Bringing service to life - for a great profit
December 2, 2009 2:58 PM Subscribe
Possibly the biggest company you've never heard of.
Serco Group plc.
They run all of Australia's immigration centres; Hunfield Prison in Germany; the Balistic Missile Early Warning System in the UK; driver testing in Ontario Canada; local education authorities in Bradford UK; the Manchester Aquatics Centre; Australia's cross-continental rail lines; Docklands Light Railway in London; Copenhagen Metro; air traffic control in the US and Iraq; fleet support for the three main UK naval bases; management services for three large UK medical centres; a large chunk of the UK Atomic Energy Authority; the UK's electronic prisoner tagging system; Welfare to Work programs; speed cameras and traffic systems throughout the UK; the National Science Laboratory UK; business process outsourcing on four continents; as well as operate and maintain strategic defence assets in the US and UK.
Between 1994 and 2006, Serco's turnover grew from £238m to £2.5bn. Serco's CEO Christopher Hyman is a 9/11 survivor who has god on his side and has recorded a gospel album to prove it. He fasts one day a week, sleeps four hours a day and just has to win, even when playing against his wife and kids.
Serco also run Britians Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre which houses detained children. It was cited 44 times in a damning report (pdf) by Children's Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green.
In a potential example of double-speak, Serco publish a journal called Ethos. They don't, however, create very good corportate videos.
Serco Group plc.
They run all of Australia's immigration centres; Hunfield Prison in Germany; the Balistic Missile Early Warning System in the UK; driver testing in Ontario Canada; local education authorities in Bradford UK; the Manchester Aquatics Centre; Australia's cross-continental rail lines; Docklands Light Railway in London; Copenhagen Metro; air traffic control in the US and Iraq; fleet support for the three main UK naval bases; management services for three large UK medical centres; a large chunk of the UK Atomic Energy Authority; the UK's electronic prisoner tagging system; Welfare to Work programs; speed cameras and traffic systems throughout the UK; the National Science Laboratory UK; business process outsourcing on four continents; as well as operate and maintain strategic defence assets in the US and UK.
Between 1994 and 2006, Serco's turnover grew from £238m to £2.5bn. Serco's CEO Christopher Hyman is a 9/11 survivor who has god on his side and has recorded a gospel album to prove it. He fasts one day a week, sleeps four hours a day and just has to win, even when playing against his wife and kids.
Serco also run Britians Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre which houses detained children. It was cited 44 times in a damning report (pdf) by Children's Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green.
In a potential example of double-speak, Serco publish a journal called Ethos. They don't, however, create very good corportate videos.
That corporate video had multiple shots of people plugging in ethernet cables.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:09 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:09 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
They're pretty well known in the UK, and just as much loved as Capita. Two great British companies, leading the way in the future economy. Or something.
posted by Sova at 3:11 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by Sova at 3:11 PM on December 2, 2009
Serco run navy patrol boats for the ADFThe Anti-Defamation League has a navy?!
posted by hincandenza at 3:15 PM on December 2, 2009 [8 favorites]
Oh jeez. I am a moron, a stupid stupid fat little man who can't read or spell. :(
posted by hincandenza at 3:15 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by hincandenza at 3:15 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
I'm someone who actually loves big corporations and believes most government functions should be outsourced to private enterprise. But not to some parodic meta-company from the villain file of some prole action film. In case you're tempted to skip the "corporate video" link... don't.
posted by Faze at 3:21 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by Faze at 3:21 PM on December 2, 2009
That corporate video had multiple shots of people plugging in ethernet cables.
Yeah, that cracked me up. "We have the technology and we know how to plug it in!"
I saw this last night on the show in the first link. While I have heard a lot about outsourcing of prisons and detention centres in Australia, I didn't realise the company was so widely spread.
The greedy corporate bitch that resides in my money-gland is thinking about investing in them. However I don't think my ethical wallet-monitor muscle will let me change my super fund from its current ethical investment program. Damn my ethics and the hippy-flower they grew up on.
posted by Kerasia at 3:21 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that cracked me up. "We have the technology and we know how to plug it in!"
I saw this last night on the show in the first link. While I have heard a lot about outsourcing of prisons and detention centres in Australia, I didn't realise the company was so widely spread.
The greedy corporate bitch that resides in my money-gland is thinking about investing in them. However I don't think my ethical wallet-monitor muscle will let me change my super fund from its current ethical investment program. Damn my ethics and the hippy-flower they grew up on.
posted by Kerasia at 3:21 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Serco: UK's youngest death in custody ever
Quite the tagline.
Halliburton and Blackwater...I mean Xe...should invite these bastards over for golf followed by frosty glasses of the blood of children. Cheney's treat!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 3:24 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
Quite the tagline.
Halliburton and Blackwater...I mean Xe...should invite these bastards over for golf followed by frosty glasses of the blood of children. Cheney's treat!
posted by Salvor Hardin at 3:24 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
As far as videos about selling services to the government go, that wasn't too bad.
