Government contracting out out of control

The U.S. Congress has contracted out various services since the nation's inception, but no president has contracted out more work than George W. Bush. Meanwhile, the number of federal civil servants has decreased from about 2.3 million in 1990 to about 1.9 million in 2007, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

The current administration just didn't give private corporations routine jobs like mowing the grass and cleaning buildings. Privateers are responsible for government services that may surprise and, in some cases, alarm you. With more contractors "working on" the war in Iraq than U.S. troops, major military decisions have been left in the hands of corporations.

In fact, according to a new NPR report, government officials can't even identify the number of general contract employees, measure the cost effectiveness of their work, or assess the quality of their services.

Given this huge lack of management accountability, it's incredible that when some politicians say government is "too big" they're not talking about these too-numerous-to-count private contract workers. Instead, privatization proponents are attacking dedicated public employees who work federal, state, and local government jobs.

While we can add "fixing privatization" to the president-elect's to do list, public employee union members also can do their part by knowing the warning signs of privatization.