Reply #15: It costs THREE FORTUNES to 'privatize' what the military did. [View All]

[TahitiNut]

From motor pools to mercenaries, the DOD is "outsourcing" (to privateers) and spending far more while achieving far less. I spent my time on KP and doing maintenance ... at $95/month. There was nothing to stop me from being worked 10-12 hours (or more) each day and 6-7 days per week. Soldiers don't get overtime pay and NOBODY takes a profit slice from what they cost to what they get paid. When that "contractor" gets paid $125K/year, you can bet the costs are more like $200K/year. On top of that, the contracting company (the privateers) has a vested interest in shorting on the service or product - since 'overcapacity' and 'overproduction' are the 'big evil' of business.

That's the most important difference - overcapacity. For governments and the military, overcapacity is a "good thing" - primarily because they're supposed to deal with the unforeseen and emergency event. There ain't nobody sitting back and offering insurance to them - no backstopping. For business, however, excess capacity is an evil since every dollar spent on overcapacity is a dollar not more than offest by revenues and producing profit. Profit is God. Nothing gets in the way of the God of Profits. We saw the impact of "business thinking" in dealing with Katrina. The necessary capacity just didn't exist!

It also impacts recruiting. No longer can someone enlist and expect to spend some significant amount of time doing REMF stuff as they rotate through the war zone. Thos jobs are gone - "outsourced." The "volunteer" military (a myth from the outset) is even more difficult to sell when an enlistee can count on over 50% of his/her time getting shot at. And where's the job-training carrot? Gone. How many civilian jobs value marksmanship? Only the jobs that increase a police state - prison guards, 'security' personnel, and cops.