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:26 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:26 PM on December 2, 2009
I am a moron, a stupid stupid fat little man who can't read or spell. :(
Lou Costello?
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:28 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Lou Costello?
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:28 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
I'm someone who actually loves big corporations and believes most government functions should be outsourced to private enterprise. But not to some parodic meta-company from the villain file of some prole action film.
Villainous companies in action films never cause the level of destruction and human misery that real transnational corporations do as a matter of course every day.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 3:31 PM on December 2, 2009 [13 favorites]
Villainous companies in action films never cause the level of destruction and human misery that real transnational corporations do as a matter of course every day.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 3:31 PM on December 2, 2009 [13 favorites]
I love that the solution to giant bureaucratic government is to outsource everything to giant bureaucratic multinationals. If 85% of Serco's workers are ex-public sector, why not just keep them employed in the public sector instead of paying someone else to pay them?
posted by nangua at 3:40 PM on December 2, 2009 [6 favorites]
posted by nangua at 3:40 PM on December 2, 2009 [6 favorites]
I'm someone who actually loves big corporations and believes most government functions should be outsourced to private enterprise.
Eh, you mean state functions, I assume? And besides, these kinds of companies are only psuedo-private once the government is naturally disposed to employing them and they've picked up enough contracts. Where they have become the default for providing public services, they cease to be alienable from the state. It's more akin to a bunch of shareholders owning a particular part of a state, rather than an external company providing a service.
posted by Sova at 3:41 PM on December 2, 2009 [13 favorites]
Eh, you mean state functions, I assume? And besides, these kinds of companies are only psuedo-private once the government is naturally disposed to employing them and they've picked up enough contracts. Where they have become the default for providing public services, they cease to be alienable from the state. It's more akin to a bunch of shareholders owning a particular part of a state, rather than an external company providing a service.
posted by Sova at 3:41 PM on December 2, 2009 [13 favorites]
"I love that the solution to giant bureaucratic government is to outsource everything to giant bureaucratic multinationals. If 85% of Serco's workers are ex-public sector, why not just keep them employed in the public sector instead of paying someone else to pay them?"
Pension liabilities.
posted by Damienmce at 3:43 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Pension liabilities.
posted by Damienmce at 3:43 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
What a scary man. When I got to this part:
"My faith is very strong. My whole life, I believe, is driven by God. It's well known that if Einstein had a son I would be furthest away from that relative. I'm no genius," - at this point, he smiles a dazzling smile - "what I am successful for is listening to God."
-the false humility cloaked in religion (obviously anyone who believes he is qualified to run a huge corporation knows he is intelligent), I started to get a picture of him as truly evil. Remember that Simpsons Halloween episode where Flanders ran the world like 1984, with the hooks in the mouth to make the "negative Nellies" smile? That's what working for this guy must be like.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:45 PM on December 2, 2009 [6 favorites]
"My faith is very strong. My whole life, I believe, is driven by God. It's well known that if Einstein had a son I would be furthest away from that relative. I'm no genius," - at this point, he smiles a dazzling smile - "what I am successful for is listening to God."
-the false humility cloaked in religion (obviously anyone who believes he is qualified to run a huge corporation knows he is intelligent), I started to get a picture of him as truly evil. Remember that Simpsons Halloween episode where Flanders ran the world like 1984, with the hooks in the mouth to make the "negative Nellies" smile? That's what working for this guy must be like.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:45 PM on December 2, 2009 [6 favorites]
I love that the solution to giant bureaucratic government is to outsource everything to giant bureaucratic multinationals. If 85% of Serco's workers are ex-public sector, why not just keep them employed in the public sector instead of paying someone else to pay them?
Ideology. The state is inefficient and bloated and impersonal, but private enterprise shits rainbows and cures AIDS while being friendlier than Big Bird on MDMA. Or something.
posted by Sova at 3:47 PM on December 2, 2009 [15 favorites]
Ideology. The state is inefficient and bloated and impersonal, but private enterprise shits rainbows and cures AIDS while being friendlier than Big Bird on MDMA. Or something.
posted by Sova at 3:47 PM on December 2, 2009 [15 favorites]
The Guardian article is such a complete puff piece, yet in saying nothing at all they still made him sound like an absolutely terrifying pyschotic:
His secretary points to her own desk, buried in paperwork, and says. "He works me like a slave." Then she laughs and everyone seems quite happy again.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:49 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
His secretary points to her own desk, buried in paperwork, and says. "He works me like a slave." Then she laughs and everyone seems quite happy again.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:49 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
"...everyone seems quite happy...", the implied threatening look he gave her to make her pretend it was a joke- that sentence is is like Act One of a horror movie. I wonder if she tried to slip a "please help me I can't leave this office or he'll kill me" note to the reporter on her way out.
