4 ms·

Of course you can find examples of where the private sector outperforms government. And I can provide counter examples. I just moved to a much smaller city (in

Of course you can find examples of where the private sector outperforms government. And I can provide counter examples. I just moved to a much smaller city (in the same region) with gigabit municipal internet. For the same price that I was paying comcast for 50 mbps internet, I now have 20 times the speed with no data caps. The market works great until it doesn't. The interstate system, and the military are 2 prime examples where the market is never going to provide a solution. Affordable medical care for everyone is another.

rayiner 7y ago
I’m not just giving examples. Education and infrastructure are two of the big pillars of why we have government in the first place, and US government bodies have failed miserably on both fronts despite enormous funding. As to municipal internet—its great until it’s not. Maryland has municipal cable systems that were built a couple of decades ago, and they have struggled to keep up with the DOCSIS upgrade treadmill. Additionally, what problems exist with broadband in the US are largely government created. Comcast has no data caps almost everywhere in Maryland, because it’s in competition with Verizon. The only place that’s not true is Baltimore—where the city legally prevented Verizon from coming in and competing with Comcast. Verizon wanted to wire up Baltimore—the city wouldn’t allow it to do so. Speaking more generally, DC Metro was snazzy at first too, but was unable to maintain the system long term. It’s interesting you focus on the price point: is $50 sustainable? Charging too little is actually a big problem. A subway ticket in London can cost 2-3x as much as one in New York, despite the two systems being very similar in age and size. Unsurprisingly, the London subway is doing fine and the New York subway is falling apart.
- vkou 7y ago
  > I’m not just giving examples. Education and infrastructure are two of the big pillars of why we have government in the first place, and US government bodies have failed miserably on both fronts despite enormous funding. I would posit that the only thing that is a bigger failure than the public school system, is the private school system. It's numbers look good, but that's largely because private schools are more expensive, and also opt out of educating problem students.

rayiner 7y ago

I’m not just giving examples. Education and infrastructure are two of the big pillars of why we have government in the first place, and US government bodies have failed miserably on both fronts despite enormous funding. As to municipal internet—its great until it’s not. Maryland has municipal cable systems that were built a couple of decades ago, and they have struggled to keep up with the DOCSIS upgrade treadmill. Additionally, what problems exist with broadband in the US are largely government created. Comcast has no data caps almost everywhere in Maryland, because it’s in competition with Verizon. The only place that’s not true is Baltimore—where the city legally prevented Verizon from coming in and competing with Comcast. Verizon wanted to wire up Baltimore—the city wouldn’t allow it to do so. Speaking more generally, DC Metro was snazzy at first too, but was unable to maintain the system long term. It’s interesting you focus on the price point: is $50 sustainable? Charging too little is actually a big problem. A subway ticket in London can cost 2-3x as much as one in New York, despite the two systems being very similar in age and size. Unsurprisingly, the London subway is doing fine and the New York subway is falling apart.

vkou 7y ago
> I’m not just giving examples. Education and infrastructure are two of the big pillars of why we have government in the first place, and US government bodies have failed miserably on both fronts despite enormous funding. I would posit that the only thing that is a bigger failure than the public school system, is the private school system. It's numbers look good, but that's largely because private schools are more expensive, and also opt out of educating problem students.