by Don Keelan
It appears that in Russia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the infamous Wagner Group and the recently aborted coup, was not only in charge of a sizable military force but also hundreds of companies that do business within Russia, Africa, and the Middle East, according to a recent article in the WSJ.
President Putin allowed his former St. Petersburg boyhood neighbor to gain control of Russiaโs internal and external operations in communications, security, media, medicine, food distribution, mining, and transportation. The Wagner Groupโs annual income was billions of dollars. Much of the Russian government operations are now in the hands of a private enterprise and, as was recently witnessed, are in a state of mutiny. Russia is in the process of dismantling the monster Putin himself had created.
This brings us to Vermont and how we have seen government business delegated permanently to independent companies and sizeable nonprofit organizations in just a few decades. This is not addressing sub-contracting, which is only for a short period.
For example, take the discussion happening in Brattleboro. The Brattleboro Police Department cannot police the townโs parking garage area nor around certain public buildings. The solution: hire private security companies to provide โthe policing.โ It is not much different than what takes place in Burlington: businesses have engaged the services of a security firm to offer escort services in the evening for their employees.
Vermont has a severe drug problem requiring attention at many levels. One such level is the distribution of methadone/buprenorphine to addicts in recovery. You would think that the State of Vermontโs health department would operate the clinics (storefronts) where anti-addiction measures are distributed under controlled conditions. Not in all cases. Many clinics are run by a Lewisville, Texas company, Baymark Health Services, which operates in 36 states and four Vermont towns. It is in the process of applying to operate in Bennington.
Delegation to private companies has been a factor in our Stateโs correction services for years. Approximately 10% of Vermontโs justice-involved are held at CoreCivic, a privately operated prison in Tutwiler, Mississippi. The percentage was even greater. The Vermont justice-involved juvenile housing has been delegated to the Vermont Permanency Initiative, affiliated with the out-of-state, nonprofit Becket Family of Services, which seeks approval for a 6-bed facility in Newbury, Vermont.
The State does not have a well-staffed mental health department. It looks to the private sector to provide the social worker (interventionist) who accompanies police officers/state troopers on specific domestic intervention calls. People trained in de-escalating a situation are generally not State or municipal employees.
Because the State does not have the necessary personnel to staff a mental health agency, it has turned to the nonprofit sector. Most counties in Vermont have a nonprofit agency comprising several thousand employees, delivering mental health services. In recent years, nonprofit organizations such as Northshire Housing in Bennington County and The Champlain Housing Trust in Northwest, VT, have produced many housing units with mostly State funds or state/federal tax credits. Even though the State has a housing agency, it has assigned the business of building affordable housing to others.
I will leave it for the experts to comment on the quality of how nonprofit organizations and private companies are delivering State services. I will comment on how much of the State and local services authorized by the Legislature are not carried out by State agencies but by organizations with their governing structure, free of any input or control by the taxpayers and Vermont residents.
We can determine how big the Vermont State government is by the number of its employees, about 8,300. State government, measured by staff, is geometrically much larger when you factor in the assignments delegated to NGOs and businesses. The question is, when will it become out of balance?
The author is a U.S. Marine (retired), CPA, and columnist living in Arlington, VT.
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Categories: Commentary
The “Wagnerization” you speak of is just an extension of ‘Citizen’s United” that the United States Supreme Court passed on January 21, 2010 … Privatization & Profits have trumped all that is moral and right by Universal laws.
All that was in the interest of humanity… and the United States is falling into an abysmal degradation of Corporate Greed. Our country, the USA, that was supposed to represent the beacon of freedom & liberty has betrayed our Founding Fathers
๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ ๐-๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ซ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐โ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ฒ ๐. ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ฒ, ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ก,
” ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ.”
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined Kennedy in the majority, while Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
$$$$ PROFITS RULE THE WORLD … humans are expendable.
Maureen, your argument is incongruous. Without humans, there can be no profit.