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:52 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:52 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
Villainous companies in action films never cause the level of destruction and human misery that real transnational corporations do as a matter of course every day.
That is a very good point because of course action films are fictional and thus so are any corporations that play a role in them. For example, Cyberdyne Sysyems caused the near-complete extermination of humans by relentless machines, to name just one problematic company from the action film genre, but that was not real and so did not cause any major problems in the real world.
posted by longsleeves at 4:03 PM on December 2, 2009
That is a very good point because of course action films are fictional and thus so are any corporations that play a role in them. For example, Cyberdyne Sysyems caused the near-complete extermination of humans by relentless machines, to name just one problematic company from the action film genre, but that was not real and so did not cause any major problems in the real world.
posted by longsleeves at 4:03 PM on December 2, 2009
SERCO is hiring Web designers...
And half the population of Alaska. That's a huge list of job openings (not surprising for a mega-meta-corp).
posted by filthy light thief at 4:13 PM on December 2, 2009
And half the population of Alaska. That's a huge list of job openings (not surprising for a mega-meta-corp).
posted by filthy light thief at 4:13 PM on December 2, 2009
"Ideology. The state is inefficient and bloated and impersonal, but private enterprise shits rainbows and cures AIDS while being friendlier than Big Bird on MDMA. Or something."
It's all about efficiency. Governments are inherently wasteful because they only work for the benefit of others, but private enterprise can do the same job for less because the magic application of Greed is supposed to make them more efficient somehow. But it's funny how they always outsource the services used by the most marginal members of society, like prisoners and immigrants and old people, while leaving more vocal groups of voters alone... Like they're afraid of giving us too much efficiency at once or something.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:16 PM on December 2, 2009 [15 favorites]
It's all about efficiency. Governments are inherently wasteful because they only work for the benefit of others, but private enterprise can do the same job for less because the magic application of Greed is supposed to make them more efficient somehow. But it's funny how they always outsource the services used by the most marginal members of society, like prisoners and immigrants and old people, while leaving more vocal groups of voters alone... Like they're afraid of giving us too much efficiency at once or something.
posted by Kevin Street at 4:16 PM on December 2, 2009 [15 favorites]
Villainous companies in action films never cause the level of destruction and human misery that real transnational corporations do as a matter of course every day.
Well, that's because they are fictional. If they were real, then I would be more concerned about the Dr. Evil enterprise pointing at laser at the moon than Coke or Pepsi any day of the week. High fructose corn syrup might be killing us slowly, but I would be way more worried about super-villains than Fortune 500 companies. To say otherwise is just being provocative, I think.
posted by Slap Factory at 4:27 PM on December 2, 2009
Well, that's because they are fictional. If they were real, then I would be more concerned about the Dr. Evil enterprise pointing at laser at the moon than Coke or Pepsi any day of the week. High fructose corn syrup might be killing us slowly, but I would be way more worried about super-villains than Fortune 500 companies. To say otherwise is just being provocative, I think.
posted by Slap Factory at 4:27 PM on December 2, 2009
I thought it was Fred's Bank. Steve Martin almost blew the whistle on this but they got to him.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:27 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by Smedleyman at 4:27 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
'Serco run navy patrol boats for the ADF'
The Anti-Defamation League has a navy?!
No, it's the Australian Debating Foundation that's got a navy. They're hardcore.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:27 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
The Anti-Defamation League has a navy?!
No, it's the Australian Debating Foundation that's got a navy. They're hardcore.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:27 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
When I lived in Adelaide, Serco started running the buses. I didn't know anything about them, except they were British. I figured they were some British public transport company.
Then I was living in Darwin, and part of my job involved visiting the local Army base. I was kind of shocked (and slightly dissapointed) to see that the guards on the gate of the Army base checking my security pass were not soldiers, but Serco employees.
Now there's all this? Very weird. Kinda scary.
posted by Jimbob at 4:32 PM on December 2, 2009
Then I was living in Darwin, and part of my job involved visiting the local Army base. I was kind of shocked (and slightly dissapointed) to see that the guards on the gate of the Army base checking my security pass were not soldiers, but Serco employees.
Now there's all this? Very weird. Kinda scary.
posted by Jimbob at 4:32 PM on December 2, 2009
Governments are inherently wasteful because they only work for the benefit of others, but private enterprise can do the same job for less because the magic application of Greed is supposed to make them more efficient somehow.
I could never, ever understand this ideology. Private enterprise aims for profit, which means it's always scooping money off for itself - the more the better. Governments, in theory, aren't judged on how much profit they can make and keep for themselves, they're judged on the public good they do, so in theory, being efficient and "doing more with less" is sort of their aim.
posted by Jimbob at 4:36 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
I could never, ever understand this ideology. Private enterprise aims for profit, which means it's always scooping money off for itself - the more the better. Governments, in theory, aren't judged on how much profit they can make and keep for themselves, they're judged on the public good they do, so in theory, being efficient and "doing more with less" is sort of their aim.
posted by Jimbob at 4:36 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
Governments are inherently wasteful...
