Thom Hartmann: Doomsday Scenario for Capitalism in America?

[thomhartmann]

Seth Berenzweig joins Thom Hartmann. State prisons everywhere are up for sale - or least thats what the Corrections Corporation of America wants. Is this desire signaling the doomsday scenario for capitalism in America?

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[JDPriestly]

1. If big businesses paid their share of the taxes,

our state governments would not be broke.

Privately run prisons are a danger to our civil society, a real danger. Prisons should not generate profits for anyone.

[Pharaoh]

2. Prisons should not generate profits for anyone.

Nor should healthcare!!

[Selatius]

3. I'm opposed because it puts profits ahead of the original goal of rehabilitation.

We see that in action when these for-profit prison corporations donate money to state and federal lawmakers to make it easier to throw people in prison. The more people who are in prison, the bigger the check the corporation gets from the state or federal government. This is totally not what rehabilitation is all about.

[Civilization2]

4. Welcome to the Casino Gulag

"The Casino Gulag model works as follows:

First, the huge debts incurred by consumers around the world and most particularly in the US and UK will continue to increase in size. The price of credit (interest rates) will never rise enough to change the behaviour of debt addicts plus, the Federal Government will, vis a vis the ongoing bailouts and restructuring of the public and private markets, transfer tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded pension and Medicare/Medicaid liabilities – that are now hidden from view due to ‘off the books accounting’ – onto the public’s balance sheet by selling these debts to America’s biggest creditors; China, Japan, and the Mid East countries.

America will be surprised to wake up one day and find that each one of them owes these creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of the hundreds of thousans they alrady owe on mortgages, credit cards and cars."

http://maxkeiser.com/2009/08/10/max-keiser-how-the-gulag-casino-economy-works/

[fasttense]

5. Privatization of a state function has NEVER saved the tax payers a single dime. Never

The moment you turn a state function over to a corporation, you have just added another level of management costs and profit costs that the tax payer must pay that they never paid when it was a state function. As a state function, management of the function is built right into the state organization. But when it is privatized, another layer of management must be added in order that the State may communicate with the corporation. Even if that layer is a person ensuring the terms of the contract, you have added another layer of management.

And of course a privatized function can NOT continue if it does NOT make a profit. That profit is paid for by our tax dollars.

It is simple logic and common sense. Privatization always, always, always costs more.

But the real proof that privatization of prisons does not serve the interest of citizens is the huge, giant prison population the US has amassed because of privatization.

[BigD_95]

6. this country is such a joke

No way in hell should a private company run a prison. I don't care the cost or cost savings. That is a responsibility of the state & government to provide.

If the states need more money then they should be taxing these companies that are making these huge profits in our country. These companies & people are enjoying all the benefits of making serious wealth in this country but act like they don't have to give back. They have the law, prisons, police, fire departments ..etc providing them with a safe environment to make their money. They need to help pay for it.

Like Michael Moore said :

America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/america-is-not-broke_b_832006.html

[dreamnightwind]

7. Great post!

Why the hell do we have so many people in prison in the land of the free? There are so many fires to fight in this country these days, but this is one of the big ones, we are increasingly on the wrong end of an overgrown military-security-police apparatus and it has to be reigned in.