The Privatization of Everything : How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back / Donald Cohen, Allen Mikaelian

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Understanding privatization. Public goods for the common good -- The roots and reasons of privatization: A very brief history -- Part II. Public goods for life: The dangers of privatizing public health, water, and food safety. Privatizing public health makes us sick: An epidemic of market failures -- "They just have to pay": Privatizing the public's water supply -- The stuff of life: Reclaiming public water -- Part III. The public gets us there: Transportation, communication, and economies that work for all. Economic destiny and the pitfalls of the public-private partnership -- Toll roads at America's crossroads -- Who owns the journey? Recentering the public -- Part IV. Privatization's slow coup: The undermining of democracy and justice. When the contract is king: How privatization trumps democracy -- Democracy in darkness: Privatization's shadow over transparency -- Skin in the game: Environmental and planning policy in privatization's grip -- Freedom has a price: Privatization's assault on the justice system -- Part V. Every last dime: Shredding the social safety net, generating inequality. Teaching them a lesson: Privatization versus the poor -- Privatized Medicaid and the business of denying care -- What's in it for Wall Street: Public assistance in the hands of big finance -- Privatizing pays us less -- Part VI. Things in common: Privatization and the erosion of community. Public places: Parks, presidents, and privatization -- School choice and resegregation -- Public libraries and apple pie -- Communities take care: How Social Security defines us -- Part VII. Privatization doesn't want you to know: The corruption of public education. School choice and competition: When creative destruction is just destruction -- Higher education: Who fills the void? -- Part VIII. "The cash just pours out": The privatization of public science and research. Academic publishing: How to pay for knowledge three times over -- They even want to own the weather -- Drug prices and pirates of the patent system -- Part IX. Becoming pro-public.

"America's leading defender of the public interest and a bestselling historian show us how to prevent the private takeover of our cherished public resources" -- Provided by publisher.