This reminds me of the controversy over red light cameras in the mid 2010s.
There, Lockheed Martin contracted to install and manage red light cameras and associated fines for a number of cities. They’d install the cameras for free and share the revenue with the cities.
A real win-win scenario for all - except the people who were ticketed. The system was plagued with contractors grossly over ticketing consumers since more tickets meant more revenue for all - which corrupts the whole system.
The government made the deal here. It’s not privatizations fault for making the offer, the deal shouldn’t have been accepted by corrupt politicians using the people’s tax dollars.
Politicians make really bad deals for their government because they typically stand to financially benefit for it. Whether that means getting campaign funding, side favors, etc.
“It’s not the fault of those who make the bribe” is a bad take
That's the definition of privatization, which they called insidious. I would say that comments on the internet attempting to redefine basic truths are also insidious.
Lockheed Martin may not be a foreign government but it’s surely responsible for more death, destruction, and human suffering than nearly every foreign government today right?
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u/AppropriateScience71 16d ago
This reminds me of the controversy over red light cameras in the mid 2010s.
There, Lockheed Martin contracted to install and manage red light cameras and associated fines for a number of cities. They’d install the cameras for free and share the revenue with the cities.
A real win-win scenario for all - except the people who were ticketed. The system was plagued with contractors grossly over ticketing consumers since more tickets meant more revenue for all - which corrupts the whole system.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/15/stateline-red-light-cameras/2986577/
At least Lockheed Martin isn’t a foreign government, but the same win-win for everyone but the victims feels quite similar.
And likely unethical as it could readily lead to monitoring meters and aggressively (or automatically) ticketing as soon as meters expire.