Where do you republicans draw the line on privatizing government services?

[Correll]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

Schools could be done. Mail certainly. Lots of roads could be transferred, especially for making gated communities.

Police? No.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I think government should do everything for me and that everything should be free and we should make it a law that it's Christmas every day! That's why I'm with Bernie!

Well, you like to troll the Bernie supporters. I get it. Too bad you aren't even close to generalizing them. The average Bernie supporter makes 40K a year and has a degree in higher education. Compare that to the average Trump supporter who never makes it to college.

but yet averages more in salary....

Trump voters earn a lot more than you might think

 

[TheDude]

I really want you to think this through. Like a turtle telling a rabbit to speed up.

Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized. Why would we think about EVERY service example when your topics below are limited?

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized? No.

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on? Roads are built by private organizations, you silly sally.

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city.".....ILMAO "critical thought", we already fucking do this. Ever passed a toll booth? FUCK, use your head.

3) Oh and how about our water supply? Yep, why not? Water supply and government regulation of water supply are two different things.

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape! It's not possible, but private schools perform better than public, hint hint.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized. I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office. If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.

I think we should eliminate all bureaucracies since bureaucracies are one of the biggest threats to our liberty. There is also no need for the taxpayers to be supporting PBS and NPR. If their broadcasts are worth viewing or listening to, they can get their support from the private market like everybody else.

But back to your question..........our founders figured out what our government should be providing for it's citizens, and they listed those things in the US Constitution. Outside of what is listed, government (at least on the federal level) should not be involved with any other provision to the public.

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized.
you would encounter a lot of problems if that was the situation.....how many people do you want to have access to your box?....the PO has some pretty strict security from beginning to the delivery in regards to theft.....
I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office.
well if you worked there you would see how wrong you are.....we used to laugh at new people coming in with the attitude..."how tough can it be delivering a few letters?"....many quite by the end of the week......those that keep with it and experience Christmas and especially election mail have a whole different attitude on how "easy" this job is.....

If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.
in my time there i seen quite a few get fired for theft,shit canning mail,bad attendance......many carriers who just cant carry mail for whatever reason are usually made clerks....
the hardest people to fire are Veterans,and approx. a third of the workers there are Vets .....they have to do something pretty blatant to get fired,they get a little more slack than everyone else....

 

[sartre play]

No, I disagree about healthcare.

The free market in the US has shown that prices get to high, because healthcare is ESSENTIAL, and healthcare providers will group together to push prices up.

The US govt spends MORE per capita on healthcare than the UK govt does. They operate within a country which also has a relatively free market, and the govt ends up spending a fortune because they healthcare provides pump up the prices.

Most Americans are too young to remember what a free market health care system looks like since we haven't had one since 1966.

Privatizing schools would just take you back to the industrial revolution or something. A country needs to compete in the world, and to compete needs to make the most of the talent.

A countries GDP will be based on how the country does economically, and if you have the talent not getting educated because they can't afford it, then you'll soon be looking at second world status.

Our public school system in this country sucks. Most of what they teach kids isn't anything of value.

Literally the only things I learned in school that I remember are basic math and reading and learning how to tolerate waking up to go to a place I hate every day.

Basic math, reading, writing. must haves to live today. even a not so great school will give you that, be nice if all kids went to a great school that expanded there horizons.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized. I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office. If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.

I think we should eliminate all bureaucracies since bureaucracies are one of the biggest threats to our liberty. There is also no need for the taxpayers to be supporting PBS and NPR. If their broadcasts are worth viewing or listening to, they can get their support from the private market like everybody else.

But back to your question..........our founders figured out what our government should be providing for it's citizens, and they listed those things in the US Constitution. Outside of what is listed, government (at least on the federal level) should not be involved with any other provision to the public.

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized.
you would encounter a lot of problems if that was the situation.....how many people do you want to have access to your box?....the PO has some pretty strict security from beginning to the delivery in regards to theft.....
I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office.
well if you worked there you would see how wrong you are.....we used to laugh at new people coming in with the attitude..."how tough can it be delivering a few letters?"....many quite by the end of the week......those that keep with it and experience Christmas and especially election mail have a whole different attitude on how "easy" this job is.....

If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.
in my time there i seen quite a few get fired for theft,shit canning mail,bad attendance......many carriers who just cant carry mail for whatever reason are usually made clerks....
the hardest people to fire are Veterans,and approx. a third of the workers there are Vets .....they have to do something pretty blatant to get fired,they get a little more slack than everyone else....

