Like many people, we’re still processing the election results. In time, we may gain an understanding of why the electorate voted as they did, but that time isn’t now. It’s far too early and there’s too little data available to fully analyze the election, although that hasn’t stopped many politicians and pundits from weighing in with confidence. Instead, we want to focus on what we do know, and what we do know is that the new administration is going to try to preside over a fire sale of public goods and services.

The Trump agenda is laced with plans to partly or fully privatize Medicare, education, public lands, and more, and his cabinet is being stocked with privatization advocates. We already saw it happen during his first term and his campaign has promised it will return in Trump II with a vengeance.

Without an apparent awareness of the irony, Trump is adding a new government department to deal with government efficiency and that department requires the leadership of two people. One of those leaders is a massive government contractor and one—well, the same one—has been fined by the EPA for environmental violations. Both are intent on slashing government regulations (and, of course, regulators), and lots of government itself.

One data point that braids together several strands of the Trump agenda is the stock value of private prison profiteers GEO Group and CoreCivic, which jumped over 70% in the wake of his election. Turns out, rounding up and detaining immigrants is good for business.

The unprecedented acceleration of privatization plans under Trump makes this moment ripe to revisit The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back, the book I wrote with Allen Mikaelian that was first published in 2021.

In it, we argue that privatization is primarily a political strategy—one designed to separate us from public goods, our government, and each other. The book reminds readers that, when Big Corporations win, the public loses: it loses access, it loses assets, it loses financially, it loses the sense of common ownership and common experience, and it loses its voice in determining the direction of the public good or service. (Just ask the drivers and taxpayers of Chicago, whose parking meters are now owned by private investors.)

Through the book and all of the work that In the Public Interest does, we offer hope—and help. The book is a desk reference, a call to arms, a playbook, an argument to organize around, and—in the stories of those who have confronted privatization whenever it threatens a public good—an inspiration. It’s even more important now as we face the prospect of the next four years under Trump.

The book is available at local bookstores, at Bookshop.org in paperback, and as a free listen on Audiobooks.

Better yet, because our goal is not to sell books but to help you learn about the impact of privatization and how to fight back, pick one up at your local public library—while the book is still on the shelves, and the library is still open.

Donald Cohen
Executive Director

PS: If your organization or book club wants to use the book with staff or members, there’s a bulk rate available that brings the cost down—just email us at info@inthepublicinterest.org and we’ll send you the details.