In my experience, a private corporation that's doing well -- i.e., not presently panicking about money -- wastes loads of resources.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 4:45 PM on December 2, 2009 [5 favorites]
In my experience, a private corporation that's doing well -- i.e., not presently panicking about money -- wastes loads of resources.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 4:45 PM on December 2, 2009 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I've never understood free market types who want government to be "run like a business." The goals of governments and businesses are fundamentally different.
posted by brundlefly at 4:47 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 4:47 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
If they were real, then I would be more concerned about the Dr. Evil enterprise pointing at laser at the moon than Coke or Pepsi any day of the week. High fructose corn syrup might be killing us slowly, but I would be way more worried about super-villains than Fortune 500 companies. To say otherwise is just being provocative, I think.
Yeah, I was being a bit provocative. But not facetious. Sure, fictional evil corporations do crazy things like blow up the moon and destroy humanity with intelligent Austrian cyborgs. But those movies almost always end up ok, with the corporations being defeated by a few plucky heroes.
In the real world, corporations like Monsanto, Halliburton (and subsidiaries), Serco, Coca Cola, etc do despicable things to people around the world for generations in the name of executive bonuses and shareholder profits. There is no justice for them and no happy ending, even when the middle class closes the newspaper.
In fact, there is currently a vastly powerful network of international corporations that are actively conspiring to drastically change the Earth's climate, and are vigorously lobbying and bribing world governments to stymie legislative attempts to stop them - it's happening now - I am not getting this from an Austin Powers movie.
As a USian, I witnessed kajillions of dollars (borrowed from the Chinese) being given to the vice president's golf buddies in return for a privatized reconstruction effort in Iraq that could be charitably described as fraudulent or negligent. So, no, I'm not a big fan of outsourcing to corporations, and I don't think it's necessarily ridiculous to compare the evilness of real corporations with their fictional counterparts. Sometimes the truth is more evil than fiction.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:54 PM on December 2, 2009 [8 favorites]
Yeah, I was being a bit provocative. But not facetious. Sure, fictional evil corporations do crazy things like blow up the moon and destroy humanity with intelligent Austrian cyborgs. But those movies almost always end up ok, with the corporations being defeated by a few plucky heroes.
In the real world, corporations like Monsanto, Halliburton (and subsidiaries), Serco, Coca Cola, etc do despicable things to people around the world for generations in the name of executive bonuses and shareholder profits. There is no justice for them and no happy ending, even when the middle class closes the newspaper.
In fact, there is currently a vastly powerful network of international corporations that are actively conspiring to drastically change the Earth's climate, and are vigorously lobbying and bribing world governments to stymie legislative attempts to stop them - it's happening now - I am not getting this from an Austin Powers movie.
As a USian, I witnessed kajillions of dollars (borrowed from the Chinese) being given to the vice president's golf buddies in return for a privatized reconstruction effort in Iraq that could be charitably described as fraudulent or negligent. So, no, I'm not a big fan of outsourcing to corporations, and I don't think it's necessarily ridiculous to compare the evilness of real corporations with their fictional counterparts. Sometimes the truth is more evil than fiction.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:54 PM on December 2, 2009 [8 favorites]
I thought everyone knew how the efficiency worked. At the national level, public "servants" (of the elected and appointed variety) alternate between government work and private enterprise. While in government they funnel government contracts to their friends in private industry, while in private industry, they capitalize on their governmental connections. When for running for election (or if they're appointees, when their "guy" is running) their friends give campaign contributions. Outsourcing is the most efficient way for these individuals to become wealthy and powerful, because it continues the cycle of life.
As for comparisons to pointing lasers at the moon, do you think it's a coincidence that Halliburton was selected in no-bid contracts to provide so many services in Iraq? Since acquiring massive profit is the only mission that was actually accomplished in Iraq, it seems to me that the war (with attendant 100K - millions dead) was driven in large part by corporate greed (note, not exclusively). The famous PNAC plan for dominance of the middle east (signed by Cheney, Wolfowitz, and many other top Bush officials) called for the invasion of Iraq, but amazingly never mentioned terrorism or the threat of Saddam as a reason. Oil was though. Give me lasers pointed at the moon any day.
On preview. Oh well, I'm not deleting after typing this whole thing out.
posted by Humanzee at 5:04 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
As for comparisons to pointing lasers at the moon, do you think it's a coincidence that Halliburton was selected in no-bid contracts to provide so many services in Iraq? Since acquiring massive profit is the only mission that was actually accomplished in Iraq, it seems to me that the war (with attendant 100K - millions dead) was driven in large part by corporate greed (note, not exclusively). The famous PNAC plan for dominance of the middle east (signed by Cheney, Wolfowitz, and many other top Bush officials) called for the invasion of Iraq, but amazingly never mentioned terrorism or the threat of Saddam as a reason. Oil was though. Give me lasers pointed at the moon any day.