Then they all must be working where I live. Talk about things disappearing, I've had penalties from credit card companies because they never seen the check I sent them. I've been penalized because I was late with a payment because I never got the bill until a few days after the final days of remittance. WTF does this mail go anyway?

A few months ago our regular carrier took some vacation time. I kept getting my tenants mail and they were getting mine. When I called and complained, it's like nobody cared. The person on the phone said shit like "Ok, I will mention it to the carrier." Or some would say "It's not your regular carrier so they don't know what mail to put in what mailbox."

I mean WTF. All my mailboxes are lettered with one inch letters. My houses have addresses on them in the front and by the mailbox. All they have to do is match the name on the letter with the one on the box; something I can teach an 8 year old to do. But no, they are not the regular carrier so they can't figure out how to do that, and we kept getting the wrong mail until the regular guy got back from vacation.

See, if mail had competition and were privatized, that wouldn't go on because people would choose other options. If you piss off your customers, your customers go somewhere else. You can't do that with the US mail. That's why I started to pay my bills online more and more.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized. I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office. If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.

I think we should eliminate all bureaucracies since bureaucracies are one of the biggest threats to our liberty. There is also no need for the taxpayers to be supporting PBS and NPR. If their broadcasts are worth viewing or listening to, they can get their support from the private market like everybody else.

But back to your question..........our founders figured out what our government should be providing for it's citizens, and they listed those things in the US Constitution. Outside of what is listed, government (at least on the federal level) should not be involved with any other provision to the public.

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized.
you would encounter a lot of problems if that was the situation.....how many people do you want to have access to your box?....the PO has some pretty strict security from beginning to the delivery in regards to theft.....
I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office.
well if you worked there you would see how wrong you are.....we used to laugh at new people coming in with the attitude..."how tough can it be delivering a few letters?"....many quite by the end of the week......those that keep with it and experience Christmas and especially election mail have a whole different attitude on how "easy" this job is.....

If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.
in my time there i seen quite a few get fired for theft,shit canning mail,bad attendance......many carriers who just cant carry mail for whatever reason are usually made clerks....
the hardest people to fire are Veterans,and approx. a third of the workers there are Vets .....they have to do something pretty blatant to get fired,they get a little more slack than everyone else....

Then they all must be working where I live. Talk about things disappearing, I've had penalties from credit card companies because they never seen the check I sent them. I've been penalized because I was late with a payment because I never got the bill until a few days after the final days of remittance. WTF does this mail go anyway?

A few months ago our regular carrier took some vacation time. I kept getting my tenants mail and they were getting mine. When I called and complained, it's like nobody cared. The person on the phone said shit like "Ok, I will mention it to the carrier." Or some would say "It's not your regular carrier so they don't know what mail to put in what mailbox."

I mean WTF. All my mailboxes are lettered with one inch letters. My houses have addresses on them in the front and by the mailbox. All they have to do is match the name on the letter with the one on the box; something I can teach an 8 year old to do. But no, they are not the regular carrier so they can't figure out how to do that, and we kept getting the wrong mail until the regular guy got back from vacation.

See, if mail had competition and were privatized, that wouldn't go on because people would choose other options. If you piss off your customers, your customers go somewhere else. You can't do that with the US mail. That's why I started to pay my bills online more and more.

i think we talked about this before ray......

 

[Mr.Blonde]

No, I disagree about healthcare.

The free market in the US has shown that prices get to high, because healthcare is ESSENTIAL, and healthcare providers will group together to push prices up.

The US govt spends MORE per capita on healthcare than the UK govt does. They operate within a country which also has a relatively free market, and the govt ends up spending a fortune because they healthcare provides pump up the prices.

Most Americans are too young to remember what a free market health care system looks like since we haven't had one since 1966.

Privatizing schools would just take you back to the industrial revolution or something. A country needs to compete in the world, and to compete needs to make the most of the talent.

A countries GDP will be based on how the country does economically, and if you have the talent not getting educated because they can't afford it, then you'll soon be looking at second world status.

Our public school system in this country sucks. Most of what they teach kids isn't anything of value.

Literally the only things I learned in school that I remember are basic math and reading and learning how to tolerate waking up to go to a place I hate every day.

Basic math, reading, writing. must haves to live today. even a not so great school will give you that, be nice if all kids went to a great school that expanded there horizons.

We could have those schools if we got rid of public schools.

