Service Companies are Riding High on the Backs of People:

Recent and past history has shown many faults with privatization of any civil services – including mail, electrical power, water, roads, etc. – yet people still believe it is the most practical means for superior services.  The notion that private companies can do better than government has been shown to be false, even if people still cling to the view.  History has shown that falsehood over and over again.

Yes, governance has considerable problems that need to be addressed and corrected. However, dependability concerns are more difficult to ensure with private companies.  Those concerns arise from oversight, regulation control limitations from the general population, as well as proprietary isolation invoked by private companies.  The general population has to rely on legislators to do what is proper for the general public and have fewer means to directly address problems with private companies.

The Texas power and water fiasco of February 2021 highlighted falsehoods of privatization superiority when a winter storm devastated the state with a few inches of snow – nearly up to 10” in a few areas – along with below-freezing temperatures.

Due to problems with Texas’s decision to use private companies, as well as reduced and lax review and regulatory oversight of such companies, millions of Texans suffered.  Further problems arose from their power grid isolation. There were a number of deaths directly attributed to problems associated with losing power and water, and thousands upon thousands of homes and businesses were severely damaged.

This all happened to a state who had many residents declaring Texas should go alone and limit their association with the federal government – even submitting a bill to fully secede from the Union (Texas Legislation Bill HB-1359, by Biederman).

Widespread power outage that lasted days with bitterly cold conditions, leading to water disruptions from bursting pipes, shined more light on the problems of privatization.  Even as Republican legislators and supporters continued touting the benefits of privatization – mainly the illusion of low costs and reliability for services – thousands upon thousands of U.S. citizens suffered.

Lack of reliability became painfully clear for most every Texan. Low cost also doesn’t exist. Higher costs were only deferred to other labels, even to people well beyond Texas.  The cost of basic repairs alone is tremendously greater than any preemptive cost would have been.  The old saying, ‘A stitch in time saves nine,’ is as true today as it was yesterday.

If governance heeded warnings of effects related to atmospheric global warming on regions like Texas, as well as direct warnings to Texas companies to upgrade and winterize both the water and power services, widespread hardships could have been prevented.

This is not a Hindsight Twenty-Twenty view.  This is about one side of the bipolar societies divide not wishing to acknowledge scholarly understanding of weather conditions or warnings given for decades because it was inconvenient to their political agenda.  The need for bringing services up to decent, respectable levels for all peoples was not profitable for private companies. Favoring privatization, specific legislators curtailed regulations that allow service companies to gain considerable profit while dodging responsibilities.  Those decisions deferred overall costs to later times – even deferring costs to other states when federal monies were required to assist people during and after extended outages that arose from shortsighted decisions. FEMA responded to assist residents when the state failed to act and Senator Ted Cruz took his family to Cancún because his daughters complained of the cold.

Overall costs of shortsighted decisions year after year before the February 2021 storm will continue to be debated, though all repair costs accrued from damaged homes and businesses must be included in the full costs of not heeding warnings.  All costs need to be considered, because the burden on the public, as well as business, goes well beyond kilowatt-hours and water supplies.

All costs of repairs must be acknowledged. This includes costs of delaying upgrades, considered too costly by private service companies at the time, as well as the shortsighted role legislators, and their role in the hardships of others.  Due to their blatant act of ignoring warnings to upgrade power and water systems, companies and all those who deferred regulations are responsible.

Many who will claim companies cannot be blamed for the weather. Weather started the outage, but wasn’t the cause of prolonged hardships that caused deaths and greater damage.  Ignoring warnings for years upon years by companies, as well as those who reduced regulations on such companies causes the problem.  For decades, increased harsh weather due to environmental climate changes has given ample time for companies and regulators to act. Texas chose not to, touting ‘low cost of private services' benefited all Texans.

Now, those who reduced regulations on power, water and other service companies are not taking responsibility for their shortsighted, selfish, greedy views; deferring cost and blaming others.  Blame had been leveled on Democrats, and that side of the bipolar society divide had not been influential in Texas politics since the Nineteen Sixties.

Responsibility of fault is squarely on service companies and legislators who directed reduction of regulations on such companies, allowing considerable profits to be gained while evading responsibility when problems occurred.

Further deferment of cost arose when the faulty private company – Brazos Electric Power Cooperative – applied for bankruptcy protections while people in Texas continued to suffer financial setbacks – people who could not recuperate losses caused by outside forces and private companies.

Unfortunately, this is far from an isolated occurrence.

Republicans and the Forty Fifth Presidential Administration appointed Louis DeJoy (CEO of High Point) as USPS Postmaster General – an appointee with no mail service experience. Once in position in June 2020, he set about trimming services under the guise of ‘creating more efficiency.’ Trucks were set on non-flexible route schedules, even when mail had to be left behind.  He also ordered the removal of sorting equipment because they were not in use year-round. Overtime was denied, and even staff hiring was reduced.

These measures, as well as others, caused considerable delays with processing mail – especially during holiday and voting season when volumes increased to ‘overwhelming’ levels.  Even when priority had been given to medication and ballots, considerable delays were experienced throughout the nation.

Blame of mail delays was given to the Covid-19 pandemic, though the effect from the pandemic was just a sign of poor executive decisions and planning – similar mismanagement seen in Texas during the February 2021 storm.

There will always be problems and it is the responsibility of agencies and governance to heed warnings and prepare for those problems – and never, ever defer responsibility to others, or find scapegoats to blame when they are the ones who must take responsibility.

