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The Pitfalls of Privatizing Government Work

by Ben Hoffman

With all the fear mongering about socialism these days, the privatization of public entities almost always leads to corruption, lower paying jobs, and poor quality.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Nine people were indicted Wednesday on federal charges of accessing President Barack Obama’s student loan records while they were employed for a Department of Education contractor in Iowa.

The U.S. attorney’s office said a grand jury returned the indictments in U.S. District Court in Davenport.

All nine are charged with exceeding authorized computer access. They are accused of gaining access to a computer at a Coralville office where they worked between July 2007 and March 2009, and accessing Obama’s student loan records while he was either a candidate for president, president-elect or president.

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While right-wingers won’t have a problem with this since the actions of those accused were to help Republicans, and anything goes when it comes to helping Republicans, if the shoe was on the other foot, they’d be outraged.

Posted on May 13, 2010 at 8:51 AM in Education, Politics   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

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8 Comments to “The Pitfalls of Privatizing Government Work”

    
  1. Vern R. Kaine
    May 13, 2010 at 9:35 AM

    I don’t get it – you’re saying that if these were members of the Dept of Education proper, and not contractors, then this act wouldn’t have happened?

    Reply
    • Ben Hoffman
      May 13, 2010 at 9:50 AM

      There’s no way to prove something wouldn’t have happened, but when you have full time employees rather than contractors, you have more loyalty.

      Reply
      • Vern R. Kaine
        May 13, 2010 at 11:36 AM

        As (technically) a contractor that works in a number of companies and with a number of hired guns, I’d argue that. I think its simply that criminals have no integrity, and no respect for anything but themselves. I don’t think employee vs. contractor, public or private makes a difference.

  2. Vern R. Kaine
    May 13, 2010 at 9:40 AM

    Public Corruption Probe Nets 4
    http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-05-04/news/ct-met-cook-county-corruption-sweep-20100504_1_public-corruption-stealing-bank-account

    Employee Hires Actors To Testify On His Behalf
    http://publicpersonnellaw.blogspot.com/2010/02/employee-charged-with-misconduct.html

    Minnesota State Employee Charged With Terrorist Threats
    http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/05/07/capitol-threat/

    Public Library Employee Charged With Stealing 1400 Items
    http://www.twincities.com/ci_14961439?source=most_emailed

    … the list goes on. Just Google “public employees charged”.

    Reply
  3. Vern R. Kaine
    May 13, 2010 at 9:44 AM

    I don’t recall Democrats making too much of a fuss over hacking Palin’s email, or the illegal background checks on Plumber Joe, either.

    Let’s just be thankful these people are dumb enough to think they can get away with it. 🙂

    Reply
  4. pino
    May 13, 2010 at 1:26 PM

    With all the fear mongering about socialism these days, the privatization of public entities almost always leads to corruption, lower paying jobs, and poor quality.

    Is that different than this:

    Southers was also questioned by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee about a background check conducted on his ex-wife’s boyfriend 20 years ago when he was an FBI agent.

    And better yet, he lied:

    It was later revealed that Southers’ testimony hadn’t been truthful since he’d originally said a San Diego Police Department employee conducted the background checks, though in reality he’d twice done the searches himself.

    But that’s nothing compared to:

    government report that found SEC employees spending hours surfing porn websites while at work.

    Ahh yes, and our Nation’s finest:

    A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, police officer who told authorities he was shot while on patrol last month has admitted he shot himself intentionally, the city’s police commissioner said Tuesday.

    And then, the best of all:

    Slick Willey gets BJ in the Oval Office while conducting State business

    Sheesh.

    Reply
    

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