3 ms·

"Road maintenance" shouldn't be done by private companies that are given contracts by the government? Why not?

photochemsyn 4y ago
It really depends on where responsibility begins and ends. It might make a lot more sense, financially, for the government to manage maintenance using supplies and equipments purchased from private companies, with the people working on the roads being government employees instead of employees of the contractors. However, for specific jobs - say building a new bridge, etc. - it might make sense to have that be a complete private contract, and then, after it's built, maintenance becomes the government responsibility. In general however, there's too much opportunity for corruption if contracts are just blindly given to private interests by politicians. Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction contracts were a good example of how bad that can get.
- luckylion 4y ago
  I think there's a good reason to have anti-corruption measures and bring down the hammer hard on everyone in the administration that tries to circumvent them, but I do believe that government is just too inefficient when it comes to doing things. I'd rather risk that every tenth contract is fraudulent than have every contract cost twice as much with the government doing it themselves. There's just zero incentive for government employees to work quickly and efficiently. Check private contractor's work to make sure they're not cutting any corners, make corruption harder and incentivize whistle-blowers, but letting the government do things is not something I want as a taxpayer.
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    > I'd rather risk that every tenth contract is fraudulent than have every contract cost twice as much with the government doing it themselves. If you create the numbers, you'll reach your expected conclusion. > There's just zero incentive for government employees to work quickly and efficiently. Stop demonizing people. Just talk to some government employees. The article talks about how management works at DOE labs.
    - luckylion 4y ago
      I'm not demonizing anyone, I'm talking about incentives. And I've come to my understanding of how they work on government employees by talking to, and working with (as a consultant), government employees. There's a certain bureaucratic counterproductivity that I've only ever encountered in government employees. If that doesn't match your experience and government in your area is highly efficient and you wouldn't change a thing, that's great and I envy you, but it's not my experience at all.
      - wolverine876 4y ago
        > government in your area is highly efficient and you wouldn't change a thing More strawperson hyberbole. Hyberbole expresses only emotion; it adds nothing and gives us nothing to talk about on the merits. So, you're feeling frustrated? Angry?
        luckylion 4y ago
        Annoyed, I'd say, but it's okay. You want to talk about something else than what I was talking about. I cannot follow you there.
        1letterunixname 4y ago
        Please don't antagonize a commenter or trivialize their condition. There are millions of frustrated Americans who can't articulate their discomforts much less their sources. There are many possibilities: 1. Loss of privilege and prestige socially and/or geopolitically 2. Lower income, more stress, working harder, and less financial freedom to have a happy enough life 3. Loss of community 4. Loss of safety
  - 1letterunixname 4y ago
    Privatized electric grid as a market led to Enron causing unnecessary rolling blackouts to make money. The government is not a static hivemind, and deregulation and privatization are not panaceas. The US political class (elected fraction of government) is among the most corrupt in the world. Campaign finance reform will never happen because the rich run America. If you think the rich have the needs of the many in mind when they spend billions on lobbying to get their way, I don't think you're fully aware of the situation in which America finds herself.
1letterunixname 4y ago
"Please insert your FriendlyCard to unlock the street in front of your house." And toll turnpikes. "Public-Private Partnerships" are neoliberal fantasies of privatized, for-profit monopolies performing government functions while taxing working people. Most often, there is some sort of corrupt and unethical favoritism and revolving door between government official(s) and the vendor corporation.

It really depends on where responsibility begins and ends. It might make a lot more sense, financially, for the government to manage maintenance using supplies and equipments purchased from private companies, with the people working on the roads being government employees instead of employees of the contractors. However, for specific jobs - say building a new bridge, etc. - it might make sense to have that be a complete private contract, and then, after it's built, maintenance becomes the government responsibility. In general however, there's too much opportunity for corruption if contracts are just blindly given to private interests by politicians. Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction contracts were a good example of how bad that can get.

luckylion 4y ago
I think there's a good reason to have anti-corruption measures and bring down the hammer hard on everyone in the administration that tries to circumvent them, but I do believe that government is just too inefficient when it comes to doing things. I'd rather risk that every tenth contract is fraudulent than have every contract cost twice as much with the government doing it themselves. There's just zero incentive for government employees to work quickly and efficiently. Check private contractor's work to make sure they're not cutting any corners, make corruption harder and incentivize whistle-blowers, but letting the government do things is not something I want as a taxpayer.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  > I'd rather risk that every tenth contract is fraudulent than have every contract cost twice as much with the government doing it themselves. If you create the numbers, you'll reach your expected conclusion. > There's just zero incentive for government employees to work quickly and efficiently. Stop demonizing people. Just talk to some government employees. The article talks about how management works at DOE labs.
  - luckylion 4y ago
    I'm not demonizing anyone, I'm talking about incentives. And I've come to my understanding of how they work on government employees by talking to, and working with (as a consultant), government employees. There's a certain bureaucratic counterproductivity that I've only ever encountered in government employees. If that doesn't match your experience and government in your area is highly efficient and you wouldn't change a thing, that's great and I envy you, but it's not my experience at all.
    - wolverine876 4y ago
      > government in your area is highly efficient and you wouldn't change a thing More strawperson hyberbole. Hyberbole expresses only emotion; it adds nothing and gives us nothing to talk about on the merits. So, you're feeling frustrated? Angry?
      - luckylion 4y ago
        Annoyed, I'd say, but it's okay. You want to talk about something else than what I was talking about. I cannot follow you there.
      - 1letterunixname 4y ago
        Please don't antagonize a commenter or trivialize their condition. There are millions of frustrated Americans who can't articulate their discomforts much less their sources. There are many possibilities: 1. Loss of privilege and prestige socially and/or geopolitically 2. Lower income, more stress, working harder, and less financial freedom to have a happy enough life 3. Loss of community 4. Loss of safety
- 1letterunixname 4y ago
  Privatized electric grid as a market led to Enron causing unnecessary rolling blackouts to make money. The government is not a static hivemind, and deregulation and privatization are not panaceas. The US political class (elected fraction of government) is among the most corrupt in the world. Campaign finance reform will never happen because the rich run America. If you think the rich have the needs of the many in mind when they spend billions on lobbying to get their way, I don't think you're fully aware of the situation in which America finds herself.

1letterunixname 4y ago

"Please insert your FriendlyCard to unlock the street in front of your house." And toll turnpikes. "Public-Private Partnerships" are neoliberal fantasies of privatized, for-profit monopolies performing government functions while taxing working people. Most often, there is some sort of corrupt and unethical favoritism and revolving door between government official(s) and the vendor corporation.