That Dirty Word: Privatize

During the campaign season we heard the left bashing so called radical right wing candidates who dare to use that dirty word – privatize. Republican GOP Senate hopeful in Nevada, Sharon Angle, for instance, has taken the brunt of progressive attacks since she once claimed to be a proponent for privatizing Social Security. But what the Democrats fail to point out is that Social Security is already bankrupt and by 2016 it will be paying out more money than it receives. With millions of baby boomers retiring over the next 17 years and life expectancies going up, Social Security has an unfunded liability approaching tens of trillion of dollars. And what’s worse, Social Security is poorly managed using a Ponzi scheme approach. This means retiree’s Social Security is being paid for by the current working class since the funds they contributed to Social Security was used to pay for the previous retiree generation. This is a disaster waiting to happen. If this is not bad enough, Medicare has the same problems and issues as Social Security: It is poorly managed and it has trillions in unfunded liabilities and it is therefore, an unsustainable program unless something, in the words of liberals, radical is done.

Privatize should not be a dirty word that scares the electorate. In fact, it could be the answer to all our local, state, and federal debt woes. While the United States is expanding entitlement programs with the passing of ObamaCare, other countries are going in the opposite direction to tackle their massive debt problems. In the wake of the Greece economic collapse, Western European countries are reducing entitlement benefits and Great Britain is looking to decentralize their healthcare system. On the state level, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, is tackling their state’s massive budget shortfall by privatizing many failing government entities including toll roads, parks, libraries, and museums. Lawmakers at all levels can learn from New Jersey and Chris Christy that we need leaders that have the fortitude to make tough decisions to solve our devolving budget crisis around the country.

In order to solve the growing budget crisis at all levels of our government in the United States, they must privatize any failing entities and programs, or dismantle them. First, government retirement plans need to be privatized and changed from a “benefit” program to a “contribution” program similar to the 401K ones used by corporations. This will eliminate unfunded liabilities that the taxpayer must fund. This includes having the federal government seriously considering privatizing both Social Security and Medicare in a similar fashion. And why stop there, Medicaid, food stamps, and other entitlement programs can also be privatized, which will improve government efficiency by cutting waste, bureaucracy, and unfunded liabilities. Secondly, the federal government can follow Chris Christie’s lead and privatize NASA, national parks, toll roads, the Post Office, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Amtrak, General Motors, Chrysler, and any other entity that is losing money.

Maybe the act of privatizing government programs and entities is a radical move, but our local, state, and federal governments are broken and they need to be fixed. Hence, radical changes need to be implemented. It is as simple as that. Maybe Republicans can try using another word instead of privatize – maybe decentralize sounds less harmful or radical.