Privatize It: Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey, Ep. 3

Should cities be in the business of running businesses ranging from convention centers to farmer's markets?

Selling off golf courses, contracting out parking concessions, and all manner of public-private partnerships are generating billions of dollars in revenue and dramatically improving city services in places such as Chicago and Indianapolis.

Will Cleveland's elected officials learn the right lessons in time?

Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey is written and produced by Paul Feine; camera and editing by Roger Richards and Alex Manning; narrated by Nick Gillespie; music by the Cleveland band Cats on Holiday and Max Bowerman.

This is the third of six episodes that will air March 15-19, 2010. Approximately 10 minutes long.

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• Category

  News & Politics

[Shroom Duke]

I'm guessing you're being facetious.... Yes our government, executive, legislative and judicial have are "captured" corrupted by the influence of money, they're bought and paid for, and to think we have a supreme court that insists "money is speech" they should be thrown out on their asses, even jailed IMHO. the only thing that is supreme about that court is it's corruption and fraud!

This is why we need above all else, Oversight, Transparency and Accountability. 

[TheAzov]

They already are: the best courts and government money can buy.

[Shroom Duke]

Detroit's "horseshoer" is actually a metal worker and welder, his job description just hasn't been updated in 50 years.

Can you explain why it would be a problem to privatize the courts and/or our government?

[David Eggers]

Government monopolies aren't necessarily any better than corporate monopolies. I'm thinking of Detroit's water department, that still has a horseshoer (among the other millions of dollars it wastes). To start, government needs to get out of the business of creating monopolies. Like the million dollar taxi medallions in NYC. Or in Louisiana, where you need an expensive permit to arrange flowers.

[David Eggers]

I really wish all loaded words, like capitalism, privitization, etc... would be scrapped and new words made up with precise definitions. Even words like "liberal" over the years get twisted up from their original meaning. On forums like this, so many political arguments are really just on different definitions of the same word. Its sad, because that keeps everyone from getting things done that they both want.

[Shroom Duke]

Great answer David.

This is not just about privatization it's about corruption, capture and control...

Would you agree that Privatization should be called Corporatization, we are talking about corporate ownership, so how far do we allow it to go, what are the limits?

Do we allow corporations to own natural monopolies or to acquire monopolies or build cartels, how about foreign corporations or governments, do you want your water & sewer system owned by an unstable unscrupulous corporation?

[David Eggers]

No one wants to privatize government or the courts. I don't see how that's possible. The most fundamental part of allowing private people to run an economy is to have a non-biased government that resolves disputes. People who like the idea of privitization also passionately hate the current situation, where government gives special privileges to certain corporations. Yet that's what you're saying people for privitization are for.

[Shroom Duke]

You haven't said anything that illustrates the folly of my assertions, please enlighten me, I'm all ears! (or eyes)

What can you tell us about privatization, economics, democracy, civics and sovereignty?

Keep facepalming...

[David Eggers]

Posts like this make me facepalm myself. Just how much you don't understand what people are talking about when they say privatization.

[ilikemitchhedberg]

fuck unions.

Hi Drew Carey, i fuggin love you.

Cleveland Rocks.

Big gov rocks.

haha jk