Vermont is a cesspool of corruption and a grifter’s paradise. Sold out and farmed out to the highest bidders. All in the name of equity and responsible growth. The problem is a generation of misguided and educated idiots (a term my grandfather used frequently) became emboldened with dirty money and dirty politics. All courtesy of the District of Corruption and the State collusion with criminal syndicates. It cannot be fixed. It will implode into it’s own cellar hole. At that point, we’ll see who has guts and fortititude to do the right thing or die trying.
To compare what’s happening in Vermont to what the Wagner Group is doing in Russia is kind of misleading. First, the Wagner Group did not stage a “coup”. Evidence points to the Wagner Group being given the $6.2 billion missing from “Ukraine funding” via a CIA black op. The money was given to them with the idea that they’d overthrow Putin, an obvious DS goal. And they put on a good show, only to stop 60 miles from Moscow for no apparent reason. Why? As mentioned, Putin and the head of the Wagner Group are best friends, so Putin was informed of every step in the plot. He decided to let the Wagner Group pretend they were marching to Moscow, only to take the $6.2 billion for their trouble. Once again, the Biden regime got played.
More evidence of decline this is what the ant colony does until itโs gone. My apologies to ants.
We are living in an occupied country. The Usurpers were NEVER confronted with this theft. Everyone is just waiting for someone else to do it. Or not. I’m not a gambler, but I’ll bet you NO ONE will do anything. Binging on Netflix and popcorn is most certainly more fun.
I can tell you I have sat in on some of these social service agency’s board meetings. My caveat is never believe these agencies are meant to help the community. It’s all about self-perpetuation in order to be Deciders With Power. Best of all? They crow loudly when they have achieved something without even considering how their ideological motivations collide with the realistic needs of poor Vermonters. Being a bought and paid for Virtue Signaler is all that matters
Deciders have the (government) money and (government) influence to import and then place people from another country to benefit immediately. Like 3x the monthly allowance for a retiree going to ILLEGAL ALIENS to live on. PLUS free housing and extra coverage for utilities. How do you think the most recent political winners-oops!-appointees got their seats? IMPORTED.
And let’s talk about “mental health” agencies. They are most definitely nothing more than Reporters, who take “confidential” truths expressed by the client and use them to hospitalize the person without warning or take their kids or kill their marriages…yes, that’s what they do. And let’s not forget the huge Big Pharma kickbacks for every lively child with “ADHD”, or the new mother with “depression”, or the recently evicted from the home “violent” husband…all put on soul crushing pills.
We are living in an occupied country. And please spare me the we can vote them out mantra. Being in denial does not make a problem go away. Rather, denial feeds the monster.
We are living in an occupied country. Why else would there be signs and flags everywhere lauding the degenerate proclivities of “child lovers”. Better yet, the Nazi inspired signs lauding Black Lives Matter while said group does nothing but show up like the marauding murderers they are only to kill, crush and destroy.
We are living in an occupied country. You can virtue signal all you want with your signs and flags. But I have seen for myself the very same people with the aforementioned signs and flags make an obviously unexpected turn down the next supermarket aisle in order to avoid my (black) husband. Yeah.
We are living in an occupied country.
BECAUSE
Americans have sold us out.
An accurate answer to Mr. Keelan’s question of balance would be sometime during the kunin administration. 1985-1991 began the rapid growth of state government and a shift in ideology at the state level- from it’s agencies and employees, switching from civil servant to nomenklatura.
Since kunin’s stint as governor, state government has grown in response to the shift in ideology, liberalism and socialism have grown exponentially while traditional conservative voices have been squelched- with much more to come.
Keelan avoids adding rampant cronyism, graft and corruption that go with the political deal-making- especially in healthcare and now energy regulation, brought to the front by the GWSA. It seems long ago that a cacophony of D/P politicians and pundits attacked phil scott regarding his ownership of a family run construction business and his forced sale of it when he was first elected governor- not so for the nepotism and intricate webs of spouses, friends and former business associates running rampant thru the legislature and alternative energy and health care companies and lobbyists.
I hear no cries from the left… as there are literally billions of dollars at stake here in vermont. we are being plucked, fleeced and flat out bankrupted by these grifters- and when they are done- having extracted as much as possible- they slither away to greener pastures.
Kudos, Don. Catchy “Better dead than Red” headline just aching for a maelstrom.