is privatizing racist?

[unblock]

i've always thought of privatizing (cutting government jobs and replacing them with private sector jobs) primarily a way to circumvent the hatch act, so that politicians can steer federal contracts to campaign contributors the way they used to dole out government jobs in the days of patronage.

but i heard on the radio (wbia) that the federal employees are disproportionately black -- 17-18% of the workforce, compared to 12-13% of the overall population.

that suggests that there's a racial element at play here, as presumably the employees at the private sector contractors do not have the same 17-18% proportion.



thoughts?

[elleng]

1. Off the top of my head, I'd say. 'No,'

tho there is often, if not always, a racially-based aspect to actions promoted by repugs.

I think 'privatizing' sounds/feels good to 'them,' even tho in most instances they have no idea about the potentially affected jobs/positions/people. Their friends whose businesses provide the private jobs should know a bit more, but maybe they do and maybe they don't. Think of prisons.

[Warpy]

2. It's classist

It steals things commonly held by the public and transfers them to a few rich men. Then the prices go up because profit must be sucked out of a formerly non profit system.

Another way to say privatization is "stick 'em up, suckers!"

[Nova.]

3. More profitable hiring white people

Sounds like a racist slur but it might be more true than we would like, neurology has produced studies that indicate that the brain is naturally inclined to discriminate, as well as psychological studies; this combined together indicates that it could be more profitable for profit oriented individual to hire whites in a predominately white area. They is no profit motive in most state institutions and possibly greater regulatory requirements, social discrimination will still be a factor though. Geographical issues could feature a role in this as well.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Not inherently