Let’s Put the Public Back in Public Service

By Steven M. Hollis

Privatization of government services cost Missouri taxpayers and taxpayers across the country billions of dollars. In the process, public interests are sacrificed to corporate greed. For evidence, read on:

The nation’s biggest polluters are overseeing the cleanup of the toxic waste sites they created.

The meat industry is policing itself when it comes to keeping infectious diseases out of the meat you buy for your families.

Big Business slowly but surely is taking control over critical public services with dire consequences for our safety, health and economic well being. Just look at the record:

Medicare waste by profit-making corporations with government contracts comes to at least $12 billion per year. That is money that could be benefiting seniors, according to a recent report by the congressional watch dog agency, the General Accounting Office (GAO).

Contractors, including Lockheed Martin, at an Idaho Falls, ID, Superfund site bypassed safety measures, falsified documents, and illegally sent plutonium waste to a public landfill, according to a federal lawsuit, the New York Times reported.

More than $1 billion was lost when a portion of the USDA’s Rural Housing loan program was privatized. These funds could have been used to assist low-income rural people in becoming successful homeowners, according to a GAO report. Ruthless private sector collection methods put so many people out of their homes that Congress has intervened and put the program back in government hands, at a projected five-year savings to the taxpayer of $250 million.

To remedy these give-aways, Congress is considering a measure that would make cost comparisons one of the mandatory requirements for contracting out federal programs. There would be a moratorium on further privatization unless a contractor could show that the services can be provided cheaper outside the government. In addition, it would require government agencies to account for the dollars spent on service contracts, not just the money spent on direct federal employment.

The practice of contracting out (or privatizing) public services has grown enormously in the last 20 years. Private corporations have taken over a wide range of public programs, from environmental protection, public housing and food safety, to veterans health care, Medicare and national security.

These profit-driven corporations currently bill the federal government more than $40 billion annually for non-defense related services. At the federal level, there are twice as many contract employees as federal employees.

The rapid growth in contracting out has not made the delivery of public services more effective or efficient. To the contrary, study after study shows that the lack of contractor oversight coupled with cost overruns has undermined efforts to protect and serve the public. And while many privatization supporters claim that forcing public employees to “compete” with private corporations is good for communities, this “competition” is a myth. More often than not, corporate contractors take over public services through “sole source” contracts, meaning they don’t compete against anyone.

As a result, billions of dollars in taxpayer money is wasted or fraudulently spent.

The fundamental problem with privatization is quite simple: a corporation’s primary purpose is making a profit, not guaranteeing the public’s safety or security. So why are we giving them responsibility for our health and welfare? All of us would be safer, healthier and more secure if Congress followed through to keep public services under public control.

Editor’s note: Hollis is president of Local 3354 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO).

Copyright (C) 2001 by the Missouri Forum. The Forum is an educational organization that provides the media with the views of state experts on major public issues. Letters should be sent to the Forum, P.O. Box 211, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0211