On preview. Oh well, I'm not deleting after typing this whole thing out.
posted by Humanzee at 5:04 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Halliburton and Blackwater...I mean Xe...should invite these bastards over for golf followed by frosty glasses of the blood of children. Cheney's treat!
In related news:
In related news:
Prince quits as CEO of Blackwater-turned-Xe.posted by ericb at 5:06 PM on December 2, 2009
When people say that they "want government to be "run like a business."" what they mean is that they want the government money to run their business. And they'd like it built into their contract that cost over-runs will be picked up by the government. And lo, it comes to pass!
The NHS is currently £12bn in the hole for an IT project that crashed at its first attempt to go online.
Why does the government put up with this, beyond the usual ideological reasons? Because private enterprise stuff can be kept off the government books, and therefore makes the deficit look slightly less horrific than it currently is, even if the cost is milking the taxpayer for an extra £6bn for a scheme that is ten years in the making and still doesn't fucking work.
So yeah, as Sova said up there, these creeps are pretty well known in the UK; they're forever cropping up in Private Eye. In fact, this is from the current issue:
To be run by a consortium called Metrix (formed from Serco, Raytheon, Capita and every other bunch of amoral lobby-funding scum going; more here), this "academy" will also train soldiers from overseas, if the price is right. Which means, in effect that the British Government is getting into the mercenary training business! Well, I suppose it's better than leaving it to Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann ...
posted by Len at 5:09 PM on December 2, 2009 [5 favorites]
The NHS is currently £12bn in the hole for an IT project that crashed at its first attempt to go online.
Why does the government put up with this, beyond the usual ideological reasons? Because private enterprise stuff can be kept off the government books, and therefore makes the deficit look slightly less horrific than it currently is, even if the cost is milking the taxpayer for an extra £6bn for a scheme that is ten years in the making and still doesn't fucking work.
So yeah, as Sova said up there, these creeps are pretty well known in the UK; they're forever cropping up in Private Eye. In fact, this is from the current issue:
THE future looks rosy for public service “outsourcing”, especially under a likely Tory government. So companies are busy promoting the “efficiencies” they claim to offer in the age of austerity, and sucking up to the watchdog who is meant to police such local and health authority deals, the Audit Commission.They're also involved in the proposed hiving-off of military training in the UK, which as usual for Private Finance boondoggles, is vastly over budget and woefully ill-prepared to do what it's supposed to, i.e. train people to deal with being shot at in Afghanistan.
Freedom of information disclosures obtained by the Eye show that in the 18 months from April 2008, the commission’s chairman Michael O’Higgins was schmoozed by top outsourcers including BT, Serco and Crapita.
BT’s then chief executive Ben Verwaayen took O’Higgins to a garden party at a private address, and to three choral concerts and a summer reception. Serco provided lunches at the Cinnamon Club and Glasshouse restaurants and a “reception and dinner” at a “private address”. Meanwhile the Eye’s old chum Crapita paid for O’Higgins’ dinner and hotel room during a conference organized by the Guardian.
To be run by a consortium called Metrix (formed from Serco, Raytheon, Capita and every other bunch of amoral lobby-funding scum going; more here), this "academy" will also train soldiers from overseas, if the price is right. Which means, in effect that the British Government is getting into the mercenary training business! Well, I suppose it's better than leaving it to Mark Thatcher and Simon Mann ...
posted by Len at 5:09 PM on December 2, 2009 [5 favorites]
They don't, however, create very good corportate videos .
i don't know man, for the first minute or so they have a dope, chugga-chugga, metal jam. seems pretty cool to me. so, what do they do?
posted by rainperimeter at 5:35 PM on December 2, 2009
i don't know man, for the first minute or so they have a dope, chugga-chugga, metal jam. seems pretty cool to me. so, what do they do?
posted by rainperimeter at 5:35 PM on December 2, 2009
Oh, and further to what I said above about the £12bn NHS IT programme: there was a truly staggering special report in Private Eye back in 2007 which I wanted to see if I could find online. (I couldn't, though you can buy it here.) It's well and truly worth reading, even if it's only to become enraged; and bear in mind that things have, unbelievably, only gotten worse since it was published. I'd also forgotten that as part of it, they ran a tickertape-style along the bottom of the report's 8 pages (found it here) detailing what, exactly, £12bn would pay for in the NHS:
posted by Len at 5:43 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
26,000 doctors for ten years, orAnd all this from a Labour government. Keir Hardie must be rotating hard enough to provide green energy for most of the country by now.
