Srsly Wrong Ep 148 – Privatization
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Mar 22, 2018 A lively tour of privatization's messy history, from private military contractors and British rail failures to Russia's voucher catastrophe. They trace how selling public assets creates middlemen, perverse incentives, and crony transfers. Scenes include contracted hospital cleaning, market-style school funding harms, and proposed guardrails for accountable public institutions.
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Profit ≠ Public-Service Efficiency
- Privatization promises efficiency by introducing market incentives but often conflates profit-maximization with public good.
- Shawn Villier and Aaron Wrong argue capitalist 'efficiency' prioritizes cost-cutting and profit over service quality or equity.
Privatization Adds Regulatory Overhead
- Selling essential services doesn't remove government responsibility; it often increases oversight and subsidy costs.
- Aaron Wrong explains privatization can create regulatory bloat and multiply administrative layers.
The British Rail Fragmentation Failure
- The British rail privatization split tracks (RailTrack) from train operators and fragmented the system.
- Shawn Villier and Aaron Wrong describe rising consumer costs, heavier subsidies, crashes, and eventual re-nationalization of the tracks.
