There was apparently a bill that the United States Congress – you know, the guys and gals that have approval ratings that hover just above syphilis and people who microwave fish at work – to privatize the Air Traffic Control system. And not only was it not laughed out of committee, it passed! This in itself is insane. And Trump has called on privatizing the United States ATC system as well. I mean we have had disasterous results with things like this in the past. Have we learned nothing?
For-profit private prisons: These corporations get paid for 90% to 100% occupancy, and get paid no matter what the actual occupancy rate it. And it’s been shown that in a for-profit prison, the prisoners are underfed to the point of malnurishment. Sure, these are people who are paying a debt to society – but we cannot treat them like animals. They have the right to human dignity just like everyone else. And speaking of dignity – they are absolutely humans, and not slaves. But that doesn’t stop them from being treated as such due to forced labor for which they are barely compensated for. Corporations can make money no matter what, and make more money by not taking care of their prisoners while forcing them to work like slaves. Sources: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/20880-for-profit-prisons-eight-statistics-that-show-the-problems and http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289
For-profit universities: If you can make money off of students no matter what, then what’s stopping you from abusing that right? Like for-profit school ITT enrolling blind students in programs that require visual inspection of wires and colors. Or the fact that they regularly had students take out loans that they might not be able to afford, and then lied about the job rates and salaries of their graduates. And to drive the point home, just two words: Trump University. Sources: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/at-itt-tech-a-greatest-hits-of-abuses-attorney-2016-01-21 and https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/profit-college-company-pay-955-million-settle-claims-illegal-recruiting-consumer-fraud-and
For-profit hospitals and insurance companies: We’ve heard time and again about fraudulent billing from for-profit hospitals. Tenet and HCA alone have paid about $3,729,000,000 (yes, almost 4 billion US dollars) to settle fraudulent billing and other issues over the last few decades. And who can forget Humana denying necessary procedures for those they insured, while buying extravagant items like spending almost $4,000,000 on a sculpture – or about the cost of 8 heart transplants. Sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/humana-profits-over-peopl_b_327311.html and others.
Who in their right mind thinks that privatizing something so integral and necessary as Air Traffic Control is a good thing? It’s already one of the top five most stressful jobs ever. Can you imagine how much worse it can get when your boss is coming down on you to cut costs and raise profits? At least when it comes to things like for-profit hospitals and health insurance companies most people have a choice. But you literally put your life in the hands of the people who hurl that metal tube through the sky at 500 miles per hour, and the people how control where they fly and land. You don’t have a choice.
Well honestly, we do. And that choice is to tell our local Congress critter NO to privatizing the ATC.