This Isn’t Privatization — It’s Extraction

We rage about corporations all the time.

We complain about how they treat workers.

How they raise prices.

How they squeeze every last dollar out of us.

And then — somehow — we trust them to run our public services.

That’s the trick.

They’ve convinced us that the very institutions we don’t trust with our paycheques

should be trusted with our tax dollars.

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We’ve been sold an idea:

That corporations are more efficient.

More innovative.

More cost-effective.

But efficient at what?

Because it’s not service.

It’s profit.

And profit doesn’t come from doing things better —

it comes from doing things cheaper and charging more.

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Look at how it actually plays out.

We build the infrastructure.

We pay for it.

We maintain it.

Then we hand it over.

Suddenly there are new fees.

New charges.

New language no one understands.

And when something breaks?

We still pay for that too.

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We don’t even have to look far for examples.

In Ontario, a Liberal government sold off large parts of our power system.

How’s your hydro bill looking?

A Conservative government handed over a publicly funded highway.

Now try driving on it without feeling it.

We paid to build it.

Now we pay to use it.

Again. And again.

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That’s the deal.

They keep the profits.

We keep the costs.

Imagine running a business like that —

where someone else covers your expenses

and you pocket everything that comes in.

That’s not capitalism.

That’s extraction.

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And nothing is off-limits.

Utilities.

Waste management.

Healthcare.

Prisons.

In parts of the U.S., incarceration is a multi-billion-dollar industry.

A system that makes money

by keeping people locked up.

Do you think that system is built for rehabilitation?

Or repeat customers?

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Because when profit enters the equation,

the goal quietly changes.

It’s no longer about solving problems.

It’s about sustaining them.

More inmates.

More procedures.

More “services.”

More revenue.

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Healthcare might be the clearest example.

Insurance is supposed to protect you from rare events.

But healthcare isn’t rare.

We all need it.

Regularly.

Inevitably.

So the system only works

if it gets to decide:

Who gets treated.

When they get treated.

And how much they’re worth.

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So let’s be clear.

This isn’t about left or right.

It’s not about what colour button you wear at election time.

It’s about a principle:

Public services should stay public.

The control belongs to us.

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And if anything, as the world becomes more complex,

government responsibility shouldn’t shrink —

it should expand.

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We’re living in an age where internet access is being talked about as a basic right.

So ask the obvious question:

If something becomes essential to modern life,

who should control it?

Corporations driven by profit?

Or systems accountable to the public?

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Look at social media.

Platforms owned by companies like Meta aren’t just apps anymore —

they’re infrastructure.

They shape how we communicate.

How we learn.

How we see the world.

And yet, they’re designed to maximize engagement — not well-being.

That’s not a conspiracy.

That’s the business model.

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When something becomes that embedded in society,

you don’t just “leave it to the market.”

You regulate it.

You structure it.

You protect people from it.

Not to control what we say —

but to make sure the system isn’t built to exploit us

or designed to do us harm.

Because right now, there isn’t anyone truly holding that line.

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Because when no one is accountable,

profit becomes the only rule.

And when profit is the only rule,

people become the product.

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As society advances,

government shouldn’t be taking on less responsibility

—

it should be taking on more.

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Because when government is responsible,

we know exactly where to look.

We know who made the decision.

We know who to question.

We know who to replace.

That’s accountability.

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But the more responsibility gets handed off

to private corporations,

the more that accountability disappears.

Decisions get buried.

Blame gets diffused.

Responsibility becomes impossible to trace.

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And the people we elected?

They get lighter workloads.

Less risk.

Less consequence.

They stop governing

and start overseeing the slow sale of everything we built.

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They become something else entirely.

An elected class that shows up,

puts on a performance,

waves to the crowd —

and answers for less and less.

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An aristocracy with ballots instead of bloodlines.

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And here’s the irony.

The very system they keep feeding —

the one they claim is more “efficient” —

doesn’t stop.

It doesn’t stabilize.

It doesn’t say “enough.”

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Because capitalism, left unchecked,

is never satisfied.

A company can post record profits

and still see its stock drop.

Because the expectation isn’t success.

It’s more.

Always more.

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And a system that demands constant growth

will eventually consume everything in its path.

Public services.

Public trust.

Public control.

Even the people who helped build it.

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Because once corporations don’t need government anymore,

they won’t protect it.

They’ll replace it.

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That’s where this road leads.

Not to efficiency.

Not to freedom.

But to a world where nothing belongs to the public anymore —

and no one is left to answer for it.

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They don’t just want your money.

They want the system.

The control.

And eventually —

the job.