4 ms·

Can you name some issues governments have solved with taxpayer funds?

paulryanrogers 3y ago
Need for defense, education, water, fire fighting/regulations, sewer, trash/recycling pickup, and once in a while workers rights and anti-trust. (Depending on ones definition of 'solved'.)
- vivekd 3y ago
  Yes thank goodness those monopolies are gone and our cities are all clean and safe from fires and our sewage and road infrastructure is in top condition
  - paulryanrogers 3y ago
    I'd agree those needs haven't been solved permanently. Hence the need for vigilance and a strong government that's controlled by the people, not the rich or high born.
    - vivekd 3y ago
      These discussions are exasperating for me because I always go where? Where in this world is this strong government that's controlled by the average joe and not by the rich or high born. It seems like some enlightenment era utopian fantasy that people haven't grown out of
      - paulryanrogers 3y ago
        It's an ideal to strive for. Rarely reached. Yet things get better the closer we are to it, and worse the farther away.
- forward1 3y ago
  All of those sit on the shoulders of private business and enterprise. Government (and bureaucracy generally) only prevents them from efficiently executing on what the market demands of them.
  - paulryanrogers 3y ago
    Before workers rights, regulation, and public education the industrialized world was much more privatized and also quite bleak. Private industry has its place. Doesn't mean it's a good idea to outsource governance to them in all but name.
jhbadger 3y ago
Smallpox is no longer a disease (anywhere in the world) thanks to public health services funded by governments. Likewise polio is on the way out (with an unfortunate recent spike due to some parents not vaccinating their children for "reasons"). Water-spread diseases like cholera which used to kill thousands every few years in in places like New York or London in the 19th century are basically unknown today in the developed world, thanks to modern water treatment plants and sewers. While you might say there was some contribution to these efforts by private philanthropists, the vast majority of these public health efforts were government (taxpayer) funded.

Need for defense, education, water, fire fighting/regulations, sewer, trash/recycling pickup, and once in a while workers rights and anti-trust. (Depending on ones definition of 'solved'.)

vivekd 3y ago
Yes thank goodness those monopolies are gone and our cities are all clean and safe from fires and our sewage and road infrastructure is in top condition
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  I'd agree those needs haven't been solved permanently. Hence the need for vigilance and a strong government that's controlled by the people, not the rich or high born.
  - vivekd 3y ago
    These discussions are exasperating for me because I always go where? Where in this world is this strong government that's controlled by the average joe and not by the rich or high born. It seems like some enlightenment era utopian fantasy that people haven't grown out of
    - paulryanrogers 3y ago
      It's an ideal to strive for. Rarely reached. Yet things get better the closer we are to it, and worse the farther away.
forward1 3y ago
All of those sit on the shoulders of private business and enterprise. Government (and bureaucracy generally) only prevents them from efficiently executing on what the market demands of them.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  Before workers rights, regulation, and public education the industrialized world was much more privatized and also quite bleak. Private industry has its place. Doesn't mean it's a good idea to outsource governance to them in all but name.

jhbadger 3y ago

Smallpox is no longer a disease (anywhere in the world) thanks to public health services funded by governments. Likewise polio is on the way out (with an unfortunate recent spike due to some parents not vaccinating their children for "reasons"). Water-spread diseases like cholera which used to kill thousands every few years in in places like New York or London in the 19th century are basically unknown today in the developed world, thanks to modern water treatment plants and sewers. While you might say there was some contribution to these efforts by private philanthropists, the vast majority of these public health efforts were government (taxpayer) funded.