Privatizing History in Downtown L.A.

Staff / Truthdig Feb 12, 2010 Olvera Street, the oldest part of downtown Los Angeles, is a pocket of near-authentic Mexican culture where one can buy chorizos, clothing and handicrafts. But the city's budget crisis is leading to a push to privatize the monument, giving way to an influx of Starbucks and Pollo Loco on the historical street. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Subverting Health Care Reform

Staff / Truthdig Nov 15, 2009 The fight against health care reform is being waged partly by secretive front groups such as Americans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare. While its sponsorship may be cloaked in mystery, its aims fit nicely with those of the health insurance industry. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Private Prison Swindle Bleeds Desperate Towns Dry

Staff / Truthdig Oct 13, 2009 TPMMuckraker investigates the sad story of Hardin, Mont., a town so desperate for jobs it fell for a private prison scheme that left it with a big empty jail and a load of debt. You know you're in trouble when you have to beg the state to send you sex offenders. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Ivy League Endowments Smacked Down

Staff / Truthdig Sep 12, 2009 These tough economic times have ganged up on the poor, homeowners, investors, students and immigrants. And now comes word that even Harvard and Yale, among the wealthiest schools in the world, have suffered dramatic losses in their endowments over the past year. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Privatizing Health Care in the Third World

Staff / Truthdig Jun 19, 2009 For only $5 a month, you too can undermine a developing country's health infrastructure. Since 1990, foreign funding for "development assistance" has quadrupled, offering medical resources to the poor but also luring local health care workers away from government hospitals and toward more lucrative private companies. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Jailing Kids for Cash

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Feb 18, 2009 As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Private Contractors ‘Mismanaged’ $23 Billion in Iraq

Staff / Truthdig Jun 11, 2008 A BBC investigation on U.S. war profiteering estimates that $23 billion of taxpayer funds has been "lost, stolen, or not properly accounted for in Iraq." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Defense Auditors Can’t Keep Up

Staff / Truthdig May 28, 2008 Thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the privatization of the military and the surge in defense spending since 9/11, individual Pentagon auditors now have to keep track of more than three times as much money as they did 10 years ago. Because of limited resources, the Defense Department inspector general revealed in a recent report, about half of the military's $316 billion weapons budget went under the radar last year. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Warning Fails to Prevent Electrocution of U.S. Soldiers

Staff / Truthdig May 9, 2008 More than a dozen American soldiers have died or received severe electrical shocks in Iraq, reportedly as a result of faulty electrical work often done by ill-trained Iraqis and Afghans under the supervision of Houston-based contractor KBR. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

War Inc.

Staff / Truthdig May 8, 2008 This corporate war is fictional. Any resemblance to a real privatized war, immoral or otherwise, is purely coincidental. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

¿Zapping Zapata?

Staff / Truthdig Apr 9, 2008 Mexican President Felipe Calderon released his plans Wednesday to give greater autonomy to the country's nationalized oil monopoly PEMEX, a move criticized as privatizing the industry that constitutes 40 percent of federal income. With domestic oil production falling for the past six years, Calderon has had to negotiate his pro-business politics amid steadfast public opinion against denationalization. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Decriminalization of Corporate Crime

Stanley Kutler / Truthdig Mar 29, 2008 With our economic and financial crises deepening, government insiders reportedly are debating whether we need to restore some regulation -- or not. Given the state of things, we can expect further woes and no regulation. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )