#privatization

[elderinternetresurrection]

Btw, privatization is stealing from *you.* You are the public in "publicly owned." Oligarchs are coming in to take the things we all share ownership of as Americans, like Medicare, Social Security, National Parks, PBS and scrapping them for parts they find profitable.

The right is planning to rob us and quite literally want us to thank them for the privilege by calling it "government efficiency."

[us-politics]

[onlytiktoks]

[fuck-u-maga]

[alatismeni-theitsa]

The majority of Greece's infrastructure is foreign-owned (and sold for peanuts)

The Airports

The German company Fraport manages 14 regional airports in Greece (that of Mykonos, Santorini, Thessaloniki, Chania, Corfu and more). Fraport holds a 65% stake in the concession companies, with an operating period from 2017 to 2057.

Telecommunications

324 locations - One group. A German company, Deutsche Telekom, owns approximately 54–55% of OTE (the Hellenic Telecommutions Organization). Through OTE and COSMOTE, the German group has majority control of the telecommunications sector. At the same time, through the 324 GERMANOS stores, the same group also maintains a physical presence throughout the country.

Copper / Gold

Gold and copper mining in northeastern Halkidiki is linked to Hellas Gold, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian company Eldorado Gold. Through this ownership structure, control of the mining projects at Skouries and Olympias passes to a foreign mining group.

The Trains

Hellenic Train, formerly TRAINOSE, passed in 2017 to the Italian state group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.

Energy

(Pie chart showing ownership of ΔΕΗ / Greek Public Power Corporation

Greek State: 33.4%

Institutional Investors & General Public: 47.8%

CVC: 17.2%

Treasury Shares: 1.6%)

ΔΕΗ has not been transferred entirely to a foreign company - yet. The Greek State remains the main shareholder, aiming to retain approximately 33.4%. However, the company now operates as a listed energy group, with significant participation from private and foreign investors. CVC already holds approximately 20%.

The Ports

The OLP (Port of Piraeus), the largest one in Greece, is majority-controlled by the Chinese COSCO Shipping. The agreement provided for the transfer of 67% of OLP shares to COSCO.

Similarly, 67% of the port of Thessaloniki passed to an investor consortium, which included the German Deutsche Invest Equity Partners, Belterra Investments, and the French Terminal Link.

So, when Greeks say that Western Europe didn't actually want to help our economy after the crisis (and reap the related benefits of a strong Greece) but rather to buy our country dirty-cheap, this is what we mean. Also, our policians sold important assets to countries like China for a tiny bit of liquidity, forfeiting the Greek rights to future profits (which would be significantly higher). The overwhelming majority of Greeks is against those privatizations.

[saywhat-politics]

Trump Official Calls New Tax Policy 'Backdoor For Privatizing Social Security'

Trump's Treasury secretary may not realize that privatizing Social Security isn't the most popular idea.

Trump's Treasury secretary may not realize that privatizing Social Security isn't the most popular idea.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday described the tax bill President Donald Trump signed into law this month as a way of eventually privatizing Social Security.

The law created a new category of tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts for babies, called “Trump Accounts,” that will be initially seeded with $1,000 from the government.

Speaking at an event hosted by Breitbart News, Bessent suggested the accounts could so enamor Americans with the magic of private investing that they will eventually clamor for the privatization of the federal government’s popular old-age insurance program.

“In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,” Bessent said in a widely circulated minute-long clip from the Breitbart event.

Democrats have long accused Republicans of wanting to privatize Social Security, especially after former president George W. Bush proposed doing so in his second term. The idea was so unpopular it helped Democrats retake both the House and Senate in the 2006 midterm elections.

[dispatchesfromtheclasswar]