4 ms·

Given that the government we've had for the last 12 years have been privatizing and cutting back large amounts of the state (e.g. the criminal justice system is

by mhh__ 4y ago

Given that the government we've had for the last 12 years have been privatizing and cutting back large amounts of the state (e.g. the criminal justice system is now falling apart by many accounts) that sounds rather like a hammer-see-nail outlook. The bedrock of the nation is really not in a good place, unless you aim to merely be better than the Italians or Spanish, there has been a large increase in the use of food banks and that kind of thing. What we did have during the pandemic was blatant corruption wrt to the purchasing of PPE and building test and trace organizations. Billions lost, conveniently in large part to companies that don't really exist. Governments should not be in power this long, they've run out of honest people.

WalterBright 4y ago
If the state is being cut back by large amounts, where is all the enormous increase in spending going?
- bostik 4y ago
  To handouts and corporate welfare. Whether through incompetence, design or outright corruption, it doesn't matter. State has been and continues to be cut, with functions moved over to (read: bought from) private providers. But because there is no real competition among them, the privatisation drive does not push for any gains in productivity. Instead of a public entity doing something, that something is now bought from a private provider with elevated profit margins. UK governments don't encourage competition. They grant charters. In the US you would probably call these "cost plus" contracts. But because these are essential services, a more accurate description would be: this is tax farming.
- mhh__ 4y ago
  In large part the last paragraph I wrote. The way the government deal with with the private sector in this country is utterly bizarre. It's very much a buy cheap buy twice type of pattern, only the companies that get the deals typically can't deliver anything (i.e. they just pass the money on to a real company, only that means the pricing mechanism/feedback is completely broken)

by mhh__ 4y ago

WalterBright 4y ago

If the state is being cut back by large amounts, where is all the enormous increase in spending going?

bostik 4y ago
To handouts and corporate welfare. Whether through incompetence, design or outright corruption, it doesn't matter. State has been and continues to be cut, with functions moved over to (read: bought from) private providers. But because there is no real competition among them, the privatisation drive does not push for any gains in productivity. Instead of a public entity doing something, that something is now bought from a private provider with elevated profit margins. UK governments don't encourage competition. They grant charters. In the US you would probably call these "cost plus" contracts. But because these are essential services, a more accurate description would be: this is tax farming.
mhh__ 4y ago
In large part the last paragraph I wrote. The way the government deal with with the private sector in this country is utterly bizarre. It's very much a buy cheap buy twice type of pattern, only the companies that get the deals typically can't deliver anything (i.e. they just pass the money on to a real company, only that means the pricing mechanism/feedback is completely broken)