The privatization of everything : how the plunder of public goods transformed America and how we can fight back / Donald Cohen, Allen Mikaelian.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : The New Press, 2021Copyright date: ©2021Description: vi, 349 pages : illustration ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781620976531
- 1620976536
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 338.973 C678 | Available | 33111010783369 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
The book the American Prospect calls "an essential resource for future reformers on how not to govern," by America's leading defender of the public interest and a bestselling historian
"An essential read for those who want to fight the assault on public goods and the commons." --Naomi Klein
A sweeping exposé of the ways in which private interests strip public goods of their power and diminish democracy, The Privatization of Everything has elicited a wide spectrum of praise: Kirkus Reviews hailed it as "a strong, economics-based argument for restoring the boundaries between public goods and private gains," Literary Hub featured the book on a Best Nonfiction list, calling it "a far-reaching, comprehensible, and necessary book," and Publishers Weekly dubbed it a "persuasive takedown of the idea that the private sector knows best."
From Diane Ravitch ("an important new book about the dangers of privatization") to Heather McGhee ("a well-researched call to action"), the rave reviews mirror the expansive nature of the book itself, covering the impact of privatization on every aspect of our lives, from water and trash collection to the justice system and the military. Cohen and Mikaelian also demonstrate how citizens can--and are--wresting back what is ours: A Montana city took back its water infrastructure after finding that they could do it better and cheaper. Colorado towns fought back well-funded campaigns to preserve telecom monopolies and hamstring public broadband. A motivated lawyer fought all the way to the Supreme Court after the state of Georgia erected privatized paywalls around its legal code.
"Enlightening and sobering" (Rosanne Cash), The Privatization of Everything connects the dots across a wide range of issues and offers what Cash calls "a progressive voice with a firm eye on justice [that] can carefully parse out complex issues for those of us who take pride in citizenship."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
"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.
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 Security 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 pirates of the patent system -- Part IX. Becoming pro-public.
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