In today’s capitalist society, the idea of privatization is a common one. Many things have been privatized, postal service, transportation systems, roads, even the army, to name a few. The news story posted by The Detroit News “Editorial: Bobb trims the cost of DPS bus service by privatizing,” explores the privatization issues that the Detroit public school system is faced with to cut costs in their budget.
The article reports that faced with the high cost of transporting a child to school, an average of $2,133 per year, Robert Bobb, the state emergency financial manager of the Detroit public schools, came to the solution that by privatizing their bus transportation needs they would be able to save $50 million over five years, which would allow them to use the money on academics.
Milton Friedman would very much agree with Bobb’s decision of privatizing the student’s transportation. Friedman was a firm believer that if private companies can do the job, they should; he believes that a private company can do a much better job with better resources. And it should come as no surprise, looking through Friedman’s point of view, that by privatizing the transportation system for the Detroit public schools, they would operate more efficiently and save money.
However as reported on the article, the privatization of the bus system for the Detroit public schools has its down side; about 345 bus drivers and other employees will lose their jobs due to this occurrence. And while it was mentioned on the article that the employees that would be let go can go and apply for jobs with the companies that are taking over, in this economy it is safe to say that the companies will come with their own already trimmed staff, and these now unemployed workers will be left empty handed.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100225/OPINION01/2250342/1008/Editorial--Bobb-trims-the-cost-of-DPS-bus-service-by-privatizing
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3. Although I agree with Milton Friedman that government’s role in the economy should be limited, I must disagree with his idea of privatization. I believe that privatization has its disadvantages, as noted in our reading of “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein. Naomi makes mention of the New Orleans’ public school system which had been completely replaced by private charter schools after the great devastation and how some of the teachers were rehired but at a reduced salary. On the whole, privatization can prevent individuals from having economic freedom, which is part of their total freedom.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the economic sector should be more privatized companies than public companies. The only concern that I have with privatization is that it would create low income and a high unemployment rate. What I mean by that is that those private corporations would let the workers fight it out for the few jobs that are available, as we all know that most jobs today are service jobs that do not require much skill, which results that there is more supply(work force) than demand(jobs).
ReplyDeleteI would also have to say that I agree with the economic sector being more in the private hands. However, there still should be government involved to enforce the economic law in the industry. Friedman would agree that the economy should be privatized and would agree with privatization of the Detroit public school buses would be more efficient and affective. It is unfortunate that many people will loose their job when this process will go through.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Tatiane! This is definitely in accordance to what Friedman believes should happen in our economy. He would completely be in agreement with the bus company being privatized because, yes, he would say that the market needs to take care of everything that they can without any government involvement, and he would also argue that through the privatization of not only this bus company, but any other company as well, these services would be provided more efficiently that before. But I have to say that i disagree with Friedman on the privatization of all these public service companies, because, for example, this bus company once becoming private would, in my opinion, put costs to this transportation system, therefore; it would probably make it less affordable for the families of these students to pay for their children's transportation. So, I feel that to some extent privatizing should be the way, but I feel that there should be limits to what kinds of companies and services can be privatized.
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