65,000 nurses for ten years, or
The NHS's record 2005/6 deficit - 23 times over, or
Every hospital built since 1997 - three times over, or
200 years of currently "too expensive" Alzheimer's drugs, or
500,000 full courses of herceptin treatment for cancer patients.
posted by Len at 5:43 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Sova: "Ideology. The state is inefficient and bloated and impersonal, but private enterprise shits rainbows and cures AIDS while being friendlier than Big Bird on MDMA. Or something."
Well, the supposed theory, I think, goes something like this:
Government bureaucracies are entrenched and filled with lots of highly-paid employees with great benefits who can't be fired even if they do no actual work, while private companies are free to hire people for minimum wage with no benefits, and if the amount of work decreases it's easier to not renew a contract than it is to let go 500 civil servants.
In other words, it's a reaction against public sector service unions.
Personally I think it might be mildly successful in the short term, but in the long term ends up being just as expensive with--bonus--lots of corruption. Better to have a special interest group that consists of millions of people who spend their gains on local businesses than to have entrenched, powerful, small, opaque special interests.
posted by alexei at 6:03 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
Well, the supposed theory, I think, goes something like this:
Government bureaucracies are entrenched and filled with lots of highly-paid employees with great benefits who can't be fired even if they do no actual work, while private companies are free to hire people for minimum wage with no benefits, and if the amount of work decreases it's easier to not renew a contract than it is to let go 500 civil servants.
In other words, it's a reaction against public sector service unions.
Personally I think it might be mildly successful in the short term, but in the long term ends up being just as expensive with--bonus--lots of corruption. Better to have a special interest group that consists of millions of people who spend their gains on local businesses than to have entrenched, powerful, small, opaque special interests.
posted by alexei at 6:03 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
Bureaucramancy?
posted by eagle-bear at 6:17 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by eagle-bear at 6:17 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
Government run vs private run. In theory, we employ politicians and can fire them in an election if we don't like the job they've been doing. We can do very little about corporations who do a bad job. However, politicians are bought and paid for by corporations and other special interests that fund their re-election. What we really need is a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people. Nah, it'll never happen.
posted by binturong at 6:23 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by binturong at 6:23 PM on December 2, 2009
Government bureaucracies are entrenched and filled with lots of highly-paid employees with great benefits who can't be fired even if they do no actual work.
For the record, my experience with government employees is that inefficiencies arise from overwork not underwork. I think the idea you present about government workers does stem from some kind of misplaced anti-union jealousy. I've generally found them to be trying to do their best using very limited resources while the earth constantly moves underneath them. But then, my experience has mostly been with employees of environment departments and health departments etc. Maybe things are different in better-funded areas.
posted by Jimbob at 6:31 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
For the record, my experience with government employees is that inefficiencies arise from overwork not underwork. I think the idea you present about government workers does stem from some kind of misplaced anti-union jealousy. I've generally found them to be trying to do their best using very limited resources while the earth constantly moves underneath them. But then, my experience has mostly been with employees of environment departments and health departments etc. Maybe things are different in better-funded areas.
posted by Jimbob at 6:31 PM on December 2, 2009 [3 favorites]
Personally I think it might be mildly successful in the short term, but in the long term ends up being just as expensive with--bonus--lots of corruption. Better to have a special interest group that consists of millions of people who spend their gains on local businesses than to have entrenched, powerful, small, opaque special interests.
I agree. Indeed, I don't even know if it's better in the short term, and whether there's not greater benefits derived from directly employing people. An issue that is raised sometimes in healthcare debates in the UK is about hospital cleanliness, and some statistics around patient infections picked up in hospital. It turns out that the best hospitals are those which have retained inhouse cleaning, and the worst those which have outsourced it to cleaning companies. I don't know enough about how cleaning management works in hospitals to comment, but it shows that on top of the worker and local economy benefits, inhouse may provide measurably positive outcomes compared to the alternatives.
The current UK government (nominally socialist) has been keen on outsourcing everything (including potentially fiscally disastrous PFI deals). The next government will be even worse, and it doesn't appear that companies like Serco will be begging for a long long while.
posted by Sova at 6:41 PM on December 2, 2009
I agree. Indeed, I don't even know if it's better in the short term, and whether there's not greater benefits derived from directly employing people. An issue that is raised sometimes in healthcare debates in the UK is about hospital cleanliness, and some statistics around patient infections picked up in hospital. It turns out that the best hospitals are those which have retained inhouse cleaning, and the worst those which have outsourced it to cleaning companies. I don't know enough about how cleaning management works in hospitals to comment, but it shows that on top of the worker and local economy benefits, inhouse may provide measurably positive outcomes compared to the alternatives.
The current UK government (nominally socialist) has been keen on outsourcing everything (including potentially fiscally disastrous PFI deals). The next government will be even worse, and it doesn't appear that companies like Serco will be begging for a long long while.
posted by Sova at 6:41 PM on December 2, 2009
I was going to guess SAIC.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:51 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:51 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
What the heck is an immigration detention center? Just offhand, it doesn't sound like something that is making the world a better place.
