Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

Common Dreams writer Linda McQuaig wrote a scathing article on the link between for-profit long term care facilities and the COVID death rate, noting that “75 per cent of coronavirus deaths in Ontario” occurred in these for profit enterprises. But Ms. McQuaig makes an even larger point in her article about this one form of privatization:

The situation should alert us more broadly to the foolishness of our rush to privatize services that would be better left to the public sector — not just nursing homes but health care, education and other areas where the public interest is at stake.

Privatization has become a kind of economic dogma in recent years, with business commentators and politicians routinely asserting that the private sector is more efficient and always does things better — an assertion that is rarely accompanied by any evidence.

In fact, the crucial difference separating the private and public sectors is that the private sector is focused on profit-making. Indeed, this is the only real purpose of a business enterprise.

So, regardless of what industry spokespeople say, a private company in the nursing home business is focused on maximizing profits, as its board of directors demands.

And it will typically do this by scrimping on staff costs — hiring fewer workers and paying them rock-bottom wages with no benefits. This generally results in high turnover and worse conditions for the residents, as well as the workers.

This blog has scores of posts undercutting the conventional wisdom that “running public services like a business” is a bad idea for everyone… everyone that is except the shareholders who make profits at the expense of the well-being of communities and citizens. Add this post to that list.