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I never understand why do people think the government is going to do such a great job at running things. Have you never been to a DMV or had to interact with a

I never understand why do people think the government is going to do such a great job at running things. Have you never been to a DMV or had to interact with any federal/state/local authority? You get nothing but unthinking apathetic people who just want you to go away. I assure you government employees will care even less when something goes wrong.

syki 5y ago
Japan, Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain, etc. all run a national healthcare systems for far cheaper than the U.S. that covers everyone with more or less equal outcomes. The citizens of those countries don’t go bankrupt when getting care. It can be done. DMV is quite good in my state. The Postal Service does an outstanding job of delivering packages. NIST and the Park Service provide great benefits to the nation. The U.S. military is government run and it does a great job at destroying organized state power. Should we privatize all of these organizations? How about privatizing the court system? Do you really want to live on Ferenginar?
- nyokodo 5y ago
  > Do you really want to live on Ferenginar? Hollywood caricatures should never underpin your understanding of economics.
  - syki 5y ago
    Humor shouldn’t get in the way of understanding the point being made. Clearly this reference to Ferenginar was illustrative of a broader point. Equally clear is that it doesn’t underpin my understanding of economics. No reasonable reading of what I wrote suggests this.
zeruch 5y ago
"I never understand why do people think the government is going to do such a great job at running things." Because if designed competently, with audits/transparency baked in, it can. Plenty of agencies in numerous nations have proved this out, but folks continue to have onanistic John Galt fantasies instead.
lesuorac 5y ago
I do wonder how many other people you've interacted with. There are many people in government trying to do a good job and many who aren't, just like private industry. I recently spent <15 mins at the DMV to get a vehicle title transferred and it was a very efficient process (granted I spent more time in the car as there aren't offices in every town). --- Perhaps you should talk to your local representative about the DMV's funding. There was a recent post to HN about how the FDA only has 10 employees to do declassification of documents, of course they will be slow at doing that. I wonder how many employees/per capita works at your DMVs.

syki 5y ago

Japan, Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain, etc. all run a national healthcare systems for far cheaper than the U.S. that covers everyone with more or less equal outcomes. The citizens of those countries don’t go bankrupt when getting care. It can be done. DMV is quite good in my state. The Postal Service does an outstanding job of delivering packages. NIST and the Park Service provide great benefits to the nation. The U.S. military is government run and it does a great job at destroying organized state power. Should we privatize all of these organizations? How about privatizing the court system? Do you really want to live on Ferenginar?

nyokodo 5y ago
> Do you really want to live on Ferenginar? Hollywood caricatures should never underpin your understanding of economics.
- syki 5y ago
  Humor shouldn’t get in the way of understanding the point being made. Clearly this reference to Ferenginar was illustrative of a broader point. Equally clear is that it doesn’t underpin my understanding of economics. No reasonable reading of what I wrote suggests this.

zeruch 5y ago

"I never understand why do people think the government is going to do such a great job at running things." Because if designed competently, with audits/transparency baked in, it can. Plenty of agencies in numerous nations have proved this out, but folks continue to have onanistic John Galt fantasies instead.

lesuorac 5y ago

I do wonder how many other people you've interacted with. There are many people in government trying to do a good job and many who aren't, just like private industry. I recently spent <15 mins at the DMV to get a vehicle title transferred and it was a very efficient process (granted I spent more time in the car as there aren't offices in every town). --- Perhaps you should talk to your local representative about the DMV's funding. There was a recent post to HN about how the FDA only has 10 employees to do declassification of documents, of course they will be slow at doing that. I wonder how many employees/per capita works at your DMVs.