The Decline of Public Facilities in the US

People in the US are sold that "private enterprise" is magical. It means "better" in most American minds. The funny thing is that prior to 1850 when there was no "public health" and only "private enterprise" life was short and squalid. When I wander through a grocery store and see the brightly coloured machine dispensing "water" for about 100 times what you pay for water from the public infrastructure I get mad. It means that this fascination with "private enterprise" means there will be under-investment in public infrastructure and the eventual displacement of it by for-profit industries, like the companies that sell you water at exorbitant prices.

Why do the water companies succeed? Because they know how to sell "sizzle". If you notice, all kinds of things are "branded" as if a Sunkist orange doesn't grow on a tree like any other orange. Water from a municipal waterworks is generally cleaner than what you get from the expensive plastic bottles, but you don't get the brand name and the fancy packaging with all the colourful pictures. Public is bland because it focuses on selling you the steak and not selling you the sizzle. But people love the sizzle.

Here's a blogger, an educator, who is really put off by how American education is being co-opted by "private enterprise":

I'm guessing that Arne Duncan does not drink from public water fountains. I do (when I can find a working one). And that may be the fundamental difference between Arne and me.

Public fountains are disappearing because the concept of public is disappearing.

Public water fountains are not dangerous (unless cooties are real). Tap water is safe, and the spigots are designed to prevent contamination.

The rise of bottled water here in the States shows how a public institution can be demonized and replaced by a much more expensive privatized solution.

If you can put down the alcohol wipes to look at the numbers, though, you'll learn that tap water is safe, and that the government standards for tap water are higher than the standards required for the commercial stuff.

Charter schools are like bottled water--they're believed to be superior, and their standards are less stringent that their more public counterparts. (Yes, I know that charter schools are part of the public school systems, but they are not public in the sense that they equally accept all students. This difference matters.)