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Brother the government just labels "profit" differently. Most people would call it grift, pork, or "inefficiency". Government waste dwarfs private sector waste

Brother the government just labels "profit" differently. Most people would call it grift, pork, or "inefficiency". Government waste dwarfs private sector waste by orders of magnitude. The utopia where governments efficiently and wisely put our tax dollars to their best use doesn't exist, never has, and likely never will.

asdff 2mo ago
Mostly because government today pays out the nose for contracted labor rates as doing anything in house has been blown apart by free market reaganists over the years.
- rayiner 2mo ago
  The soviet union, the only non-capitalist country ever to have a technology comparable to ours, was really fucking inefficient. E.g. Soviets had 50% higher CO2 output per ton of steel than the U.S. due to poor energy efficiency.
  - asdff 2mo ago
    There was a time when american steel was inefficiently made too.
    - rayiner 2mo ago
      These figures are comparing steel making in two highly industrialized countries at the same time.
      - asdff 2mo ago
        And different orgs may arrive at different efficiency levels in different time scales. Says nothing about the merits of for profit vs nonprofit business.
jocaal 2mo ago
That utopia exists, the only problem is it is a communist country where you have no individual rights and can't own land.
- asdff 2mo ago
  It exists here too in small subsets of government. A parks dept that hires their own landscapers instead of contracting with a landscaping company is such an example of this utopia. A municipal power company with greatly reduced rates in comparison to a private utility. A university that runs its own prep kitchen facility over prepackaged GFS/cisco.
  - inemesitaffia 2mo ago
    It's never existed in this industry.
    - asdff 2mo ago
      So what? If you needed precedence for everything to happen, nothing new would ever happen.
      - inemesitaffia 2mo ago
        People talk about the industry like there was a time the government built it's rockets, then SpaceX stole money that was meant for NASA and now NASA can't build rockets anymore.
        asdff 2mo ago
        I am aware the US has operated in this reliance on for profit contractor model for a very long time. I just think it is stupid, costly, and only really serves to make connected individuals extremely rich, at the cost of wider innovation potential. People balk at the cost of large government in house projects like the manhattan project, well imagine that cost if the government had to pay contractor rates on that project instead of doing it in house. Twice as high perhaps given how these contracts usually are pricing in cost overruns in addition to profit margin?

asdff 2mo ago

Mostly because government today pays out the nose for contracted labor rates as doing anything in house has been blown apart by free market reaganists over the years.

rayiner 2mo ago
The soviet union, the only non-capitalist country ever to have a technology comparable to ours, was really fucking inefficient. E.g. Soviets had 50% higher CO2 output per ton of steel than the U.S. due to poor energy efficiency.
- asdff 2mo ago
  There was a time when american steel was inefficiently made too.
  - rayiner 2mo ago
    These figures are comparing steel making in two highly industrialized countries at the same time.
    - asdff 2mo ago
      And different orgs may arrive at different efficiency levels in different time scales. Says nothing about the merits of for profit vs nonprofit business.

jocaal 2mo ago

That utopia exists, the only problem is it is a communist country where you have no individual rights and can't own land.

asdff 2mo ago
It exists here too in small subsets of government. A parks dept that hires their own landscapers instead of contracting with a landscaping company is such an example of this utopia. A municipal power company with greatly reduced rates in comparison to a private utility. A university that runs its own prep kitchen facility over prepackaged GFS/cisco.
- inemesitaffia 2mo ago
  It's never existed in this industry.
  - asdff 2mo ago
    So what? If you needed precedence for everything to happen, nothing new would ever happen.
    - inemesitaffia 2mo ago
      People talk about the industry like there was a time the government built it's rockets, then SpaceX stole money that was meant for NASA and now NASA can't build rockets anymore.
      - asdff 2mo ago
        I am aware the US has operated in this reliance on for profit contractor model for a very long time. I just think it is stupid, costly, and only really serves to make connected individuals extremely rich, at the cost of wider innovation potential. People balk at the cost of large government in house projects like the manhattan project, well imagine that cost if the government had to pay contractor rates on that project instead of doing it in house. Twice as high perhaps given how these contracts usually are pricing in cost overruns in addition to profit margin?