Uncle Academic: "Tea Party Commissar & Fuzzy Privatization"

And we thought Reps were fanatic about local control of politics, schools, etc.

Rachel Maddow: Michigan's Dystopian (Corporate Republican) Future

Imagine: Solicitors of Tea-Party libertarians assigning a corporation as commissar over designated political jurisdictions with authority to dismiss public officials, cancel contracts, fire public employees -- all upon the finding of the state governor that the unit (municipality, school board, water district) is in a state of financial emergency. But maybe the TP is ready for a clean wipe after all, since this is in the end about auctioning off the public sector to put it in the divinely-ordained proper private hands (what Enron was up to with the water supply of Argentina before it went poof). Of course, there are different varieties of private property -- personal property, partnerships, small corporations and big. One wonders whether TP small folks are hot for corporate monopoly.

Imagine a Democrat were doing something like this. What Dreaded Word would by now be clogging the airwaves?

These forces do indeed seem to be in a mighty hurry. See, e.g.:

Ellen Dannin | Fuzzy Privatization Math
Ellen Dannin, Employment Policy Research Network: "On May 31, 2010, Governor Chris Christie’s New Jersey Privatization Task Force reported that more than $210 million would be saved by privatizing work that had traditionally been performed by government workers. The report even set out specific figures for some of the cost savings it identified, while others said savings were 'TBD' – 'To Be Decided'. Who crunched the numbers to show that private contractors would do a better job or at least the same job for less money than public employees? The Privatization Task Force Report says that no one did."
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