I think that the problem is that Bush &c. have gotten it into their heads that Privatization Without Regulation is, by definition, good, despite all evidence to the contrary (and you'd think that Californians, having lived through the lunacy that was our energy deregulation process, would know better, too). If SS is privatized, then one can only wonder which of Bush's cronies will benefit; it certainly won't be American people.
My father-in-law works for PeopleSoft -- or he did, until PeopleSoft was bought by Oracle. Now he works for Oracle. When Oracle first began their hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft, it was because they were afraid they'd lose a segment of the CRM market of the software industry (never mind that Oracle had no decent CRM products to speak of; this was all about Ellison's ego). PeopleSoft made noises about refusing the buyout, until Oracle finally made them an offer that they liked. Then Oracle bought PeopleSoft. Thousands of people lost their jobs, and thousands of PeopleSoft customers were left in the cold; many former PS customers are switching over to Microsoft, because they know that Oracle has no interest in supporting PeopleSoft technology.
Unfortunately, Oracle and PeopleSoft do not care about their employees, nor about their customers. What they care about is maximizing income for their shareholders. The customers and employees can just deal.
And this is what scares me about Bush's talk of the "ownership society" and the whole notion of privatizing everything they can think of. The government is run by crooks and liars and thieves and old white men withot honor or integrity, but at least it's held somewhat accountable, unlike the crooks and thieves who are in charge of the private sector.
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Date: 3 Feb 2005 05:20 pm (UTC)My father-in-law works for PeopleSoft -- or he did, until PeopleSoft was bought by Oracle. Now he works for Oracle. When Oracle first began their hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft, it was because they were afraid they'd lose a segment of the CRM market of the software industry (never mind that Oracle had no decent CRM products to speak of; this was all about Ellison's ego). PeopleSoft made noises about refusing the buyout, until Oracle finally made them an offer that they liked. Then Oracle bought PeopleSoft. Thousands of people lost their jobs, and thousands of PeopleSoft customers were left in the cold; many former PS customers are switching over to Microsoft, because they know that Oracle has no interest in supporting PeopleSoft technology.
Unfortunately, Oracle and PeopleSoft do not care about their employees, nor about their customers. What they care about is maximizing income for their shareholders. The customers and employees can just deal.
And this is what scares me about Bush's talk of the "ownership society" and the whole notion of privatizing everything they can think of. The government is run by crooks and liars and thieves and old white men withot honor or integrity, but at least it's held somewhat accountable, unlike the crooks and thieves who are in charge of the private sector.