Monday, November 22, 2010

Privitizing Profits and Socializing Costs

Today, I’m mellower, not as angry, not feeling so threatened, not so much the innocent victim, nor as heart broken, and a tad more spiritual. But there’s no doubt I’ll be back to the anger and heart broken innocent victim so enough. I do have some spiritual things to share, but I have one more ‘ranty’ thing to talk about today. It’s in an article by Fred Grimm of the Miami Herald, always a great source of ‘ranty’ things, entitled, “Private prisons the force behind immigrant law?”

I share this with you in the hopes that it will help you awaken and choose differently, but with the belief that it probably won’t matter, or that the people who need to awaken and repent [choose again] do not read this blog.

“The notion of requiring state and local policemen to lock up suspects who have no proof they entered the country legally,” beside fitting in nicely with the Tea Party hazarai [write me and I’ll explain what that words means] “is being pushed by the Corrections Corporation of America, which operates private prisons in 19 states. CCA, according to the company’s own reports, projects ‘a significant portion of our revenues’ coming from locking up illegal immigrants. With national crime rates down and prison populations shrinking, illegal immigration has become a crucial segment for the private prison industry.

“The private prison industry already has plenty of lobbying muscle in Florida. In 2008, House Speaker Ray Sansom (since disgraced, arrested and ousted) [not for this, but for something else] inserted $113 million into the budget for a 2,000 bed private prison, despite the state’s financial crisis. When the prison was finally finished the Department of Corrections didn’t have the prisoners to fill it. The new prison sat empty.

“Lobbyists went to work. Legislation passed last spring required the DoC to move 2,224 inmates into the facility and to guarantee the prison company that the new prison would stay at least 90% full.” This is happening everywhere these private prisons operate and is the hallmark of the whole ‘privatization’ charade – which means privatize profits and socialize costs. This is corporate welfare at its most blatant. Because of the fierce, evil and life-threatening Budget Deficit, your Social Security needs to be ‘fixed’ you need to retire later and get no COLAs, but it’s OK for these corporations to feed at the public trough. I’d rather feed there, but I don’t have any lobbyists, not even any representatives in the legislature or Congress. They’ve all been bought and paid for, already.

Privatization, private prisons in this case, allegedly “save taxpayers money. But a study by the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy released in April discovered ‘simply no data to suggest that’s true.’ What lower costs there may be come from ‘creaming’ taking the less troublesome, less expensive class of prisoners. ‘The private prison industry has no incentive to reduce crime or rehabilitate prisoners. Only to lock up more prisoners.’” Given this, Florida’s, Arizona’s, Texas’ considerable population of undocumented immigrants, no rehab required, must look like a mighty cash crop ready for harvest.”

Thank you, Fred Grimm and John Hall of the Center, and thank you, reader, for waking up, realizing it doesn’t have to be this way and choosing again.

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