The public schools push every child on to one path. If we had a private school education many different types of schools would pop up and parents know their children better than the government. The parents could pick the correct path. A parent knows if their child could go to Harvard or if they are better off going to be a mechanic.

 

[Little-Acorn]

Where do you republicans draw the line on privatizing government services?


Republicans don't. The Constitution does.

Is a "Service" (liberalspeak for a function of government people are forced into by law) authorized by the Constitution?

If it is, good. If it isn't, then the Fed govt shouldn't be doing it (or paying for it) at all. The states and the people can still do it if they want to, though.

Not because Republicans say so. But because the Constitution says so.

Are you beginning to understand at last?

And if there's a service not on the list, that you want to Fed govt to handle, no problem. Just get 2/3 of each house of Congress, and 3/4 of the states, to agree, and you're home free. (The Constitution allows for that, too.) If the service is so much wanted, you shouldn't have any trouble with that. Right?

 

[frigidweirdo]

No, I disagree about healthcare.

The free market in the US has shown that prices get to high, because healthcare is ESSENTIAL, and healthcare providers will group together to push prices up.

The US govt spends MORE per capita on healthcare than the UK govt does. They operate within a country which also has a relatively free market, and the govt ends up spending a fortune because they healthcare provides pump up the prices.

Most Americans are too young to remember what a free market health care system looks like since we haven't had one since 1966.

Privatizing schools would just take you back to the industrial revolution or something. A country needs to compete in the world, and to compete needs to make the most of the talent.

A countries GDP will be based on how the country does economically, and if you have the talent not getting educated because they can't afford it, then you'll soon be looking at second world status.

Our public school system in this country sucks. Most of what they teach kids isn't anything of value.

Literally the only things I learned in school that I remember are basic math and reading and learning how to tolerate waking up to go to a place I hate every day.

Basic math, reading, writing. must haves to live today. even a not so great school will give you that, be nice if all kids went to a great school that expanded there horizons.

We could have those schools if we got rid of public schools.

The public schools push every child on to one path. If we had a private school education many different types of schools would pop up and parents know their children better than the government. The parents could pick the correct path. A parent knows if their child could go to Harvard or if they are better off going to be a mechanic.

Or, if you had a government with a BRAIN, then you might have different paths. Take Austria for an example, they have three types of schools at least. A HTL which is a technical school, teaching all sorts of things from building to high level IT skills, a Gymnasium for brighter pupils with more traditional subjects and a normal high school.

But America is a can't do country.

 

[Billy000]

If you're willing to let the government strictly regulate these hypothetical private services, then why even bother privatizing them in the first place?

Because you don't need to hire 30,000 Medical payment specialists as FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. That's not the way MediCare claims get processed. It's PRIVATIZED thru a subsidiary of Insurance Companies that KNOWs WTF they are doing without all the oppressive management/unions/work rules of a govt operation.

Most EVERY jail is privatized to some degree because the govt SUCKS at directly delivering food services, medical services, maintenance and other labor intensive services.

You didn't answer my question about elevator inspectors.. WHICH do you prefer for accountability?

Moreover, you can't claim government oversight is useless while also conceding the oversight is still needed.

Doesn't matter. I stated that the "oversight" is gonna suck wads whether it's minding a contractor or directly controlling employees to provide the service. That's why govt should be restricted from expansion beyond their primary duties. They SUCK at most everything they touch..

Also, if you're so concerned about pollution, what makes you think we can just blindly trust a corporation to not fuck up and pollute the water they control? What's to stop them from covering it up until it becomes a massive problem? What's to stop their lobbyists from eroding any government regulations for the sake of profit?

It's a FACT that government in this country is one of the LARGEST polluters. Whether it's TVA with their coal belching power plants and ash ponds. Or the nuclear weapons labs which have ACRES of 80 yr old leaking barrels of nuclear waste at about 3 or 5 sites in this country. Or the military bases that are NOTORIOUS polluters of their property and get away with it. Federal govt has IGNORED the horrendous nuclear seepage problem at Savannah River, Hanford and Oak Ridge for DECADES..

The standards are there. Commercial business are the ones that get prosecuted. NOT GOVT operations. If you want to see TRUE enviro disasters -- look at E. Germany or Russia or China where the GOVT micromanages every aspect of the economy...

Let me just ask you this. You can concede that the government must regulate any hypothetical privatization of a government service, right? What specific regulations should be in place? What protections should these regulations have?

