The army is outsourcing troop support functions. There are more private contractors in Afghanistan than there are US troops. All that used to be done by our soldiers.
I'm still not getting my point across. I'll try one more time.
First let me assure you that I understand outsourcing. I'm a retired fed, after all. Early in my career computer types were all government employees. Now virtually all are contract workers. Those government employees who have a computer background manage contracts. They don't do the work.
I am not disagreeing with you about the increase in outsourcing. Yes, more and more is being outsourced. That trend began when Congress started squeezing the numbers of full time equivalent employees authorized so agencies were restricted from hiring enough employees to get the job done and because it's often cheaper and more flexible for contract workers to do the work because they are easier to hire and fire and don't get any deferred compensation as do government employees.
My point is that it doesn't matter from the perspective of "we don't privatize things in America these days, we're all collectivists now" whether the workers on the ground are government employees or contract workers. Government contract workers are still working on functions considered to be government functions. If a contract janitor cleans the bathrooms at the Pentagon, he's paid out of the defense budget and defense is a government function. Same when contract soldiers are used. What matters re the issue on the table is whether defense remains a government function or is turned over to the private ownership and control, that is "privatized."
Currently, road building is considered to be a government function yet the government doesn't use government employees to build the roads. Other than for a bit during the Depression, since roads came to be thought of as a government function, contractors have been used for the actual building. The contractors are paid out of government funds, the government makes the executive decisions, and the function remains a government function even though the work has been outsourced. Roads are currently part of the government paradigm.
Recently, though, a few private roads have been planned and are being built. In those cases, entrepreneurs raise the money and build the roads. They own the roads that they build and earn money off of charging for usage of them. That's a private enterprise paradigm. It's like going into the housing business and building and renting apartments.
To the extent that road building is being turned over to the private sector from an ownership and control perspective, then, yes, you can say that privatization is happening.
Mostly, though, things have been going in the other direction. Bear in mind that at one time roads were private. That function was usurped by the government a long time ago. Retirement and health care funding are functions sucked up by the government for certain cohorts. Retirement and health care used to be private. Welfare programs used to be private--run by churches, philanthropists, and individual citizens. Health care reformers now want to nationalize the health insurance industry. During the recent crisis there was talk about nationalizing banks and automobile manufacturing. That didn't happen but it was considered.
So, at issue is whether what is considered to be a government function vs a private function is growing or waning, not who is the employer of record of the guy doing the grunt work. Government functions are controlled by Congress and Executive Branch employees. They may outsource the work but they make the policies and the programs are run on the public dime. On the other hand, businesses and other entities in the private sector raise their own money, make their own decisions, and control their own workforce. They may be regulated by government in the public interest but they are not government. Most private activities have some element of government involvement. Some private activities are something of a mixed bag. But the concept of government vs private function remains. They are two different paradigms.
Although there are a few streams in the other direction, overall government has been growing as a percent of the economy and as a percent of total functionality. |
