Monday, December 11, 2006

Outsourcer-in-Chief

"According to U.S. News & World Report, President Bush has told aides that he won’t respond in detail to the Iraq Study Group’s report because he doesn’t want to 'outsource' the role of commander in chief. That’s pretty ironic. You see, outsourcing of the government’s responsibilities — not to panels of supposed wise men, but to private companies with the right connections — has been one of the hallmarks of his administration. And privatization through outsourcing is one reason the administration has failed on so many fronts."
Paul Krugman

"In July 2004, Government Executive magazine published an article titled 'Outsourcing Iraq,' documenting how the U.S. occupation authorities had transferred responsibility for reconstruction to private contractors, with hardly any oversight. “The only plan,” it said, 'appears to have been to let the private sector manage nation-building, mostly on their own.' We all know how that turned out."
Paul Krugman

These quotes were taken from today's NYTimes Op-ed piece by Paul Krugman (http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp).

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