http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/privatization/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3419/public_libraries_for_profit/ In late October, Jackson County, Ore., re-opened the doors to 15 of its public libraries after a lack of funds had forced them shut on April 6--the largest library closure in U.S. history. However, as patrons returned to the bookshelves in the southern Oregon county, they learned that their libraries are now under private, for-profit management. Oregon suffered a $150 million budget shortfall--and Jackson County a $23 million loss--in fiscal year 2007, after the federal government failed to renew a $400 million annual subsidy designed to help rural communities suffering from the decline in timber-logging revenue. Though Congress eventually extended the funding by one year, Jackson County commissioners, strapped for cash, voted to outsource library services to the Maryland-based Library… corporation privatization Susan J. Douglas Mon, 12 May 2008 05:01:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3678/the_push_to_privatize_pemex/ Halliburton is licking its chops at the prospect of Mexico's state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos going private. Petróleos Mexicanos, or PEMEX, withstood a tsunami of privatizations of formerly state-owned companies in the late 1980s and '90s. But now, with pro-business President Felipe Calderón in office, the effort is being revisited -- and the Mexican left is coming out en masse to defend the 70-year-old company, a long-time source of national pride and a symbol of Mexican sovereignty. On April 8, Calderón, who served as energy secretary under former President Vicente Fox, proposed a reform package that calls for forging "strategic alliances" with private oil companies and opening 37 of PEMEX's 41 divisions to private subcontractors. Although Calderón carefully specified that the reforms… oil privatization Susan J. Douglas