tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709715062681399199.post3697722251729003094..comments2023-07-20T10:37:28.692-04:00Comments on Grumpy Abe: Kasich/DeWine clash: Back to the Middle AgesGrumpy Abehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01012210966022330986noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709715062681399199.post-25726846533425940442011-12-11T18:04:18.004-05:002011-12-11T18:04:18.004-05:00Like Gingrich and Bush the Younger, Kasich is stee...Like Gingrich and Bush the Younger, Kasich is steeped in the ideology of privatization, not only because of a blind faith in the notion that private industry can do no wrong in serving the economic interests of everyone but also because it can serve as a two-way conduit to enrich friends who in turn are expected to finance the political campaigns of public officials granting government contracts. Not to mention the choice jobs that go to the politicians when they leave office. For instance, look where Kasich ended up -- with a Wall Street financier -- between political hitches. When folks begin to understand this circle-dance, they're likely to understand why privatization is so popular with the lobbies and fat-cats that stand to gain the most when public services are shifted to private hands. Lost in this self-perpetuating circle is a loss of accountability to taxpayers whose money is used to stake these shifts, once they are made. Who, for example, do you blame when publicly financed charter schools fall down on the job, or when prisons brutalize or neglect to rehabilitate the inmates? Who, when government-sponsored retirement funds are badly managed or go broke? Who, when government health programs are privatized and begin denying benefits to the sick? In this particular feud between the governor and the Ohio GOP, one would be well-advised to look beyond the clashing egos and, as a former FBI agent told the Washington Post reporters in the Watergate scandal: "Follow the money." What we might have here is a fight between party factions over who's getting the favors from the contracts.David Hessnoreply@blogger.com