And Blackwater is now called Xe?
Forget evil corporations in fiction, this sounds like an evil science fiction corporation!
posted by eye of newt at 7:34 PM on December 2, 2009
And Blackwater is now called Xe?
Forget evil corporations in fiction, this sounds like an evil science fiction corporation!
posted by eye of newt at 7:34 PM on December 2, 2009
We have a government-owned auto-insurance monopoly. You know what happens when it turns a profit? Rates go down.
posted by klanawa at 8:05 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
posted by klanawa at 8:05 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
That sounds like communism, man! Here in Alberta, we leave auto insurance to the private sector, just as God and nature intended. (Well, except for passing laws making it mandatory to buy insurance and capping the amount that people can claim - but other than that it's free and clear like a field of wild roses.)
posted by Kevin Street at 8:13 PM on December 2, 2009
posted by Kevin Street at 8:13 PM on December 2, 2009
In Australia, immigration detention centres are where you store the coloured people who arrive in your country by boat, without visas. Most of them are refugees, so arriving by boat without a visa to plead your case is legal under international law, but they still get referred to as "illegal" immigrants. They are nasty, soul crushing places, though the infamous Woomera Detention Centre (a vast prison complex in the middle of the desert) has been closed.
Basically, they are a prison system for refugees.
posted by Jilder at 8:14 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
Basically, they are a prison system for refugees.
posted by Jilder at 8:14 PM on December 2, 2009 [4 favorites]
JimBob: "Private enterprise aims for profit, which means it's always scooping money off for itself - the more the better. Governments, in theory, aren't judged on how much profit they can make and keep for themselves, they're judged on the public good they do, so in theory, being efficient and "doing more with less" is sort of their aim."
Well, there's your American health care debate in a nutshell, and that's something.
posted by sneebler at 8:35 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Well, there's your American health care debate in a nutshell, and that's something.
posted by sneebler at 8:35 PM on December 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
Interesting... these are the folks now on strike in Ontario... Going to the Drivetest.ca website, and clicking on the little red button at the bottom, one gets to a page with the username and password posted, where the Serco management side is posted.
posted by acro at 9:04 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by acro at 9:04 PM on December 2, 2009 [1 favorite]
air traffic control in the US and Iraq
A very limited atc role in the US and in Iraq.
Serco has a contract from the FAA to operate 54 air traffic control towers in the Western US and was awarded a contract to restore atc to airports in Baghdad and Basra in 2004.
They have nothing to do with Terminal Radar Approach Control or Air Route Traffic Control.
posted by mlis at 9:34 PM on December 2, 2009
A very limited atc role in the US and in Iraq.
Serco has a contract from the FAA to operate 54 air traffic control towers in the Western US and was awarded a contract to restore atc to airports in Baghdad and Basra in 2004.
They have nothing to do with Terminal Radar Approach Control or Air Route Traffic Control.
posted by mlis at 9:34 PM on December 2, 2009
I've generally found them to be trying to do their best using very limited resources while the earth constantly moves underneath them. But then, my experience has mostly been with employees of environment departments and health departments etc. Maybe things are different in better-funded areas.
I'm working in the public sector at the moment -- for the first time ever. I've generally either been self employed or worked for the third sector. And my observation is that you get both at the same time. The majority are dedicated people who work their arse off, but there's a small minority who take six months on the sick every time they sneeze.
Here in the UK, Serco have gone into partnership with third sector organisation Turning Point to put a smiling face on their rapacious prison programme.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:27 PM on December 2, 2009
I'm working in the public sector at the moment -- for the first time ever. I've generally either been self employed or worked for the third sector. And my observation is that you get both at the same time. The majority are dedicated people who work their arse off, but there's a small minority who take six months on the sick every time they sneeze.
Here in the UK, Serco have gone into partnership with third sector organisation Turning Point to put a smiling face on their rapacious prison programme.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:27 PM on December 2, 2009
Sysco has an operating income of close to 2 trillion dollars, much larger than that of Serco. Ever heard of Sysco?
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:06 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:06 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]
And my observation is that you get both at the same time. The majority are dedicated people who work their arse off, but there's a small minority who take six months on the sick every time they sneeze.
I've worked in private, academic, non-profit, and government organisations, and I'd agree with this. The problem is that the small minority can get entrenched, and prevent other staff, with more enthusiasm and better ideas, from achieving.
But private sector organisations can have huge inefficiencies. I've worked in one where we deliberately spent more than we needed in the good times, so we'd have something to cut from our budget when things got worse. (Whereas in the public sector, you spend what you can get, which relates more to the party in power). Equally, this supposedly innovative organisation had terrible IT/information policies which meant we spent a lot of extra time trying to get anything done.
Equally, the worst excess I saw in the public sector was caused by an ex-private sector manager agreeing a no-bid IT contract with his buddies, on the golf course. Software never worked, they dissolved the company and offered us the source code as sole payment for all the money and time we'd put into it.
