#1323 Power to the People: The Future of Public Ownership and Local Control
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 December 2019
⏱️ 88 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 12/7/2019
Today we take a look at the reaction to decades of the fetishization of privatization in the form of a reinvigorated movement for public ownership of institutions meant to serve the public such as utilities, banks, train systems and so on. But this isn't your grandfathers' top-down public ownership, the new movement has bottom-up, accountable, democratic control of institutions at the very core of its mission.
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SHOW NOTES
PG&E declared bankruptcy amid a number of lawsuits related to the wildfires. We speak with California Congressmember Ro Khanna, who is calling for the California state government to take over control of PG&E.
Ch. 2: When Power Goes Out, Who Is Held Accountable? - Building Local Power - Air Date 10-31-19
PG&E’s negligence and how a distributed energy system could avoid future outages and detrimental fire damage.
Ch. 3: Public Ownership 2.0 - Weekly Economics - Air Date 2-18-19
Public ownership is back on the agenda. But if privatization has failed, what kind of public ownership should replace it?
Ch. 4: From Private Profits to Public Alternatives - The Next System Podcast - Air Date 1-24-19
The conversation runs the gamut from the pitfalls of the privatization of goods and services to the social benefits of public ownership and envisioning democratic governance thereof.
Ch. 5: The Future of Banking - Ralph Nader Radio Hour - Air Date 6-29-19
Ralph welcomes Walt McRee President of Public Banking Associates, who explains how public banks should be the future of banking.
Ch. 6: Trinity Tran on Public Banking - CounterSpin - Air Date 10-11-19
Trinity Tran, co-founder and lead organizer for Public Bank LA and a founding member of the California Public Banking Alliance.
Ch. 7: Who’s Afraid of Public Ownership? - The Laura Flanders Show - Air Date 1-28-19
Laura in conversation with Thomas Hanna, research director at The Democracy Collaborative and author of “Our Common Wealth: The Return of Public Ownership in the United States”.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 8: Knowing the history of pitching men against the patriarchy - Shannon from The Bronx
Ch. 9: Society going in a good direction - Shannon from The Bronx
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 10: Final comments on building a wholistic feminism
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Take a Tiny Train - Ray Catcher
- Glass Runner - Marble Run
- One Little Triumph - Piano Mover
- The Spinnet - Castle Danger
- Algea Trio - Algea Fields
- Planting Flags - K4
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast in which we shall |
| 0:07.2 | learn about the reaction to decades of privatization of what should be public institutions. |
| 0:14.6 | In other words, a reinvigorated movement for public ownership of institutions such as |
| 0:20.2 | utilities, banks, train systems, and so on is on the march. |
| 0:25.0 | But this isn't your grandfather's top-down public ownership. |
| 0:28.9 | The new movement has bottom-up accountable democratic control of institutions at the very |
| 0:36.0 | core of its mission. |
| 0:37.2 | But before we get started, I have a few more thoughts on this because as I've been researching |
| 0:41.0 | today's episode, I've been thinking about how this issue cuts across some really interesting |
| 0:45.5 | aspects of political philosophy. |
| 0:48.3 | So I wanted to highlight that before we dive in, a quick overview on what I'm talking |
| 0:53.1 | out from both sides. |
| 0:54.9 | From the conservative side, one of the tent poles of conservatism is the demand for local |
| 1:00.8 | control. |
| 1:01.8 | They have that instant to like get out of my face, don't tell me what to do. |
| 1:06.3 | They don't want to have someone from far away who doesn't understand their needs, setting |
| 1:11.9 | rules that they have to follow. |
| 1:14.5 | Whereas this isn't a major belief for progressives because I mean, frankly, we've seen what can |
| 1:20.8 | happen when some people are left entirely to their own devices. |
| 1:24.9 | You know, think the civil rights era and then previously in Jim Crow and all that, human |
| 1:29.8 | rights atrocities can break out if oppressors are left to their own devices and they're |
| 1:35.5 | in control at the local level and there's no recourse beyond that. |
... |
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