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Privatization

Russia Slams US Order To Privatize Outer Space

Russian officials on Tuesday criticized a US executive order paving the way for the exploitation of off-earth resources. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it would be "unacceptable" for the US to unilaterally privatize space. Roscosmos deputy director Sergei Saveliev went further, arguing that the order would allow the US to occupy off-earth territories. He said it undermined the spirit of international cooperation in space. "Attempts to expropriate outer space and aggressive plans to actually seize territories of other planets hardly set the countries for fruitful cooperation," Saveliev said. US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order establishing US policy on the exploitation resources in space.

Four Reasons The Ruling Elite Love This Crisis

Leviathan monumental shocks currently pound citizens around the world. Shocks to our lives. Shocks to the economy. Shocks to our reality. Shocks to our families, our careers, what we used to view as our “normal.” The pain of these shocks hits us in many ways, not the least of which is being forced to have sex while 6 feet apart. Welcome to the Shock Doctrine. Many of you may know Naomi Klein’s best-selling book “The Shock Doctrine.” It was also turned into a hit movie I believe called “Fight Club,” but don’t quote me on that. The Shock Doctrine basically says that the rich and powerful — our rulers bereft of empathy or moral cores — exploit any crisis such as disasters, natural and otherwise, to force through controversial, draconian, profit-based, or flat-out, offensive policies and laws, while the majority of the populace is too distracted, stressed, and drowning in anxiety to fight back adequately.

Are We About To Lose The US Postal Service?

The Postal Service is under an unprecedented strain from the Coronavirus pandemic and we all need to act.  The crisis is straining every part of the Postal Service. It is putting new obligations on the USPS, while postal revenue falls. For millions of Americans, the Postal Service is their only contact with the outside world right now. Its network is keeping our prescriptions filled and food on our shelves. But when the Congress passed its huge two-trillion dollar stimulus, they left the Postal Service out in the cold! There are credible reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin lobbied hard to stop Congress from including financial support for the USPS in the stimulus bill. His department is in charge of the White House's attempt to sell off the Postal Service to private corporations.

As States Battle Over Medical Supplies, One State Seizes Private Resources

With coronavirus deaths surging in New York, the governor announced he will use his authority to seize ventilators and protective gear from private hospitals and companies that aren’t using them, complaining that states are competing against each other for vital equipment in eBay-like bidding wars. “If they want to sue me for borrowing their excess ventilators to save lives, let them sue me,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. He added that he will eventually return the equipment or compensate the owners. The executive order he said he would sign represents one of the most aggressive efforts yet in the U.S. to deal with the kind of critical shortages around the world that authorities say have caused health care workers to fall sick and forced doctors in Europe to make life-or-death decisions about which patients get a breathing machine.

The National Security State Left Us Defenseless Against Coronavirus

Donald Trump’s failure to act decisively to control the coronavirus pandemic has likely made the Covid-19 pandemic far more lethal than it should have been. But the reasons behind failure to get protective and life-saving equipment like masks and ventilators into the hands of health workers and hospitals run deeper than Trump’s self-centered recklessness. Both the Obama and Trump administrations quietly delegated state and local authorities with the essential national security responsibility for obtaining and distributing these vital items. The failure of leadership was compounded by the lack of any federal power center that embraced the idea that guarding for a pandemic was at least as important to national security as preparing for war.

VA Privatization Leaves Veterans Waist Deep In Another Big Muddy

Two years ago, President Trump persuaded a bipartisan coalition in Congress to pass the VA MISSION Act of 2018. It authorized a costly expansion of outsourcing by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which provides healthcare for nine million former military personnel. Under the guise of giving VA patients more “choice” and speeding up their doctor appointments and hospital treatment, the Trump Administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on private sector providers, while refusing to fill an estimated 44,000 to 50,000 vacancies among VA caregivers.

When Stereotyping Is A Screen For Genocide

If you take out the words “tribal” and “Indian” all you have left are a group of patients fighting a federal government agency for the right to health care. That’s what stereotyping does. It blinds people to getting to the heart of the matter. It puts an extra burden on the people and lets a government agency get away with violations of federal laws. This is exactly what is happening to Donna Gilbert, Julie Mohney, and the author as we happen to be Native American Indians fighting the United States Indian Health Service and their illegal contract with an information agency that carries the lofty name “Great Plains Tribal Chairmens’ Health Board.” No one seems to remember that tribal chairmen have no authority, jurisdiction, or sovereign immunity off of the reservations.

