It is not news that the NSA is collecting terabytes of data on everyone in the world; I have been writing about it for almost a decade. I keep thinking about the utility bills taxpayers are paying to keep cool, giant banks of servers where the mines of data are stored. I even mentioned it to Rep. Jared Huffman a couple of weeks ago at at Town Hall at the Ukiah Senior Center, and he stared into space like it wasn't anything he wanted to talk about. But that was before Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA. Snowden said something that made me think.
He said he had a job as a national security private contractor that gave him a "large paycheck." And I began to think about the thousands of young security analysts collecting large paychecks, as well as profits for the corporation they contract with, and the overblown compensation of the CEO's, all on the taxpayer's dime.
We are told that private is always more efficient than public servants. I disagree. I would say that the main difference in public and private is the overblown compensation charged by the private vs. the union workers of the public. It is not a case of efficiency, except how efficiently the kleptocrats are bankrupting the US Treasury and increasing our national debt while we keep the wool over our eyes slowly boiling like frogs.
I wonder if the same principal applies to Bank of America, which privately contracts with Mendocino County to manage our money for us? Using the policy of Fractional Reserve Banking, BOA loans out multiples of their underlying reserves causing the money supply to magically grow for further investments. BOA makes lots of money by holding our money for us. If we had a Public Bank of Mendocino County, our own bank could do the same thing with fractional reserves and the revenues would go to enrich the County General Fund. It is time to keep the County's money in a public bank and let the People's money work for the People.
He said he had a job as a national security private contractor that gave him a "large paycheck." And I began to think about the thousands of young security analysts collecting large paychecks, as well as profits for the corporation they contract with, and the overblown compensation of the CEO's, all on the taxpayer's dime.
We are told that private is always more efficient than public servants. I disagree. I would say that the main difference in public and private is the overblown compensation charged by the private vs. the union workers of the public. It is not a case of efficiency, except how efficiently the kleptocrats are bankrupting the US Treasury and increasing our national debt while we keep the wool over our eyes slowly boiling like frogs.
I wonder if the same principal applies to Bank of America, which privately contracts with Mendocino County to manage our money for us? Using the policy of Fractional Reserve Banking, BOA loans out multiples of their underlying reserves causing the money supply to magically grow for further investments. BOA makes lots of money by holding our money for us. If we had a Public Bank of Mendocino County, our own bank could do the same thing with fractional reserves and the revenues would go to enrich the County General Fund. It is time to keep the County's money in a public bank and let the People's money work for the People.
