[LINK] selling the furniture-- in Detroit

[Frank O'Connor]

Yeah,

I thought they'd hit the limit when they privatised the old Tullamarine Freeway near my place in Moonee Ponds, and turned Mt Alexander Road into traffic Hell as a result ...

But now we're also looking at MediBank, probably a hell of a lot more euphemistically named Private-Public Partnerships on the roads, privatising some of the beachfronts (leading to a general privatisation of 12,000 kilometres of beach?), selling off of State Land and National Parks, establishing polluting ports and coal outlets in sensitive areas like the Great Barrier Reef, either privatising or restricting the activities of the ABC, and a host of other 'commercial-in-confidence' transactions that we don't need to know about. 

"Nothing to see here, folks. Move Along. Move Along."

Just my 2 cents worth ...
---
On 27 Dec 2013, at 1:25 pm, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at janwhitaker.com> wrote:

> Ever wonder what happens when a city declares bankruptcy? Check this out.
> http://www.theage.com.au/world/debt-threat-to-detroits-art-collection-forces-city-to-get-creative-20131227-hv6yf.html
> 
> Here, we have successive conservative (sic) governments selling off 
> public assets to balance the books. Kennett did it. Howard did it. 
> Various other states have done it in the form of their utility 
> companies. Abbott is about to do it with Medibank Private.
> 
> Note the line in the article: it's no solution. It just delays the inevitable.
> 
> This ties in with Frank's missive about the down side of current 
> society. The return on the early infrastructure investments are no 
> longer coming in. The capital was sold out.
> 
> Not sure where this is heading, but it ain't going to be pretty. Just 
> ask the people living in Detroit (or maybe Geelong.....).
> 
> Jan
> 
> 
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> 
> Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how 
> do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
> ~Margaret Atwood, writer
> 
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