Right, Left, Center - Private Prisons and Internment Camps

This weeks topic is inspired by the Detention or Internment Camps.
Comprehensive Health Services, owned by Caliburn International operates Immigrant camps charging the US Taxpayer $750 per day per person. John Kelly (former Trump WH) is on the board of Directors and has been seen onsite.
Heres another article

Right

The Right wing believes that as much as possible should be privatized, including prisons. The idea is that its better to have private companies do things than the government.Some say this is because smaller government is good and others that private companies are more efficient and have less bureaucracy.

Left

The Left believe that private companies have no morals and are vulnerable to corruption when there is no watchdog or competition.

Center

As usual the best option as regards privatization vs. government run organizations is somewhere in the middle. Were paying over $700 a day for each person detained with these internment camps. Other private prisons are more efficient but taxpayers pay more for private prisons than government controlled ones. Also private prisons have contracts that say they get paid even if empty, so there is incentive to lock more people up. At of course more cost to the taxpayer.

The reason private prisons dont work is no competition to lower prices once they are built and no customer incentive for quality. I mean its not like prisoners can shop around for the best prison!

So why do we have them?  Corruption, pure and simple. Companies know they can make a lot of money so spend a small cut on bribing politicians to get the contracts.

Some things are better in private hands but some aren't.

Right Wing Challenge!

So if you read this blog you know I am a humanitarian and thus Left Wing in my politics.
But one of the biggest personal goals is to get money out of politics. Efforts to do this seem to mainly be from the Left, with Take Back Our Republic the only group I know of on the Right.
On the Left we have Wolf Pac, Brand New Congress, and Justice Democrats.

Why so little effort from the Right?  If its really a populism movement and not just corporate manipulation of some of our population how come there is so little effort to get money out of politics?

If you really believe in privatization because you think its good for America how come people have to pay politicians to do it? If Americans really believe deregulation why do corporations have to buy Congress? If you prefer private insurance and those who are in between jobs, laid off, work for small business, or simply cant afford it why is so much of the money coming from insurance companies?
Shouldn't the individual voter and American citizen be able to matter and influence their politician if the numbers are really on their side?

So my challenge to the Right Wing is start an organization like Brand New Congress or Justice Democrats and help Take Back Our Republic.
If your goal is to get rid of elitist control of our government put thepower back into the hands of the individual American!

An Open Letter to President Trump

Dear Mr. President,

It is no secret that I am not a fan, however if the president suffers in office America suffers.  In the spirit of helping America above all else I want to offer you my opinions and advice.

Do not get Impeached

It is the belief of many Americans you are violating the law and your oath of office, using the presidency to line your pockets, and colluded with foreign governments. Some want you impeached right now, others are holding off hoping you will abide by your campaign promises.

Your greatest risk is that you have not expanded your approval beyond your base, and the rest of those who voted for you voted you in as an anti-establishment or outsider president because they believed you would really drain the swamp.

Your personal attacks and efforts have alienated almost every Democrat and some Republicans in Congress and this is where your greatest danger lies.  

• Republicans will have Vice President Mike Pence to take over if you are impeached. He is conservative and more of a party man so they will like him more than you.
• The Optics of impeaching your own parties President look bad so republicans will want to hold off as long as they can.  However as soon as a majority of the party feel that legislative losses and backlash against your actions risks them losing seats they will turn on you like jackals.
• Low popularity makes you vulnerable and also harder for you to accomplish the things you want. To protect yourself you need to raise your popularity above 50%, if you can get and maintain that rating they will be afraid and probably unable to impeach you.
• Work with the Democrats,  Senators Sanders and Warren are the most popular figures in politics t this time. You and your base will not agree with everything they stand for, however a lot of your campaign promises line up with their goals.  If you can work with them you will gain bi-partisan support for your legislative agenda and dramatically increase your popularity.

Fulfill Your Campaign Promises

• The Border Wall:A real physical wall will cost billions of dollars that America cannot afford. Fiscal Conservatives will fight you because of that. Progressives and Liberals will fight you because they feel it is racist and Un-American. Social Conservatives will be the only group supporting it and some of them are also Fiscal Conservatives so that base will be diluted. Once you start taking peoples land away through Imminent Domain to build that wall you will lose even more support.  My recommendation? Do not build a wall.  Build watch towers like the forestry department uses or even lighthouse like buildings in more urban or high profile areas. this will cost far less and do a better job of increasing border security than a physical wall. It will allow you to hire more ICE agents (job growth) and can avoid the problem of taking way people land or sections where a  wall is especially expensive because of the terrain.
• Imagine the image of a beautiful watch tower that uses surveillance drones to guard a large area. It will even please defense contractors.
• Tax Reform:  OK We understand you want to pay less taxes.  However lowering your taxes by increasing the National debt will cripple you politically. remember you want to avoid impeachment and Mike Pence will not pull a Gerald Ford and pardon you. Be more subtle about lining your pockets.
• Health Care: This is your biggest make or break issue.  However as you are finding out it is a very tough one. You promised to cover everyone and fro far less than they are paying now.  If you could deliver on that promise almost everything else would be forgiven and your popularity would soar! However no insurance based system will do that.  Cut out the middleman and work with Senator Sanders on Medicare for all. If it is budget neutral or even better budget positive you will win over many conservatives and anyone who votes for it will be reelected and those who vote against it will not.
• Great Jobs! The problem with manufacturing and mining jobs is that automation is a bigger threat than foreign labor. We need to invest in industries that will grow over time and give the middle class more spending money so they can buy more products.  That raises the GDP which makes your millionaire and billionaire buddies wealthier as well.  Think about it if more Americans can invest in stock your hedge fund managers will make more money, people buying homes or condos helps those in real estate, restaurants benefit with more people going out, etc.
• Raise the Minimum Wage: You may not like the idea but think about it and talk with knowledgeable people who run states where it happened. If you do this it will make you extremely popular, especially if you do it at least a year before an election so people have time to feel the effects. Increased wages means more tax money so it lowers the National Debt. They also increase spending far more than tax cuts so will make your numbers look great.
• Infrastructure Spending: Avoid short term jobs that raise the National Debt.  If they create permanent jobs and build on new technology to make America the leaders in an industry that is far better for all of us.
• Environmental Issues: Remember global warming raising sea levels directly puts many of your valuable properties at risk. America already spent most of the money to get ahead of the Paris accords, bailing out just lets other companies off the hook and lets them take a leadership role. The Solutions Project is one option that could be used to increase job growth, promote American leadership in energy growth and increase national security and energy independence.  Remember even as America needs to spend less on energy and buys less coal, gas or oil we can still sell it to the rest of the world. Failing to invest in these companies will mean we are eventually buying this technology from other countries instead of us selling to them.

Talking Points: Free Market Policies

Republicans tend to support a so called Free Market and Democrats tend to over regulate. The free market idea is laudable but only works if there is a real choice and no penalty or stick for not using the service. However, left to free reign companies will often do whatever they can to improve their bottom line and often are more concerned with the short term than the long term. Publicly traded companies tend to have a shorter attention span than private companies who are not beholden to stock holders. Regulation is important to curb abuses where that bottom line benefits at the expense of non customers.  Customers if there is a choice can vote with their dollar.  However in cases of pollution, employee abuse, public safety or where the government is the customer regulation is important.