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The flaw with private companies providing a public service is inevitably the erosion of demand for public goods and standards. The public sector should be held

The flaw with private companies providing a public service is inevitably the erosion of demand for public goods and standards. The public sector should be held to higher standards considering how large their budgets are and most of it is spent wastefully. Europe and other developed countries have a far superior public goods availability, service and outcomes with similar GDP going to the public sector. In the US one has to compare all taxes including federal, state and city/county levels with other countries.

jasonmp85 7y ago
One doesn’t have to anything, and indeed, I won’t. You’re concern trolling.
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  What do you think concern trolling is? And the "have to" has an implied "to get the math right". You're being weirdly hostile to take that literally.
virissimo 7y ago
In general, Europe may have better provision of public goods, but I’m not sure this is true in the current context. For example, it’s much easier to find a free-to-use restroom in Phoenix, Arizona than in Paris, France.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  > For example, it’s much easier to find a free-to-use restroom in Phoenix, Arizona than in Paris, France. Paris has a metro for that. edit: I bet Paris has more truly public free-to-use restrooms. It did take them a while to make them free and to keep many of them open at night. https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/useful-info/public-toilets https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/useful-info/public-...
  - Invictus0 7y ago
    And yet Paris still smells like piss.
  - virissimo 7y ago
    Ah, they are free now, so perhaps my impression is out of date.
umvi 7y ago
Really? When I was in Europe we could never find restrooms (or water!) without shelling out a few Euros. And even when we bought water, it was usually not refillable, it was in a glass bottle. And the metros still had beggars coming though each car asking for money and sleeping on the ground so clearly homelessness can't be solved by raising taxes alone. High taxes also have other cons and negative effects that are out of the scope of this particular argument.
- outime 7y ago
  Since you said "Europe" I can tell you that's not the case in e.g. Finland. Restrooms in Helsinki are free to use for everybody and water is free in all or 99% of restaurants and you can refill it as many times as you want. There are no beggars in public transport from what I've seen here in almost 10 years. High taxes are being put into good use [1] when it comes to homelessness. I know that in many countries (including the one I'm from) this is the situation, but not in whole Europe. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle...
  - Jommi 7y ago
    There are sometimes beggars/junkies in the metro, but it's very rare and it's usually about asking money for cigarettes.
- csomar 7y ago
  People confuse some Scandinavian and top EU cities with Europe. They forget that Paris, Greece and South Italy are also in Europe.
base698 7y ago
It's actually even worse than that: https://nyupress.org/9781479874729/the-poverty-industry/ https://nyupress.org/9781479874729/the-poverty-industry/ > foster care agencies are hiring private companies to help obtain disability and survivor benefits from abused and neglected children. Rather than using the funds to help the children, the money is diverted to agency revenue or to state general coffers. Some foster care agencies take even more, such as taking Veteran’s Assistance benefits belonging to a child after a parent serves and dies in the military. The Maryland foster care agency drafted a regulation allowing it to take all resources from foster children

jasonmp85 7y ago

One doesn’t have to anything, and indeed, I won’t. You’re concern trolling.

Dylan16807 7y ago
What do you think concern trolling is? And the "have to" has an implied "to get the math right". You're being weirdly hostile to take that literally.

virissimo 7y ago

In general, Europe may have better provision of public goods, but I’m not sure this is true in the current context. For example, it’s much easier to find a free-to-use restroom in Phoenix, Arizona than in Paris, France.

Scoundreller 7y ago
> For example, it’s much easier to find a free-to-use restroom in Phoenix, Arizona than in Paris, France. Paris has a metro for that. edit: I bet Paris has more truly public free-to-use restrooms. It did take them a while to make them free and to keep many of them open at night. https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/useful-info/public-toilets https://en.parisinfo.com/practical-paris/useful-info/public-...
- Invictus0 7y ago
  And yet Paris still smells like piss.
- virissimo 7y ago
  Ah, they are free now, so perhaps my impression is out of date.

umvi 7y ago

Really? When I was in Europe we could never find restrooms (or water!) without shelling out a few Euros. And even when we bought water, it was usually not refillable, it was in a glass bottle. And the metros still had beggars coming though each car asking for money and sleeping on the ground so clearly homelessness can't be solved by raising taxes alone. High taxes also have other cons and negative effects that are out of the scope of this particular argument.

outime 7y ago
Since you said "Europe" I can tell you that's not the case in e.g. Finland. Restrooms in Helsinki are free to use for everybody and water is free in all or 99% of restaurants and you can refill it as many times as you want. There are no beggars in public transport from what I've seen here in almost 10 years. High taxes are being put into good use [1] when it comes to homelessness. I know that in many countries (including the one I'm from) this is the situation, but not in whole Europe. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle-helsinkis-radical-solution-to-homelessness https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jun/03/its-a-miracle...
- Jommi 7y ago
  There are sometimes beggars/junkies in the metro, but it's very rare and it's usually about asking money for cigarettes.
csomar 7y ago
People confuse some Scandinavian and top EU cities with Europe. They forget that Paris, Greece and South Italy are also in Europe.

base698 7y ago

It's actually even worse than that: https://nyupress.org/9781479874729/the-poverty-industry/ https://nyupress.org/9781479874729/the-poverty-industry/ > foster care agencies are hiring private companies to help obtain disability and survivor benefits from abused and neglected children. Rather than using the funds to help the children, the money is diverted to agency revenue or to state general coffers. Some foster care agencies take even more, such as taking Veteran’s Assistance benefits belonging to a child after a parent serves and dies in the military. The Maryland foster care agency drafted a regulation allowing it to take all resources from foster children