Also, if there were no environmental regulations at all, just how much pollution do you think corporations would end up being guilty of?

 

[Kosh]

I can. Health care.List of countries by total health expenditure per capita - Wikipedia. You have the most expensive healthcare in the world. And the goods and services provided in Belgium are better. I know this from first and second hand experiences.

Competition in healthcare makes it much better. No nation on earth has more innovative treatments and advancements than U.S. providers. The free market rewards improvements. Monopolies stagnate it. However, I will concede that healthcare in the U.S. is grossly inefficient, but that is a result of "insurance" artificially shielding providers from the consequences of waste.

I am nearly to the point where I believe we should either making health insurance illegal to prevent ridiculous waste, or we should go to single payer with a separate governing body of private-sector providers (actual doctors) who determine treatment standards and set costs.

His point isn't that the American healthcare technology isnt state of the art. His point is how affordable it is to consumers. Meaning how much dough are Americans forking over to get the same service in Belgium at a cheaper price.

So sure, oncology technology is stellar in the US. However, can the average American AFFORD It? No. Americans miss out on basic services because they can't afford it.

I see the far left are just pushing yet another debunked religious agenda.

Then again NASA uses government money to reward private industry for what NASA needs.

So why does the far left want government to control everything and every aspect of people's lives?

 

[Sun Devil 92]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

Why don't YOU think about what you post before asking others to do the same.

1. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39516346/...pray-firefighters-let-home-burn/#.Wbz3jMmunRE

It's happened. What ???? I realize you can't fathom the idea of people managing their own lives. YOU might THINK about that.

2. I can't even understand your argument here. There are toll roads that you don't drive on if you don't pay the toll. $200 ??? Hyperbole much ? Now, the question you get to ask is how much do you lower gas taxes (which is where a lot of highway funding comes from) and when do you stop paving miles on end so that a few people can avoid cracking their windshields ?

3. Another stupid argument. That isn't about privatising...it's about regulations. Please try to not post when you are drunk. The people who live in a city get to determine what kind of water they want. How do federal regulations help..??? They don't. How is it that if people don't want the feds in their lives, you think they don't care about the issue at all ? Plenty of cities do more than the feds ask for (CA has a much stricter EPA than the fed....becasue that is what they want). And, here's a clue jerkwad: Many cities do privatize the management of their water systems. Please point out where whole cities have died because of it.

4. Which government. The federal government (you know...All Kids Left Behind) is wortheless when it comes to education. Are you saying that a city of 50,000 does not care about educating it's children and does not raise taxes for them. What the people of that city don't want is for the fed to come in and say "You'll use this textbook in all your state schools or we'll pull your highway funding dollars.....like they've said for 50 years). So getting rid of the department of education isn't really getting rid of educational standards...it's increasing them. Even at the state level, they screw you over. The state I lived in stopped allowing it's local school board from raising "to much money" for it's schools. If you raised over a certain amount...you had to throw it into a kitty so all schools could access it. That was a real left wing POS effort.

So go get yourself sober and educated and then get back to us, Junior.

You really are an embarrassment to whatever school system let you out with a diploma (assuming you have one).

 

[Sun Devil 92]

Not a republican, but I assume that you also wanted a comment from a libertarian.

Government should only be involved in providing goods/services that cannot be efficiently provided by the private sector.

Example, if the private sector controlled the building and maintenance of roads, and all roads were toll roads, how many roads leading to the same place would spring up? Would we be a nation of nothing but competing roads? How can competition make roads better with a limited amount of space to compete?

Military is another government function that is difficult to place in the private sector. How would that work? Would we end up with a bunch of mercenary armies that end up fighting each other, rather than protecting us? Police and fire services would have similar problems without an absolute monopoly.

Courts. We have a mechanism for private judicial processes (arbitration). The problem comes in when the people cannot agree on an arbitrator panel. At some point, somebody has to make the final decision that is certain and undisputed. Courts will never be privatized for that very reason.

I can think of nothing else the private sector could not absolutely beat the fuck out of government in providing goods and services.

I can. Health care.List of countries by total health expenditure per capita - Wikipedia. You have the most expensive healthcare in the world. And the goods and services provided in Belgium are better. I know this from first and second hand experiences.

How big is Belgium ? I can pretty much guarantee you that you can find regional health care that sucks and regional health care that is great (cost and service) in the U.S. We are a nation of 320,000,000 people.

I love how people think we are homogeneous. Did they teach you that in Belgium ?

