Thursday, September 13, 2007

Public Employees for Privatization

The Sacramento Bee reports the giant California Public Employees' Retirement System is planning to use some of its money to invest in infrastructure, which is, of course, privatized infrastructure.

http://www.sacbee.com/103/v-print/story/371759.html

I wish that I could savor the irony of public employees financing privatization, but I guess I should learn to expect that sort of thing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i guess i fail to see the irony. what should they be investing in: homeless shelters? a people's army?

is there something fundamentally wrong with the idea that the private sector does some things best, and the public sector does other things best, including oversight of the private sector?

is there some moral reason why people who happen to take jobs in the public sector should be above investing their retirement savings in private projects?

Michael Perelman said...

The evidence that the private sector is appropriate for infrastructure is not strong. Even Business Week had a recent cover story questioning privatization of infrastructure.

Anonymous said...

perelman

having thought it over, i think you may be right.

i did not read the Bee article with enough attention, or suspicion, to see what they are up to.

Bruce Webb said...

The last line of the Bee article makes it pretty clear they are talking municipal bonds and so not 'privatization' at all.

Little to no new infrastructure projects or major repairs would be done in house by public employees. I fail tonsee the irony here.