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There are things that Amazon needs done to continue to run it's business effectively. Roads need repaired, crime needs to be kept down to acceptable rates, tra
by moosey 7y ago
There are things that Amazon needs done to continue to run it's business effectively. Roads need repaired, crime needs to be kept down to acceptable rates, trash needs to be removed, they need to be defended from foreign nations, etc. The need of the corporations of our nation means that everyone, including these companies that don't build their own roads and militaries are on "the government teat".
The idea that money is better in private hands than in the collective hands of government is a story that is oft repeated, but is far from proven. Arguably, studies I've seen of late show loss of efficiency and increased cost when privatized. This is a requirement for profit anyways.
Further, money spent by government has had massive effect on economic growth. Hoover dam made the much of the West livable, nasa still had massive scientific output, and welfare programs are incredibly effective.
- aeternus 7y agoI'd be interested to know which studies? While I agree that Amazon should pay their fair share, I find it hard to believe that there is a general loss of efficiency when privatized. Companies have strong incentives to reduce costs, whereas government projects often have negative incentives to reduce costs. (Cost-plus contracting and use-it-or-lose-it budgets). NASA is a great example, that organization made some amazing breakthroughs early on, but has arguably stagnated. It is now being surpassed by private companies due to ballooning bureaucracy and cost-prohibitive mission proposals. Something that many thought impossible. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/space-exploration-sticker-shock/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/space-exploration...
- maxxxxx 7y agoI'd agree that NASA is stagnating but without them there would probably be no private companies building rockets right now. They have done a lot of trial and error figuring out how rockets should work and now private companies are commoditizing this knowledge NASA has accumulated. We would know nothing about Mars either without NASA and Musk could not even dream of going there. NASA should go back to working on big leaps instead of being forced into things like the SLS by Congress. But private companies would go nowhere without the public investment through NASA.
- malandrew 7y agoAmazon pays for road repair. That happens through fuel taxes. The main problem with taxes used for roads is that they are grossly distorted. We should be paying for roads on the basis of vehicle miles traveled multiplied by gross vehicle weight per axle. That would force those responsible for the most wear and tear to roads to pay for the maintenance. This may increase the cost of goods and services to cover those costs, but at least then those goods and services will be accurately prices based on the input costs and that will determine if they should be produced in the first place and if so, in what quantities. If trash needs to be moved, charge for that service. That's what most businesses do. It's part of the costs of doing business and ends up impacting the price of the goods and services produced. For crime and military, even those are being paid for, directly and indirectly, by the business. By hiring people or making purchases, they are paying sales and payroll taxes and the people they employ are paying income taxes. The amount of taxes paid is proportional to the economic activity they produce. If they reinvest more, they pay taxes on that additional activity. The idea that some companies pay zero taxes because of zero profits is a blatant falsehood. Their activities still result in taxes being paid, just not on taxes on profit.