Another privatization attempt leads to a jail term

[BOBDN]

This is what we can expect from the privatization crowd's efforts. More embezzlment and failure.

On the bright side at some point enough of them will be in jail to end privatization themselves.

'Fainting' plea fails to shorten sentence in school bilk case

"Daniel Greco, convicted last month of fleecing public schools of $3.7 million meant for the education of disabled children, pleaded unsuccessfully for his freedom in a Morristown courtroom yesterday, saying that his fainting disorder could turn a prison term into a death sentence."

[...]

"Superior Court Judge Theodore Bozonelis rejected the entreaty, sentencing Greco to six years behind bars."

[...]

"Greco and his accomplice, Philip Scardilli, who co-founded the Windsor Schools for children with emotional and learning disabilities, pleaded guilty in March to theft by deception for lavishing $150,000 no-show jobs on their wives, relatives and friends.

The schools had contracts with more than 150 districts in North Jersey."

 

[burnedout]

This is what we can expect from the privatization crowd's efforts. More embezzlment and failure.

"To summarize, the full sample of privatized firms, as well as essentially all the subsamples, experience significant performance improvements after being privatized, and these improvements typically are highly significant in both statistical and economic terms. These findings are but the latest in a string of recently published studies documenting performance improvements following government divestiture. Privatization "works", and it works in almost every institutional setting examined."

The Journal of Finance, Vol. 54, No. 4, Papers and Proceedings, Fifty-Ninth Annual Meeting, American Finance Association, New York, New York, January 4-6, 1999. (Aug., 1999), pp. 1397-1438

Sorry Bob, but I trust empirical data and qualified economic opinion much more than your old-school socialist drivel.

 

[BOBDN]

Originally posted by: burnedout

This is what we can expect from the privatization crowd's efforts. More embezzlment and failure.

"To summarize, the full sample of privatized firms, as well as essentially all the subsamples, experience significant performance improvements after being privatized, and these improvements typically are highly significant in both statistical and economic terms. These findings are but the latest in a string of recently published studies documenting performance improvements following government divestiture. Privatization "works", and it works in almost every institutional setting examined."

The Journal of Finance, Vol. 54, No. 4, Papers and Proceedings, Fifty-Ninth Annual Meeting, American Finance Association, New York, New York, January 4-6, 1999. (Aug., 1999), pp. 1397-1438

Sorry Bob, but I trust empirical data and qualified economic opinion much more than your old-school socialist drivel.

Sorry burnedout but I won't take the word of people who oversee embezzlers and thieves.

 

[BoberFett]

And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs under Republicans and right wing ideals. Democrats are pure souls who only think of others.

 

[BOBDN]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs under Republicans and right wing ideals. Democrats are pure souls who only think of others.

We're not discussing Democrats and Republicans on this thread but feel free to start your own on that point if you like.

We're discussing privatization.

Specifically the thieves who line up at the government till whenever privatization schemes are hatched.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: BOBDN

Originally posted by: BoberFett
And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs under Republicans and right wing ideals. Democrats are pure souls who only think of others.

We're not discussing Democrats and Republicans on this thread but feel free to start your own on that point if you like.

We're discussing privatization.

Specifically the thieves who line up at the government till whenever privatization schemes are hatched.

OK, then try this.😉

And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs with privatization and businesses. Government bureaucracies are pure entities who only think of others.

CkG

 

[BOBDN]

Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY

Originally posted by: BOBDN

Originally posted by: BoberFett
And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs under Republicans and right wing ideals. Democrats are pure souls who only think of others.

We're not discussing Democrats and Republicans on this thread but feel free to start your own on that point if you like.

We're discussing privatization.

Specifically the thieves who line up at the government till whenever privatization schemes are hatched.

OK, then try this.😉

And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs with privatization and businesses. Government bureaucracies are pure entities who only think of others.

CkG

Where did you learn to change your tune like that. The Bush administration?

Try this. Tell the truth. Truth is in this instance and the others I've posted here the private entities paid to take over operations formerly handled by government were robbing us.

So much for privatization keeping costs down. The only people who benefited from this privatization were the ones collecting for their now show jobs.

 

[BoberFett]

Privatization leaves us open to corruption of corporations. Socialization leaves us open to the corruption of government. Wasn't there some point during the Clinton administration that an audit was done and the DoE couldn't account for billions of dollars? Did it make it to the schools? Perhaps. Or maybe it ended up in somebody's pocket. We'll never know.

Fact is, either way we're screwed.

 

[Bleep]

And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs with privatization and businesses. Government bureaucracies are pure entities who only think of others

I agree that the last sentence is true because we know which entities the Bush administration are thinking of.

Bleep

 

[tcsenter]

Well there you have it folks! One single conviction stemming from one single incident of defrauding the government for a few million dollars is proof positive that privatization doesn't work, while a systematic scholarly review of privatization in practice is to be dismissed out of hand.

I'm glad the rest of the world doesn't use BOBDN's ridiculously low standards of logic or reason. Can you imagine?

"Dr. Flemming, we had one patient suffer an allergic reaction to the penicillin."

"What? That means penicillin is a total failure! I want you to dump it all down the drain and never speak of this to anyone! EVAR!"

"But, Dr. Flemming, the other 100 patients showed dramatic improvement. This stuff is a miracle!"

