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Unfortunately, the people who weasel their way into power, more often than not, don’t have the same convictions as you regardless of whether it’s private or pub
by jonhohle 3y ago
Unfortunately, the people who weasel their way into power, more often than not, don’t have the same convictions as you regardless of whether it’s private or public sector.
At least I don’t have to be a customer of the private sector. Once things are nationalized, the same jerks are running the show based on incentives that are only aligned with their own prosperity, but now impact an entire constituency. Every time you hear a public servant talk about a problem with metrics that make no sense to solving the actual issues, their incentives become more obvious.
- amelius 3y agoThere's one difference though: in the case of public servants, we (the electorate) still have power over them.
- gruez 3y ago1. how well did that work in 2016? 2. Companies are also subject to laws and regulations, which are enacted by public servants
- fallingknife 3y agoThen why is it that when I had a problem with the IRS that it was an absolute nightmare to solve. Even getting a person on the phone was difficult. But when I have a problem with an Amazon order, I can get a refund in a few clicks. Turns out my power to choose to not be a customer gives me infinitely more power over a company than my right to vote gives me over a company.
- amelius 3y agoDid you write a letter to the ombudsman? Anyway, the rule of law should protect individual citizens. Government institutions or officials shouldn't get special treatment or protection. In case they do, then there's your problem. Not with the government entirely, but with the legislative branch (which companies are also subjected to).
- fallingknife 3y agoThe people making the rules will always get special treatment because having the power to make the rules requires having the power to grant oneself special treatment under them. And for the same reason, this is not a problem solvable by rules. I don't care that Jeff Bezos gets better customer service from Amazon than me, or that some senators son can pick up the phone and talk to the head of the IRS. What I care about is that the service I get from the IRS is horrible and the service that I get from Amazon is good.
- amelius 3y agoIt all depends. The service you get from Google is still horrible.
- asveikau 3y agoProbably because right wingers have been decreasing funding for IRS for a long time, so they don't have enough call center employees. Personally, last time I needed to call them circa 2016 they were great. I've never had a negative experience phoning IRS.