Some important news to be aware of:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/14/trump-privatizes-america/
Well, many states and localities have blocks to prevent privatization giveaways. They want to prevent what happened in Indiana with its toll road. They say, “Wait a minute. Privatization is going to be a giveaway. It’s going to triple the costs of providing infrastructure services. It’s going to price our cities and states out of the market if we go along with this plan.” Trump’s plan says that in order to qualify for public funding, states have to abolish its regulatory framework, environmental laws and restrictions on private funding.
What Trump basically said is that states and cities have to let themselves be robbed blind by the hedge funds and Wall Street. Just as the hedge funds robbed Chicago blind on the parking meters – getting a huge rate of return that probably will force Mayor Rahm out of office at the next election – local governments have to let privatizers come in and vastly increase their cost of living for the infrastructure they need.
This means that this so-called infrastructure plan would have the effect of destroying America’s competitiveness instead of contributing to it. It would vastly raise the price of the cost of living and doing business rather than making things easier for the population.
Bill of Rights? You can't afford your Rights
I've been all over this since I read the WH paper on this public infrastructure privatization plan when it came out last year. I'm not a fan of privatization of the commons. I call it "Market Based Freedom" which means you are afforded all the freedom you can afford.
I'm looking forward to my American Roadway subscription. I hope I can afford a high mileage plan AND pay for drinking water at the same time.
This is not good news, and it's not a good plan for America or any 1st World country. We're going to double or triple our costs, to hear Hudson (from the link) call it. That means double or triple the costs for basic American freedoms like travel, public water, and public civic infrastructure.
You know how your power bill looks? All those bullshit fees? That's going to be our whole lives.
Infrastructure Improvement Fee - $22.12
Consumption Fee - $28.85
Police and Security Fees - $65.43
Get out of Jail Free Card - $1,000,000,000
See, all the freedom and public infrastructure you can afford.
Still a Media Blackout?
I'd love to hear how this is covered on the boob toob or in the big papers. I'm betting it's not touched on at all. I'm pretty sure that the Democrat's big ticket corporate sponsors, the banks, are all over this. Which means there will be no honest corporate media coverage on this, and if there is it will be highly suspect truthiness.
Feel free to share links to some of the important news coverage on this issue.
A NeoColonial Future
For a long time, I've been thinking that our future is not going to be neofeudal, as many smart people think. It's going to be neocolonial.
In a feudal system, there is a social contract between lord and vassal. The lord provides security and the people provide the goods and services for the fiefdom.
A lord is only as good as his people are healthy and secure and as his lands are fertile and productive. In a feudal society, you don't shit where you eat. Extraction of resources is done in other people's lands, if at all possible, and done in a manner that doesn't damage the fiefdom.
Colonialism doesn't have a social contract; it doesn't want or need one. And it doesn't matter where you shit because you sure as hell are not eating there. Extraction is the purpose of a colony, and who cares if you damage them.
Can This Be Stopped?
I don't know. It seems to me that the American People are going to go along with this. I KNOW the 2 parties are on board, as is the media. Big Finance? Yeah, they're down with it too. That's a lot of political and economic juice aligned behind this plan.
So, who is left to stop it?