Power and money? Welcome to America.

In the United States, nothing is ever enough and people always want what they can't have. These are innate feelings for most Americans, and are rooted in the United States' capitalistic society, where money is power, power is money.

And let's face it, money and power lead to corruption.

Privatization is one major concept prevalent in American society that nurtures any policy surrounding money and power.

David Streitfeld, New York Times' columnist, recently covered the issue of a private company taking over public libraries in Santa Clarita. Streitfeld included a visual description of the main library's environment in Santa Clarita and said, "It was a portrait of civic harmony and engagement."

Who really wants to paint dollar signs and bigots into that holistic of a portrait? Not me.

In Streitfeld's article he received commentary from the advocates for the library's privatization who "acknowledge(d) there was no immediate threat to the libraries" and that they just "wante(d) to ensure the libraries' long-term survival in a state with increasingly shaky finances."

My grandpa, a farmer in South Dakota, would respond with, "Don't fix something that 'aint broke." I understand this is a hard slogan for most Americans to follow, but it's true.

There is a common, underlying motivation throughout most of the United States, which makes this kind of sensical slogan irrelevant and that is the want and need for the bigger and the better.

If a large Coca-Cola wasn't enough now we have a Big Gulp. But why stop there? Get a fountain soda machine and install it in your home. This is the mindset of most Americans.

Anyone who has seen "Sicko" knows what I mean. In this documentary film by Michael Moore, he exposes the corruption that runs rampant in privatized medicine.

Moore calls out insurance companies for giving raises and promotions to employees who deny medical attention. In one case a man was denied attention because his treatment was considered "experimental;" in other words, it was too expensive for the company to want to cover. The man died shortly after.

If that's not a perfect example of what kind of corruption can fester due to privatization, then I don't know what is.

If the libraries are privatized in Santa Clarita similar, but less serious, corruption will occur.

Streitfeld interviewed Frank A. Pezzanite, the outsourcing company's chief executive, who had no pity for the libraries or opponents of the privatization in Santa Clarita.

"A lot of libraries are atrocious," Pezzanite said. "Their policies are all about job security. That's why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We're not running our company that way. You come to us, you're going to have to work."

Furthermore, Streitfeld wrote, "(Pezzanite) has pledged to save $1 million a year in Santa Clarita, mainly by cutting overhead and replacing unionized employees."

You are not fooling anyone, Pezzanite, try to hide the corruption of privatization by saying it will "save money" all you want. In the end, what you just said is: I want to save you money, so I can privatize, make myself more money and take away any unions that will question my position of power.

And that, my friends, is corruption in its purest form.