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Overall government doing anything is a bad idea. There are cases however where government is the only entity that can do certain things. These are things that i

Overall government doing anything is a bad idea. There are cases however where government is the only entity that can do certain things. These are things that involve military, law enforcement etc. Outside of this we should rely on private industry and for-profit industry as much as possible.

pavlov 2y ago
The American healthcare industry demonstrates the tremendous benefits of rigidly applying this mindset. Why couldn’t law enforcement be private too? You call 911, several private security squads rush to solve your immediate crime issue, and the ones who manage to shoot the suspect send you a $20k bill. Seems efficient. If you don’t like the size of the bill, you can always get private crime insurance.
- sterlind 2y ago
  For a further exploration of this particular utopia, see Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson.
chris_wot 2y ago
That’s not correct. The American health care system is an extreme example of where private organisations fail overall society.
fragmede 2y ago
> Overall government doing anything is a bad idea. that is bereft of detail enough to just be wrong. There are things that government is good for and things that government is bad for, but "anything" is just too broad, and reveals an anti-government bias which just isn't well thought out.
goatlover 2y ago
Why are governments a bad idea? Seems the human race has opted for governments doing things since the dawn of civilization. Building roads, providing defense, enforcing rights, provide social safety nets, funding costly scientific endeavors.
com2kid 2y ago
Ugh. Government distorting undeveloped markets that have a lot of room for competition to increase efficiencies is a bad thing. Government agencies running programs that should not be profitable, or where the only profit to be left comes at the expense of society as a whole, is a good thing. Lots of basic medicine is the go to example here, treating cancer isn't going to be "profitable" and attempting to make it such just leads to dead people. On the flip side, one can argue that dentistry has seen amazing strides in affordability and technological progress through the free market. From dental xrays to improvements in dental procedures to make them less painful for the patients. Eye surgery is another area where competition has lead to good consumer outcomes. But life of death situations where people can't spend time researching? The only profit there comes through exploiting people.
Angostura 2y ago
To summarise: There are some things where government action is the best solution, however by default see if the private sector can sort it first.
- dolmen 2y ago
  And it has been demonstrated long ago that the private market is not the most efficient solution for the general society for handling healthcare insurance.

pavlov 2y ago

The American healthcare industry demonstrates the tremendous benefits of rigidly applying this mindset. Why couldn’t law enforcement be private too? You call 911, several private security squads rush to solve your immediate crime issue, and the ones who manage to shoot the suspect send you a $20k bill. Seems efficient. If you don’t like the size of the bill, you can always get private crime insurance.

sterlind 2y ago
For a further exploration of this particular utopia, see Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson.

chris_wot 2y ago

That’s not correct. The American health care system is an extreme example of where private organisations fail overall society.

fragmede 2y ago

> Overall government doing anything is a bad idea. that is bereft of detail enough to just be wrong. There are things that government is good for and things that government is bad for, but "anything" is just too broad, and reveals an anti-government bias which just isn't well thought out.

goatlover 2y ago

Why are governments a bad idea? Seems the human race has opted for governments doing things since the dawn of civilization. Building roads, providing defense, enforcing rights, provide social safety nets, funding costly scientific endeavors.

com2kid 2y ago

Ugh. Government distorting undeveloped markets that have a lot of room for competition to increase efficiencies is a bad thing. Government agencies running programs that should not be profitable, or where the only profit to be left comes at the expense of society as a whole, is a good thing. Lots of basic medicine is the go to example here, treating cancer isn't going to be "profitable" and attempting to make it such just leads to dead people. On the flip side, one can argue that dentistry has seen amazing strides in affordability and technological progress through the free market. From dental xrays to improvements in dental procedures to make them less painful for the patients. Eye surgery is another area where competition has lead to good consumer outcomes. But life of death situations where people can't spend time researching? The only profit there comes through exploiting people.

Angostura 2y ago

To summarise: There are some things where government action is the best solution, however by default see if the private sector can sort it first.

dolmen 2y ago
And it has been demonstrated long ago that the private market is not the most efficient solution for the general society for handling healthcare insurance.