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The privatization of everything : how the plunder of public goods transformed America and how we can fight back Cover Image

The privatization of everything : how the plunder of public goods transformed America and how we can fight back / Donald Cohen, Allen Mikaelian.

Cohen, Donald (Public interest advocate), (author.). Mikaelian, Allen, (author.).

Summary:

"America's leading defender of the public interest and a bestselling historian show us how to prevent the private takeover of our cherished public resources"-- Provided by publisher.

As people reach for social justice and better lives, they create public goods-- free education, public health, open parks, clean water, and many others-- that must be kept out of the market. When private interests take over, they strip public goods of their power to lift people up, creating instead a tool to diminish democracy, further inequality, and separate us from each other. Cohen and Mikaelian chronicle the efforts to turn our public goods into private profit centers. They show how privatization has touched every aspect of our lives, from water and trash collection to the justice system and the military-- and how citizens can, and are, wresting back what is ours. -- adapted from jacket

Record details

ISBN: 9781620976531
ISBN: 1620976536
Physical Description: vi, 349 pages : illustration ; 24 cm
Publisher: New York : The New Press, 2021.
Copyright: ©2021

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Part I. Understanding privatization. Public goods for the common good -- The roots and reasons of privatization: A very brief history -- Part II. Public goods for life: the dangers of privatizing public health, water, and food safety. Privatizing public health makes us sick: an epidemic of market failures -- "They just have to pay": privatizing the public's water supply -- The stuff of life: reclaiming public water -- Part III. The public gets us there: transportation, communication, and economies that work for all. Economic destiny and the pitfalls of the public-private partnership -- Toll roads at America's crossroads -- Who owns the journey? recentering the public -- Part IV. Privatization's slow coup: the undermining of democracy and justice. When the contract is king: how privatization trumps democracy -- Democracy in darkness: privatization's shadow over transparency -- Skin in the game: environmental and planning policy in privatization's grip -- Freedom has a price: privatization's assault on the justice system -- Part V. Every last dime: shredding the social safety net, generating inequality. Teaching them a lesson: privatization versus the poor -- Privatized Medicaid and the business of denying care -- What's in it for Wall Street: public assistance in the hands of big finance -- Privatizing pays us less -- Part VI. Things in common: privatization and the erosion of community. Public places: parks, presidents, and privatization -- School choice and resegregation -- Public libraries and apple pie -- Communities take care: how Social Secutity defines us -- Part VII. Privatization doesn't want you to know: the corruption of public education. School choice and competition: when creative destruction is just destruction -- Higher education: who fills the void? -- Part VIII. "The cash just pours out": the privatization of public science and research. Academic publishing: how to pay for knowledge three times over -- They even want to own the weather -- Drug prices and the pirates of the patent system -- Part IX. Becoming pro-public.