Lawmakers have not shown an appetite for reducing postal services, let alone privatizing the agency, intervening on a bipartisan basis in recent efforts by the agency to reduce the number of post offices, cut the number of delivery days and consolidate processing plants. The opposition to the proposal was broad and swift.
But the role of private companies on public lands has come under increased scrutiny after a panel appointed by the Trump administration recommended last month privatizing national park campgrounds and opening them to WiFi, food trucks and Amazon deliveries. Critics note that many of the panelists tapped by the White House were leaders of concession companies.
privatizing
The need to pay for the pensions of people who are already retired or near retirement age poses a challenge to all plans for privatizing Social Security. Money must be found for existing pension liabilities at the same time workers will be asked to contribute to a new type of private pension account. Because active workers will be required to finance pensions for retired workers and old workers nearing retirement, they may resent the obligation to pay for their own retirement pensions through contributions to new private accounts.
Advocates of privatization see a number of advantages in increasing the size of the private system and shrinking the size of the public one. For some proponents of privatization, ideological concerns are paramount. They are fundamentally opposed to public provision of retirement benefits. More common are people who see important economic advantages in privatizing Social Security. They believe workers will receive larger pensions and the economy will grow faster under a private rather than a public retirement system. Finally, some advocates of privatization believe the United States is more likely to take needed steps to prepare for a rising aged population if the retirement system is reformed to include a bigger private role.
Conceptually, eco-certifications are neither privatizing the resources (e.g. the fish) nor the appropriation right, but the governance of fisheries itself, or at least certain influential aspects (Foley and McCay 2014). This might be either motivated by a failure of the state or group of states to govern the resource in a sustainable way (e.g. the NGO motivation) or by the desire to earn an extra premium in a competitive market (e.g. the private sector motivation). Eco-labels have created a new consumer market for sustainable seafood as well as standards for how to define and evaluate the sustainability of fisheries. The ability to gain certification and to sell certified products is typically managed by a private organization.
In light of public sector reforms in Canada and elsewhere, this paper focuses on the shift of emphasis from social to private responsibilities and raises new questions about the forces of private enterprise and market-based partnerships. Under neoliberal governmental agendas, privatizing responsibility links to three main developments: the reconsideration of the relations of public and private; the mobilization of responsible citizenship; and the formation of a cultural mentality of rule that works alongside these developments. The research for this article is based on extensive analysis of policy documents and public sector reform initiatives, as well as interviews with Canadian federal public service employees.
Croft: Let's start breaking it down then. What do you see as the main pros and cons of privatizing Postal Service in the U.S.? And let's start with the pros, the advantages that we would be most likely to see from it.
Thank you for sharing this information on the benefits of privatizing water. I never knew that certain cities were privatizing their water supplies. There are also potable water services that deliver water to certain places that request this. This can either be for swimming pools, permit potable water, or even emergency water supplies. Thank you again for sharing this article, it has been very informative.
Instead of privatizing water systems, municipalities can partner together through public-public partnerships. Public partners are more responsive, reliable and cost-effective than private water companies. Intermunicipal cooperation, interlocal agreements and bulk purchasing consortiums can improve public services and reduce costs. And it will do so while allowing communities to retain local control. Read our report: Public-Public Partnerships: An Alternative Model to Leverage the Capacity of Municipal Water Utilities.
Since privatizing its domestic on-base hotels, referred to as lodging, the Army has made a variety of improvements, including the replacement of lodging facilities with newly constructed hotels (see fig.). However, improvements have taken longer than initially anticipated, development plans have changed, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has not included key information about these delays and changes in reports to Congress. If OSD were to provide this additional information, Congress would be better able to determine whether the Privatized Army Lodging (PAL) program has achieved its intended objectives or fully consider whether the other military services should privatize their respective lodging programs.
The Senate Armed Services Committee report accompanying a bill for the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act included a provision for GAO to review improvements made to Army lodging, among other things. This report examines the extent to which (1) the Army has improved its lodging facilities since privatizing; (2) OSD reported complete information about the Army's development plans to Congress; (3) the Army has reliably determined any cost savings or cost avoidance as a result of its privatized lodging program; and (4) there are limitations in OSD's oversight of the military services' lodging programs. GAO reviewed policies and guidance; analyzed lodging program data for fiscal years 2017 through 2019 (the 3 most recent years of complete and available information); and interviewed DOD officials. 2ff7e9595c
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