3 ms·

> compete in price Which equals worse service. I've yet to across a privatization project that improved anything for the end user, and I lived through a bunch

by moogly 2y ago

> compete in price Which equals worse service. I've yet to across a privatization project that improved anything for the end user, and I lived through a bunch in the 90s. Interregional rail, public transport, postal, telecom... They were all failures.

nobodyandproud 2y ago
I can’t think of one privatization effort in the US that improved services, or kept services steady at a lower cost. There may be one but it’s certainly the exception. Though it greatly enriches those helming the effort.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  ahem SpaceX. No Musk fan, but that company has been doing a real bang-up (literally) job of developing affordable launch systems. I think the SLS is a disaster, and I suspect is very much in DOGE's crosshairs. As always, "it depends" is really where the truth lies. There doesn't seem to be anyone that is "always right," or "always wrong." It's the extremists that believe that there is "always right/wrong," that cause the pain.
  - nobodyandproud 2y ago
    That’s a good one and that should be a case study: https://www.forbes.com/2003/02/03/cx_ah_0203space.html https://www.forbes.com/2003/02/03/cx_ah_0203space.html Privatization was well under way, but the incumbents were (and still are) awful. NASA later took a risk with SpaceX, fostered competition, and it paid off enormously. But this worked out because there was a market and demand (private sector satellites).
  - moogly 2y ago
    Is that the same thing though? Lots of private for-profit cooks involved in SLS. That's the other issue common with privatization: way too easy to blame someone else/each other in the chain of subcontractors.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
      It will be interesting to see what happens with SLS. I guarantee that Musk wants it fed into the shredder, but lots of senators and congresscritters rely on its pork.

3 ms·

> compete in price Which equals worse service. I've yet to across a privatization project that improved anything for the end user, and I lived through a bunch

by moogly 2y ago

nobodyandproud 2y ago
I can’t think of one privatization effort in the US that improved services, or kept services steady at a lower cost. There may be one but it’s certainly the exception. Though it greatly enriches those helming the effort.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  ahem SpaceX. No Musk fan, but that company has been doing a real bang-up (literally) job of developing affordable launch systems. I think the SLS is a disaster, and I suspect is very much in DOGE's crosshairs. As always, "it depends" is really where the truth lies. There doesn't seem to be anyone that is "always right," or "always wrong." It's the extremists that believe that there is "always right/wrong," that cause the pain.
  - nobodyandproud 2y ago
    That’s a good one and that should be a case study: https://www.forbes.com/2003/02/03/cx_ah_0203space.html https://www.forbes.com/2003/02/03/cx_ah_0203space.html Privatization was well under way, but the incumbents were (and still are) awful. NASA later took a risk with SpaceX, fostered competition, and it paid off enormously. But this worked out because there was a market and demand (private sector satellites).
  - moogly 2y ago
    Is that the same thing though? Lots of private for-profit cooks involved in SLS. That's the other issue common with privatization: way too easy to blame someone else/each other in the chain of subcontractors.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
      It will be interesting to see what happens with SLS. I guarantee that Musk wants it fed into the shredder, but lots of senators and congresscritters rely on its pork.