state prisons.  SB 2038 would have allowed privatization if a private company’s bid was at least 7 percent less than the state’s current cost. The bill would affect nearly 4,000 state workers.  Projected annual savings exceeded $16.5 million. Despite union opposition, the bill … Read More

Profiles in Political Courage

A few weeks ago Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA who is retiring from the House this year, gave a memorable interview to New York magazine in which he criticized President Obama for aggressively pushing health care reform.  Frank says he warned Obama the Democratic Party would pay “a terrible price.” Apparently Frank was not alone in counseling … Read More

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