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Government, by definition, can be more efficient than any private entity because it never needs to produce a profit. Businesses need to be able to skim a littl
by Frondo 10y ago
Government, by definition, can be more efficient than any private entity because it never needs to produce a profit. Businesses need to be able to skim a little off for the owners. Government can provide services at cost, no mark up.
If you're unhappy with the implementation of a specific program, like Medicare (which is, of course, more efficient than private health insurance in the US), let's talk about that.
My pick is the military--very wasteful. We could fold 90% of that budget into university and health care and live in heaven on earth.
- refurb 10y agoBut profit creates an incentive for efficiency. Sell the same thing for 1% lower than your competitor and that goes right into your pocket. Our current gov't system provide very little incentive for efficient use of funds. I'm not arguing that all of these programs need to just disappear. I'm arguing a "race to the bottom" in terms of efficiency is a good thing, not a bad thing for gov'ts.
- Frondo 10y agoI think the kind of constant oversight and worrying over how our tax dollars are spent creates an incentive for efficiency. And the ability to vote regularly on elected officials who guide our programs, that too creates an incentive for efficiency. Having seen what races to the bottom do in various other industries, I shudder to think of how government works would suffer under the same pressure. Not the kind of society I'd want to aspire to live in.