DOUG HENWOOD POSTED:
There is no end to the idiocy. This, from Tim Pawlenty (via Mike Allen):
"I know government can cut spending, because I did it in Minnesota. I cut state spending in real terms for the first time in our state's history. ... We can start by applying what I call 'The Google Test.' If you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn't need to be doing it. The post office, the government printing office, Amtrak, Fannie and Freddie, were all built for a time in our country when the private sector did not adequately provide those products. That's no longer the case."
JOHN GULICK SAYS:
I don't have the time/energy/wherewithal to track the US political scene with the due attention it deserves, but this appears to be an emerging meme ('scuse the expression) on the right and center-right neo-liberal austerity tip. (Look for Obama-Ghoulsbee-DLC types to spin the agenda along "Google-ization with a human face" lines.) BloomBizweek just ran a story on privatizing the USPS in a Pawlentyite mold. The sectarian mail carriers' union lovely reply was, "but we furnish an important service, delivering junk mail at subsidized rates. And hey, we could/should be equipped with bioterrorism detection gear, as front-line warriors in the GWOT." Talk about hangman's choices. What a delectable country.