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:07 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
I've worked in private, academic, non-profit, and government organisations, and I'd agree with this. The problem is that the small minority can get entrenched, and prevent other staff, with more enthusiasm and better ideas, from achieving.
But private sector organisations can have huge inefficiencies. I've worked in one where we deliberately spent more than we needed in the good times, so we'd have something to cut from our budget when things got worse. (Whereas in the public sector, you spend what you can get, which relates more to the party in power). Equally, this supposedly innovative organisation had terrible IT/information policies which meant we spent a lot of extra time trying to get anything done.
Equally, the worst excess I saw in the public sector was caused by an ex-private sector manager agreeing a no-bid IT contract with his buddies, on the golf course. Software never worked, they dissolved the company and offered us the source code as sole payment for all the money and time we'd put into it.
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:07 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
twoleftfeet wrote: "Ever heard of Sysco?"
Don't they make generic "key lime pie", among other things? ;)
posted by wierdo at 12:47 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Don't they make generic "key lime pie", among other things? ;)
posted by wierdo at 12:47 AM on December 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
twoleftfeet: Sysco has an operating income of close to 2 trillion dollars, much larger than that of Serco. Ever heard of Sysco?Where are you from? I ask because I know in some countries the thousands separator is a period, and not a comma, so I'm wondering if you're misreading the wiki page. That displays as an operating income of $1.880 billion. That looks like close to $2 billion to me, with revenue of $37.5 billion.
I think if Sysco had operating income of $1.880 trillion dollars, on revenue of nearly $38 trillion dollars, we'd have all heard of them. They'd be the RAMJAC corporation.
Also, I have heard of Sysco- I think a fair number of people have, because you can't work in the food service industry or walk near a restaurant in my city without seeing their trucks or delivery boxes nearby.
But who am I to criticize your error? I thought ADF stood for the Anti-Defamation League
posted by hincandenza at 1:08 AM on December 3, 2009
You're right. I confused a period for a comma.
Sysco is still bigger than Serco though. But I bet most people in North America who aren't in the food service industry haven't heard of Sysco, even though they do provide our key lime pies (among other things).
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:56 AM on December 3, 2009
Sysco is still bigger than Serco though. But I bet most people in North America who aren't in the food service industry haven't heard of Sysco, even though they do provide our key lime pies (among other things).
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:56 AM on December 3, 2009
"They run all of Australia's immigration centres; Hunfield Prison in Germany;...air traffic control in the US" --
To me, this sentence sounds like they "run" or "run all" air traffic control in the US. I believe that most all of the 14,000+ air traffic controllers in the US are US federal employees, regular full-time staff of the Federal Aviation Administration. According to the Serco Group web site, they contract to operate 58 towers in the U.S. -- this is a small percentage of the total air traffic control towers.
posted by JimDe at 3:49 AM on December 3, 2009
To me, this sentence sounds like they "run" or "run all" air traffic control in the US. I believe that most all of the 14,000+ air traffic controllers in the US are US federal employees, regular full-time staff of the Federal Aviation Administration. According to the Serco Group web site, they contract to operate 58 towers in the U.S. -- this is a small percentage of the total air traffic control towers.
posted by JimDe at 3:49 AM on December 3, 2009
In related news: Prince quits as CEO of Blackwater-turned-Xe.
Is this for real, or just part of some contract dispute where he's gonna change his name to some goofy symbol?
posted by rokusan at 5:24 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]
Is this for real, or just part of some contract dispute where he's gonna change his name to some goofy symbol?
posted by rokusan at 5:24 AM on December 3, 2009 [2 favorites]
"Ever heard of Sysco?"
I was mid-post before I realized that this wasn't the same company, actually. At first, it made perfect sense: prisons and railroads... yeah that makes sense, they're already in the business of trucking millions of meals and uniforms around, anyway...
posted by rokusan at 5:26 AM on December 3, 2009
I was mid-post before I realized that this wasn't the same company, actually. At first, it made perfect sense: prisons and railroads... yeah that makes sense, they're already in the business of trucking millions of meals and uniforms around, anyway...
posted by rokusan at 5:26 AM on December 3, 2009
"Ever heard of Sysco?"
Yep. As has been said upthread, their trucks are omnipresent in many U.S. cities.
The company is not a stranger to folks here on MeFi.
posted by ericb at 2:02 PM on December 3, 2009
Yep. As has been said upthread, their trucks are omnipresent in many U.S. cities.
The company is not a stranger to folks here on MeFi.
posted by ericb at 2:02 PM on December 3, 2009
there's also koch industries kinda like a (bigger) under-the-radar bechtel.
posted by kliuless at 6:42 AM on December 4, 2009
posted by kliuless at 6:42 AM on December 4, 2009
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posted by horsemuth at 3:09 PM on December 2, 2009