Episode 236: Manufactured Austerity and the Media Assisted "Public-Private Partnership" Rip-Off
“Public, Private Partnership Policies Are Happy Medium,” insisted the Associated Press in 1954. “Public-private partnerships the new blood for cities,” boomed the Washington Post in 1979. “Struggling Local Governments May Get Help From the Private Sector,” announced the New York Times in 2021.
For the last few decades, we’ve heard about the wonders of the so-called “public-private partnership.” It’s a win-win deal, we’re told, in which local governments, typically suffering economic distress, strike agreements with private investors to improve or construct roads, bridges, schools, water systems, or other vital forms of infrastructure. The city receives a payment up front, sparing the public the expense, and the investor, seeking a handsome return, injects new life into the project with increased efficiencies and business savvy.
But, roughly 60 years on from this trend taking off we now know there’s more to this simple story. After all, how can the purpose of a government, which is supposed to be maintaining infrastructure, institutions, and services for everyone, be compatible with the purpose of a corporation or private investor, which is to generate endless profit? What, exactly, is in it for the private sector, and what price do governments and the public pay? And why are these so-called “public private partnerships” always the privatization of public goods and never the public taking greater control of private companies?
On today’s show, we’ll examine the propaganda term “public-private partnership,” discuss how it works to rebrand privatization efforts as something collaborative and mutually beneficial, and break down how these P3s as they’re called both exploits and creates the economic crises it alleges to alleviate, while privatizing profit and socializing risk and funding burdens.
Our guest is In the Public Interest's Donald Cohen.
*
Guest
Donald Cohen is founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, a national research and policy center that studies public goods and services. His writing and analysis have appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, The New Republic and elsewhere. He is also the author—along with Allen Mikaelian—of the book, The Privatization of Everything: How The Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back (New Press, 2021).
**
Show Notes
How Privatization Robs Us of Our Most Precious Assets
Donald Cohen and Nathan J. Robinson | August 18, 2023 | Current Affairs
Public Sector Strikes Are About Aligning Our Society With Its Stated Values
Donald Cohen and Jeff Hagan | June 25, 2023 | Jacobin
Asset sale could yield $1 billion gain for Chicago Skyway investors
David Roeder and Fran Spielman | June 8, 2022 | Chicago Sun-Times
Mark Levinson | April 8, 2022 | The American Prospect
How Privatization Fuels Catastrophic Climate Change
Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian | February 16, 2022 | In These Times
Keep Infrastructure in the Public’s Hands
Donald Cohen | November 23, 2021 | The Progressive
Why the Hell Would You Want to Privatize Libraries?
Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian | November 22, 2021 | LitHub
Guess who slipped a pro-corporate America provision in the bipartisan infrastructure bill
Jeremy Mohler | October 14, 2021 | In The Public Interest
Chicago parking meter investors rake in $13M in profit despite pandemic
Fran Spielman | June 7, 2021 | Chicago Sun-Times
It’s Time for States to Invest in Infrastructure
Elizabeth McNichol | March 19, 2019 | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Myth of the Fiscal Conservative
Amir Fleischmann | March 5, 2017 | Jacobin
A Guide to Understanding and Evaluation Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships
January 2017 | In The Public Interest
Contract for Disaster: How Privatization Is Killing the Public Sector
s.e. smith | September 28, 2016 | In These Times
Why Public-Private Partnerships don’t work
Rosa Pavanelli | February 13, 2014 | Public Services International
Chicago leases parking meters for $1.16 billion
Andrew Stern | December 2, 2008 | Reuters
***
Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here. You can also find transcripts of past episodes, live shows, Beg-a-Thons, Interviews and News Briefs here.
****
Citations Merch
Summer's coming and there's no better time to load up on some new gear. And you're in luck: the Citations Needed merch store is open! Wear, carry, sip, and —most importantly, share — your support for the show by picking up a t-shirt, tank top, hoodie, tote bag, water bottle or mug for yourself and your favorite Citations fan.
*****
Credits
Senior Producer: Florence Barrau-Adams
Producer: Julianne Tveten
Production Assistant: Trendel Lightburn
Newsletter: Marco Cartolano
Music: Grandaddy
******