Weather will always create adversities for roads, power and water; and mail has predictable cycles with volume fluctuations.  Equipment and staffers will, at times, be idle when volume and situations are low and calm.  However, those idle periods are short-lived and volumes increase for a while, or weather causes problems.  It is the responsibility of agency executives and governance to ensure services are never delayed for long – even in adverse conditions and high volumes.  This goes for postal deliveries, power, water, public transportation, etc., etc., etc., including road services.

Private road construction companies profit greatly from services stretching across the entire nation.  Roads—like power, water and mail services—have become necessities within our modern society; and the Army Corps of Engineers need to be separated from the Army and expanded into its own agency for road construction and maintenance. Decade after decade, the Corps of Engineers have proven their capabilities while private companies failed.  The Corps has been tasked in response to disasters when private companies were unable to, or unwilling to, step up to their duties due to difficulties and costs.  The Corps has consistently accomplished infrastructure construction efficiently when private companies wouldn’t even try.

Hundreds of examples of private companies failing to provide adequate services during crucial times are scattered throughout history.  The Puerto Rico hurricane disaster in September 2017 left the island devastated. Instead of sending the Corps of Engineers into handling repairs, the Forty Fifth Presidential Administration under the guidance of President Trump enacted a bidding process for private companies to handle restoration – a process that took more time while Americans on the islands suffered without power.  Eventually, a tiny company in Montana, Whitefish Energies, received a lucrative contract.

Beyond extended delays of getting power, water and other services restored on the island; such repairs failed quickly, leading to a congressional hearing that became a finger-pointing circus. More and more delays continued, causing more suffering to Americans in Puerto Rico – and yet the Corps of Engineers wasn’t sent.

Example after example of how privatization has failed is plentiful throughout history. Governance must ensure services to the population are not interrupted for long and those services must be for all peoples of the nation, no matter their affluency.  Many, many more occurrences of private companies failing the public occurred from inadequate oversight and diminished regulations under the view that ‘less government is better.’

There are solutions to be had, though difficulties in creating more balanced societies stem from attitudes arising from selfish behavior of many who tout fiscal responsibility.

Such people seem to ignore greater costs of disregarding their responsibility to all Americans.  Most everyone agrees with the notion that those with more affluency and capability must hold to greater responsibility for the well-being of all peoples within the nation.  However, many of higher affluency regard such views as an unfair burden on those having lesser means, seeing those of lesser station as lazy and incapable of higher reasoning, even believing they leech on society.

It is true that many persons leech on others, and this goes for service company executives – such as owners of companies like Whitefish Energies.

Legislators and those of higher stations are to be responsible for the hardships of others and ensure continued services and well-being of all persons within the nation, including territories.  If one views the behavior of private companies in honest evaluation, they quickly see private companies have failed time and again, and that behavior shall continue.  Such failures drove many nations into social-communist revolts – another corruptible government method that fails time and time again.

Because of habitual failures with private companies – as well as bipolar nature of society – considerable changes must be enacted.

So; how do we advance beyond these bipolar society problems?

We consider concepts beyond strict guerrilla-capitalism and social-communistic ways – ways that will continue to fail time and again, if not corrected.  Since people resist changing—believing it is everyone else who has to change—this is going to be a very difficult endeavor.  No matter the difficulties, we must all set about changing the direction of this nation. Even global populations must steer a more beneficial course for all peoples.

One of the most important changes we as people in societies can start with is not finding unworthy scapegoats and review problems for what they are.  We must also stop believing private companies will act in common decency. Private companies have always been for the profits they seek – and little more.  Even promotional involvement within communities is no more than ‘public relations stunts’ to make them seem more publicly conscious.

Governance must ensure civic services are truly for the well-being of all peoples and must be reliable for the entire population, no matter their station or affluency.

Problems of privatization are clear and civic responsibility by those in higher stations is also clear. Those in higher stations must honor science and work at understanding scholastic evidence, applying solutions before problems become overwhelming and costly.

True leadership is not general management, and the trend to bipolar division must be avoided.  Each and every legislator, and those in authority, must take responsibility and apply solutions presented by scholarly advisors.

We must become a thinking society that honors those who bring imaginative solutions for the benefit of all unique peoples.

The greater number of interlaced elements within civic agencies must function in harmonious synergy for the benefit of society – discounting pure capitalism and social-communistic views.  

To be synergetic is to view all elements of society as a means for a viable, inclusive nation; and all peoples deserve reliable civic services – civic services that are not for the profit of private companies.

This will not be easy and many will resist such changes. Even so, we all have to steer a course to such synergy.

Localized and interlaced services have greater resilience to problems, having added benefits of the ability to respond to adjacent communities and regions when services are overwhelming or falter in places – such as Texas.

Those with selfish views who feel all things should only benefit them directly are part of the problem, not the solution.

Social bullies have resisted government oversight and regulations, feeling such intrusions on private businesses is overstretching government authority. That attitude has exacerbated many disasters throughout history.

Power grids and all services should remain local and interlaced amongst neighbors with national regulatory oversight.  Pricing of services must be scaled based on affluency; with households above mean average paying befitting percentages more for such services in order for those in less affluent households to have reliable well-being of life.  Those in lower stations must honor the contribution from those in higher positions, as well as those providing protections to vulnerable persons.

Those of position must earn the respect of others by heeding scholarly warnings, as well as preparing for future disasters, because there will always be storms, epidemics, adverse weather and other disasters.

We, as a national and global population, are responsible for living in harmony with nature and other peoples, as well as being prepared for difficulties – whether a product of weather, epidemics, etc.  Those in authority and higher stations must respond rapidly when things go badly.

If we prepare for disasters, those hardships won’t be as devastating.  It is up to all of us to function together in civil harmony.

BCW-JZ

© March 2021

>> Related Articles: Bipolar Politics and Gluttonous Companies.