 

[Sun Devil 92]

You dod

Not a republican, but I assume that you also wanted a comment from a libertarian.

Government should only be involved in providing goods/services that cannot be efficiently provided by the private sector.

Example, if the private sector controlled the building and maintenance of roads, and all roads were toll roads, how many roads leading to the same place would spring up? Would we be a nation of nothing but competing roads? How can competition make roads better with a limited amount of space to compete?

Military is another government function that is difficult to place in the private sector. How would that work? Would we end up with a bunch of mercenary armies that end up fighting each other, rather than protecting us? Police and fire services would have similar problems without an absolute monopoly.

Courts. We have a mechanism for private judicial processes (arbitration). The problem comes in when the people cannot agree on an arbitrator panel. At some point, somebody has to make the final decision that is certain and undisputed. Courts will never be privatized for that very reason.

I can think of nothing else the private sector could not absolutely beat the fuck out of government in providing goods and services.

The fact that liberals seem to be unaware of is that privatization of government services has advanced quite well due to dumbass polices the liberals set up.

Government workers have oversized salaries, overgenerous pension plans, and are very difficult to fire even if they're incompetent.

Government has responded by hiring private contractors to perform many government functions, and then just hiring a few actual government employees to supervise the work of the contractors.

And yet you aren't actually acknowledging the points I made in my OP....

You didn't make any "points" in your OP.

You threw up on your keyboard and then hit send.

As usual, your "arguments" are shallow, loaded with fallacies, and stupid.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

What makes you think a private army would end up fighting each other? It would be one entity.

That would be a monopoly. That is de facto, government service. There is no competition.

Luckily there is no monopoly in the public sector because it is dictated to operate based on strict policy.

That statement makes no sense.

There is pure monopoly (or can we operate a private FBI ?).

 

[Sun Devil 92]

I think government should do everything for me and that everything should be free and we should make it a law that it's Christmas every day! That's why I'm with Bernie!

Well, you like to troll the Bernie supporters. I get it. Too bad you aren't even close to generalizing them. The average Bernie supporter makes 40K a year and has a degree in higher education. Compare that to the average Trump supporter who never makes it to college.

40K a year....?? On average.....??? That's all ?????

 

[Sun Devil 92]

Not a republican, but I assume that you also wanted a comment from a libertarian.

Government should only be involved in providing goods/services that cannot be efficiently provided by the private sector.

Example, if the private sector controlled the building and maintenance of roads, and all roads were toll roads, how many roads leading to the same place would spring up? Would we be a nation of nothing but competing roads? How can competition make roads better with a limited amount of space to compete?

Military is another government function that is difficult to place in the private sector. How would that work? Would we end up with a bunch of mercenary armies that end up fighting each other, rather than protecting us? Police and fire services would have similar problems without an absolute monopoly.

Courts. We have a mechanism for private judicial processes (arbitration). The problem comes in when the people cannot agree on an arbitrator panel. At some point, somebody has to make the final decision that is certain and undisputed. Courts will never be privatized for that very reason.

I can think of nothing else the private sector could not absolutely beat the fuck out of government in providing goods and services.

Well, healthcare isn't efficiently provided by the private sector. Many people end up with no healthcare, those who do get healthcare pay way over the odds for it. So....

The government has assisted in making HC unaffordable and complicated. They also do not want to fix it. The money is too good.

Oh really? So it's dems profiting off healthcare and not corporations?

Here we go again....

For the 100th time.......

Big business loves government. Big government protects big business....through.....wait for it.....REGULATIONS.

I used to work at a multi-national that wrote the regulations for our products and gave them to administrators to use in defining regulations. Guess what ? We wrote them to elevate the barriers to entry so we could get more MONEY.

The government ran up health care costs with Medicare. Obamacare really screwed them up with their "10 requirements".

 

[Sun Devil 92]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

All that is juvenile understanding of what privatization is. Doesn't mean it isn't OVERSEEN by the govt. You know -- they always do such an excellent of oversight -- Right?

Any service that competes with established private sector services is subject to "privatization" of some sort. Since you BARELY have an understanding of how things work -- I'm not gonna work too hard on this. But ask yourself who you want to inspect elevators. A lifer civil servant who you can't fire or reprimand or sue --- or a private firm that faces absolute disaster if they screw up..

It takes YEARS for the Fed govt to even STUDY a pollution problem. MORE years to litigate it. There's a less URGENCY to them. Because they DO NOT HAVE CUSTOMERS or a corporate reputation to protect.

