5 ms·

> Significantly more arbitrary middlemen making their way into the process because of "let the market figure it out" does, in fact, create some process ineffici

> Significantly more arbitrary middlemen making their way into the process because of "let the market figure it out" does, in fact, create some process inefficiencies in supply chains and contract pipelines. Few countries are as aggressively market-based for things meant for public good as the US. This times a 1000. This is a huge factor that I think is missing. The market will just price in the labor required of all the people to make something happen. In other governments/countries, the heavy-handed government tends to basically say "We are paying this much, who wants to do it?". And they really only pay that much. There's no room for cost over runs. On the flip-side, a lot of times the amount is established by some bureaucrats friend before the project is even set to take off and the criteria are design to favor that friend and their companies price and strengths.

asdff 7y ago
Profit is also priced in of course. You pay a public employee $1 to do $1 worth of labor, all swell. To get that same $1 worth of labor out of the private contractor, you need to pay $1.30 so that their C level employees get paid C level and their shareholders see exponential growth. It's parasitic and public funds should not be allowed to be skimmed by this by these bad actors.
- tnel77 7y ago
  You are correct that private companies are adding cost due to the desire to make money. I think the issue with the “public employee $1 to do $1 worth of labor” is that you get a level of complacency with government employees that can be a huge black hole for project funding. It’s possible, though not always the case, to allow a private company to make a profit while still getting more for your money. If the private employee is more efficient, they may need less hours to accomplish the same task. So the hourly rate may be higher, but there could be less hours in the equation to make the overall cost the same or lower. In theory at least.

asdff 7y ago

Profit is also priced in of course. You pay a public employee $1 to do $1 worth of labor, all swell. To get that same $1 worth of labor out of the private contractor, you need to pay $1.30 so that their C level employees get paid C level and their shareholders see exponential growth. It's parasitic and public funds should not be allowed to be skimmed by this by these bad actors.

tnel77 7y ago
You are correct that private companies are adding cost due to the desire to make money. I think the issue with the “public employee $1 to do $1 worth of labor” is that you get a level of complacency with government employees that can be a huge black hole for project funding. It’s possible, though not always the case, to allow a private company to make a profit while still getting more for your money. If the private employee is more efficient, they may need less hours to accomplish the same task. So the hourly rate may be higher, but there could be less hours in the equation to make the overall cost the same or lower. In theory at least.