Privatizing Oakland Schools

Eli Broad is a liberal Democrat. He opposes Trump’s Muslim ban, immigration policies and withdrawal from the climate change treaty. In fact, like Democratic billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Blloomberg, Broad opposes Trump’s entire right wing agenda. However, just as the Trump Foundation created the Trump University scam, the Eli Broad Foundation created the Broad Superintendent Academy...

The Privatization Of Rivers In Chile

The Chilean government has continued with the mercantile treatment of common goods, putting several rivers in the Bio Bio Region up for auction, despite ongoing social unrest. The practice of auctioning off rivers is legally supported by the 1981 water code. By conceiving of water as an economic asset, this code has made rivers mere objects for energy exploitation; the state hands over access through a resolution that enables private parties to harness rivers for commercial hydropower.

Bolivia’s New US-Backed Interim Gov’t Wastes No Time Privatizing Economy

It has been barely one month since the administration of Jeanine Añez seized power in a military coup in Bolivia, but it has wasted no time in attempting to transform the economy and society. Its latest move is aimed at privatizing the country’s economy. A government spokesperson confirmed the fears of many, claiming that “I believe the government should reduce its own size” and a protagonistic role should be given to private enterprises. In case that was not clear enough, he emphasized, “Yes, I’m talking about privatization.” Bolivia’s economy is dependent on its nationalized oil and gas industries.

Michigan Court Strikes Blow To Nestle

Michigan Court of Appeals Reverses Circuit Court Decision favoring Nestle and Upholds Township Zoning Ordinance that Denies Nestle Booster Station. Today the citizens of Osceola township in Evart, Michigan finally received their just reward for several years of legal battle to enforce their own zoning ordinance in the face of Nestle’s bullying tactics and corporate clout. The Michigan Court of Appeals, in a thirteen page document, reversed the erroneous decision of the Circuit Court which had overturned the township’s zoning ruling against Nestle’s booster station needed to increase extraction at the White Pine Springs well. The permit to increase that production was not a factor in this case. That is still awaiting a ruling in the Contested Case filed by Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation.

Striking Workers Sound The Alarm On Privatizing D.C. Public Transit

The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority board meeting was supposed to start at 10 A.M. on November 21, nearly a month after workers at the Cinder Bed Road garage began their strike. 10:30 came and went, with no sign of the WMATA executive board. The metro workers and community members who packed the room began chanting “time’s up” until a security guard announced anyone chanting would be told to leave. Finally, nearly an hour after the meeting’s scheduled start time, the WMATA board members trickled in.

The Killing Fields Of American Health Care

American health care is being crushed under the iron heel of a cabal of ruthless and merciless robber barons. Indeed, this primitive and backward system continues to be a source of horrendous suffering, as the health insurance companies, hospital executives, and pharmaceutical companies repeatedly place their insatiable lust for profit over the lives of their fellow Americans. And the health care oligarchs should be proud of what they have achieved: For they have created a health care system that is unrivaled in the industrialized world for its degradation and barbarity. As economic inequality grows in America, so too does inequality of health care. Writing for The Harvard Gazette, David Cecere points out that tens of thousands of Americans die each year due to a lack of health insurance.

Ukraine, The Land Of Quid Pro Quos

The withholding of US$391 million in military aid to force the Ukrainian government to investigate the business dealings of political rival Joe Biden’s son has triggered an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. But if we are concerned about foreign aid being used to undermine our democracy, we should also be wary of other quid pro quos taking place in the Eastern European country, which have so far drawn little attention and concern in the West. In spring 2014, after signing an Association Agreement with the European Union (EU)...

‘All Eyes On Nestlé’ Campaign Draws Attention To The Commodification Of Water

Ontario's environment minister, Jeff Yurek, plans to announce the provincial government's decision on water bottling permits by mid-December. The announcement comes after the government's extension of a moratorium on new and expanded permits, put in place by the Liberal government in 2017. Doug Ford's government extended the moratorium until January 1, 2020. Activist groups like Guelph-based Wellington Water Watchers (WWW) want Yurek to require all permits to take water for bottling to undergo an environmental assessment process.
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