"Across the country, for-profit companies are engaged in a hostile takeover of our schools, roads, prisons, drinking water, and even local government itself," said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the CMD, adding that the "project will give taxpayers the tools they need to identify these privatizers and profiteers, their eye-popping salaries, and the raw deals contained in their contracts that puts taxpayers on the hook, and it will tell taxpayers how they can take back control of public assets and public services."
Some of these privatizers, as highlighted recently by CMD, include for-profit prison corporations who enter into contracts with state governments that ensure profits through mandated "lock-up quotas." If a state enters into one of these contracts and fails to incarcerate the number of prisoners required by the quota, the private prison company can seek financial retribution from that state. This forced compensation falls on the taxpayers.
Such private prison companies, including Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group, will be highlighted in CMD's new site tool with other corporations from around the world that seek to privatize U.S. public services.
The site's first corporate profile is that ofSodexo, a French multinational that supplies food to school kids, soldiers, universities, public hospitals, and other governmental entities. According to CMD, Sodexo "has a lengthy record of paying workers poverty wages, overcharging clients, opposing unions, and violating food and safety standards."
Accompanying CMD's new resource is this video created by cartoonist Mark Fiore, which offers a colorful explanation of the privatization deals being made across the country:
Outsourcing America ExposedThis video exposes the privatizers and profiteers selling out our democracy. https://www.outsourcingamericaexposed.org/