And your silly ass flippant answers ignore the fact that Water companies can't make up THEIR RULES like the Flint Water Dept did. With the HELP of the EPA to circumvent problems. A PRIVATE company would be STUCK with the LITERAL interpretations of the EXISTING standards and OVER-SEEN by the govt contractor.

lol your logic is so dumb. If you're willing to let the government strictly regulate these hypothetical private services, then why even bother privatizing them in the first place? Moreover, you can't claim government oversight is useless while also conceding the oversight is still needed.

Also, if you're so concerned about pollution, what makes you think we can just blindly trust a corporation to not fuck up and pollute the water they control? What's to stop them from covering it up until it becomes a massive problem? What's to stop their lobbyists from eroding any government regulations for the sake of profit?

You call his logic dumb ?? And then follow it with something that only could have come out of your ass.

Government regulations are reflections of desired results (ends). Privatization is means (administration and execution). This done all the time. The government does not generally build roads...it hires private sector firms to build them. It does not build jet fighters....it hires private sector types to do that.

Oversight in specific areas is specifically needed when we say it is needed. The government is no more than us (unless you are Obama and then you think it is god).

I'd trust my water to a local set of regulations any day. The FED has to homogenize 50 states. Maybe I don't want the same regulations that some other city wants. I'd rather spend my money on schools.

YOU do realize there is more than one level of government (stop watching Rachael Maddow and get a life), don't you ?

 

[Sun Devil 92]

I really want you to think this through. Think about every example of government service in this country and give me an answer on which ones should be privatized.

1) Should the police and fire departments be privatized?

"Sorry ma'am, we can't put out your fire because you can't give me the $500 fee my boss demands. I'm going to see if your neighbor will pay their fee so we can at least save their house before this blaze gets out of control."

"Sorry, fine couple, I can't do any forensic work on this crime scene that left your son dead unless you can pay the $1000 fee of Basic Investigation. If you give me $1500, we'll upgrade you to the Deluxe Package of actually arresting the prime suspect seen leaving the scene of the crime."

2) How about our roads? You know, ANY roads funded by revenue that people can drive on?

"Sorry, Sir, I can't let you leave Cincinnati without you forking over the toll of $200 that would allow you to leave and then return to your beloved city."

3) Oh and how about our water supply? No need for pesky environmental regulations in that case!

"Sir, our competition has dumped toxic waste in the Arkansas river that is in the center of our jurisdiction. What do we do?"

"Take them to court! We'll sue their asses off even if it takes months for us to get the damages to clean out the waste! Until then, we'll sell the citizens our Extra Clean bottled water."

4) Oooo here's another! Privatizing ALL schools without ANY pesky government red tape!

"Sorry, Ma'am, we can't let your straight-A son graduate his senior year because you're short on your premium this week. Oh and by the way, your 9th grade daughter can no longer show up to school until you pay. It's a shame. She's a fine student as well."

For one I think the Post Office should be privatized. I'm sure anybody can do a better job delivering mail than the Post Office. If these clowns knew they could be fired for not doing their job, they just may do their job more accurately.

I think we should eliminate all bureaucracies since bureaucracies are one of the biggest threats to our liberty. There is also no need for the taxpayers to be supporting PBS and NPR. If their broadcasts are worth viewing or listening to, they can get their support from the private market like everybody else.

But back to your question..........our founders figured out what our government should be providing for it's citizens, and they listed those things in the US Constitution. Outside of what is listed, government (at least on the federal level) should not be involved with any other provision to the public.

Where do you stand on the examples I gave?

Besides what I posted about the federal government being limited to providing what's in the Constitution, the rest are local issues and it's up to locals to decide on them.

There is no law that states you have to have a police force. Some smaller towns do not. Same with fire protection. In fact with some villages that have an all volunteer fire department, they will not help you put out a fire at your home if you did not contribute to their insurance policy. Schools? Unless your school surrendered to the feds because of not enough funding, it's totally locally run.

Local governments are much easier controlled by the citizens due to size. Federal government is not. State is right behind them.

So the real question is what kind of government are you talking about here? Federal, state or local? They are not all one of the same.

Unfortunately, Mr. Head Up His Ass, does not know there is something besides the fed. Anyone who wants to kill the EPA (federal EPA) wants dirty water and fouled air. I mean to listen to him, we'd just as soon our food all have e-coli because we are on the right.