"Don't question me! Do as I say or you're fired!"

And the rest would have been history....

 

[tcsenter]

And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs with privatization and businesses. Government bureaucracies are pure entities who only think of others

lol! Oh man, you will be assimilated! Throw down your brain and step away. Do not resist. I repeat... 😀

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

"Dr. Flemming, we had one patient suffer an allergic reaction to the penicillin."

"What? That means penicillin is a total failure! I want you to dump it all down the drain and never speak of this to anyone! EVAR!"

"But, Dr. Flemming, the other 100 patients showed dramatic improvement. This stuff is a miracle!"

"Don't question me! Do as I say or you're fired!"

And the rest would have been history....

"Dr. Flemming, penicillin works so well maybe we should give it to everyone?"

"Don't do that . . . it will lead to resistance and super pathogens . . ."

The rest has been history . . . as virtually every known human bacterial pathogen has developed some degree of resistance to primary, secondary, and last resort antimicrobials. Thnx to the power of the market drug companies have scurried ahead of the curve by developing new antibiotics to meet new challenges . . . unfortunately, they also advertise broad spectrum antibiotics to treat conditions that need much smaller "guns".

Then along came the capitalist drive which said, "why make vaccines . . . they cost a lot of money to develop but typically we only sell them once per person?" Hence, the number of major US vaccine manufacturers has fallen dramatically. Thank goodness the FRENCH company Aventis was good enough to donate 85 million doses of smallpox vax to the US in 2002. I wonder how we repaid their generosity.

In addition, many drug companies have abandoned research into antibiotics b/c patients only use these drugs for a couple of days.

Privatization is neither good nor bad . . . but the individuals who make decisions that favor profit over people should not be in positions of influence (executive suite or executive branch).

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: BOBDN

Originally posted by: BoberFett
And as you should well know, burnedout, that corruption only occurs under Republicans and right wing ideals. Democrats are pure souls who only think of others.

We're not discussing Democrats and Republicans on this thread but feel free to start your own on that point if you like.

We're discussing privatization.

Specifically the thieves who line up at the government till whenever privatization schemes are hatched.

thieves line up at ANY gov't contract, private, public, any and all.

 

[tcsenter]

Dr. Flemming, penicillin works so well maybe we should give it to everyone?"

"Don't do that . . . it will lead to resistance and super pathogens . . ."

If you look at the context of my analogy, I was paralleling BOBDN's ideology of anti-privatization, but that wasn't an implicit endorsement of 'privatization for everyone' as you're suggesting.

The rest has been history . . . as virtually every known human bacterial pathogen has developed some degree of resistance to primary, secondary, and last resort antimicrobials.

As they would no matter how sparingly antimicrobials were used. The dichotomy is not 'no resistance v. resistance'.

Then along came the capitalist drive which said, "why make vaccines . . . they cost a lot of money to develop but typically we only sell them once per person?" Hence, the number of major US vaccine manufacturers has fallen dramatically.

Of course, it was just some 'coincidence' that demand for vaccine research and production had also 'fallen dramatically' because the communicable diseases of major concern had been all but eradicated.

'Capitalist drive' had nothing to do with the decline in vaccine producers. Our 'benevolent' trial lawyers and the world's most permissive tort system, where the most 'casual link' between injury and product routinely brings millions, was literally suing the vaccine industry out of business (and continues today).

Wyeth, Squibb, Lederle, and other major vaccine producers were bailing from the vaccine market during the 1980s due to "extreme liability exposure" and "the high cost of litigation" (Vaccine Supply and Innovation, Institute of Medicine, 1985). Many were having difficulty getting liability insurance.

It was so bad, that national vaccine shortages were all the rage and most types of vaccines were only available from a single US producer. After three major vaccine producers called it quits within months of each other, Congress enacted the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) in 1986 to channel claims away from the tort system.

Personal injury lawyers found a way to skirt the VICP by exploiting an exemption for illnesses, injuries or deaths "associated with an adulterant or contaminant" in vaccines and claiming Thimerosal was the cause of their client's injury, not the vaccine. This permitted their claims to skip VICP and go directly to torts (where the real $$ is).

According to the US Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, there were approximately 190 individual and class-action lawsuits representing millions of plaintiffs claiming thimerosal-related injuries as of December 2002.

Thank goodness the FRENCH company Aventis was good enough to donate 85 million doses of smallpox vax to the US in 2002. I wonder how we repaid their generosity.

Aventis Pasteur, the US subsidiary of French-based Aventis, 'donated' the 75~85 million doses of smallpox vaccine it had been storing at one of its Swiftwater, PA facilities since the national smallpox vaccination program ended in 1972. Although, I'm not sure if 'donated' would be entirely correct, since the US Government subsidized the production, distribution, and storage of smallpox vaccines. Over the prior 20 years, Aventis had periodically consulted with the US Government on whether it should destroy this inventory. Apparently, they had worked out some kind of agreement before.

As for how we repaid Aventis, I'm sure Aventis was taken care of...such as the new liability protections for vaccine makers passed as part of the Homeland Security Act? 😉

In addition, many drug companies have abandoned research into antibiotics b/c patients only use these drugs for a couple of days.

Let me guess....capitalist drive again?