A man after my little libertarian capitalist heart:
Christie looks to privatize motor vehicle inspections, other services
New Jersey would close its centralized car inspection lanes and motorists would pay for their own emissions tests under a sweeping set of recommendations set to be released by the Christie administration today.
State parks, psychiatric hospitals and even turnpike toll booths could also be run by private operators, according to the 57-page report on privatization obtained by The Star-Ledger. Preschool classrooms would no longer be built at public expense, state employees would pay for parking and private vendors would dish out food, deliver health care and run education programs behind prison walls.
All told, the report says, New Jersey could save at least $210 million a year by delivering an array of services through private hands.
Indeed, private business in New Jersey has been building and operating some of the best parks, psychiatric hospitals, schools and food services in the country.
Currently, motor vehicle owners can pay their local service station for the state-mandated inspections.
The state employee unions aren’t going to be happy,
Despite past predictions that up to 2,000 public employees could lose their jobs to privatization, the report does not specify the number of layoffs to come. But its impact could be felt from parks — where private recreation firms would run concessions, operate facilities and perhaps collect a fee — to preschools.
Apparently the reporter who wrote the article can not understand that the jobs would shift to the private sector.
