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I like the idea of providing services for free, but this is false: > The state can use its centralized negotiating power to get lower prices Governments are n
by kristianp 6y ago
I like the idea of providing services for free, but this is false:
> The state can use its centralized negotiating power to get lower prices
Governments are notorious for getting terrible prices for what they directly pay for due to incentives and political pressures increasing restrictions and complexity.
At least a ubi keeps market forces in place for services.
- Nasrudith 6y agoThe thesis also completely ignores the logistics involved in it and the previous attempts. There is a reason why they largely dropped the literal government cheese distribution (processed cheese product really for preservation) down to food banks and pantries for dealing with the surplus dairy caused by their agricultural price-stabilization policies. It is far from trivial to maintain the logistics of just one good as an intermediary purchaser let alone many of them and allocating them properly without any price-signals to drive the process.
- florencebuzz 6y agoThis, like most any other thing a government could conceivably do for the benefit of the population it should serve, will always be wrecked into dysfunction so long as the officials responsible are permitted to make and prioritize commitments to private industry instead. The fact that this must be repeated so often on this website is why I no longer take seriously hardly anything I read on it.
- Schiendelman 6y agoBut if you accept that problem, and don’t start with a theory of how you’d fix that problem, it sounds like we all agree the core assertion of the post is wrong.