Privatizing OUR Assets

The two major parties have time and again shown their adeptness at privatizing America's public wealth in order to curry favor with their corporate benefactors. In a never ending cycle of sick, sycophantic servitude our leaders have given it all away to private greed. We allow OUR ownership of our infrastructure to be subverted and get short term promises in exchange for long term giveaways. Republicans and Democrats alike have given away our airwaves, health care security, Federal lands, our military and infrastructure to their connected friends and supporters in order to allow a profit on services historically perceived as non-profit support systems belonging to we, the people.

In the latest usurpation of our ownership Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, a Democrat proposed that the city sell it's public sewer system to private concerns in order to bail out the financially beleaguered Akron City School System. In what is portrayed as a windfall for public education is nothing more than a noose around our financial neck. There are certain basic needs that must function for everyone in order to protect the public as a whole. Waste water treatment is one of those, believe me I know, it has been my business for the past 22 years! One person's waste water left partially treated may easily threaten the safety of several, perhaps hundreds or thousands of others. Profit is not an appropriate or healthy factor to introduce into this equation. We routinely have seen the bottom line become the determining factor when health care delivery decisions are made, life and death decisions mind you, why would we expect waste water treatment to be any different? In fact we KNOW it is not any different! It was recently revealed that KBR (Kellog, Brown and Root) a former Halliburton subsidiary was piping partially treated waste water to American troops in Iraq as potable (treated for consumption) water. We are all aware of Haliburton's ability to generate a profit, especially as a war-profiteer, but we are also aware of their failings at performing up to the specifications of the contracts they enter into. Not only in their failure to perform but also in the occurrence of corruption such as in their contracts to provide food to US troops in Iraq.

It is clear that private ownership of public infrastructure is risky but it is not the only issue here. What about the two parties' failure to just honor Ohio's Constitution and fully fund public education? It seems a more direct, responsible approach. To me, at least!