Why Privitization Can be a Bad Idea

We hear a lot of conservatives saying "privatize" it, which I agree with on one level. But you have to be very careful, because if you tie the money machine of government to a corporation with the police power of the state, you'll get some mighty big corruption. That's what some Pennsylvania teens found out the hard way:



From Ed Brayton at Free Thought Blog:

In a case I’ve mentioned before, two judges from Pennsylvania have pleaded guilty to receiving kickbacks from a private prison company in exchange for sentencing kids to juvenile facilities owned by the company.

Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, plead guilty in open court that they sentenced children to juvenile detention because they were paid off to do it by the PA Childcare and a sister company, Western PA Childcare corporation that ran the private facilities.

Of course, a government operating with sound money doesn't willy nilly get to spread it around, causing a more keener eye to be cast on expenditures. But when a government has money like confetti flying around, who'd notice a few missing kids in exchange for some FRNS?