For those who can't wait for more federal involvement in energy, healthcare and education which existing services are so well managed that they should be the templates for our new society?
We spend more on education than pretty much anyone. The teachers unions are fully in bed with the Democrats and still they are asking or more money to "fix" the education system. This will not end with K-12, they want to start with MANDATORY pre-school and extend into the colleges and universities (officially, that is, we all know the liberals are fully running things already in colleges). What should serve as the model for the new education wing of the government?
We already have huge government involvement in the healthcare system. Medicaid, Medicare, the prescription drug program. We can't even pay for these services today, how do we expect to pay for a comprehensive system that covers everything. Perhaps the VA hospital system should be the model for all hospitals?
As for energy policy... we are already sitting on huge oil reserves that we aren't allowed to tap. We have hand wringing and inaction on nuclear energy. Obama has already said he'll put coal fired generation out of business. Where does he expect to get all this new energy to free us from "foreign oil"? If you like the feds involved in the auto industry, which government designed cars would you use a model? Perhaps, the trabant? the original VW Bug?
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I'm kind of partial to the moon rover.
now that you mention it... how well is the space shuttle program run as a government beuracracy?
I don't know. is there a comparable private space agency that provides a better model?
I'm sure there will be.
Look at the comparison between USPS and FedEx/UPS. The other delivery services are forbidden by law to compete with the postal service. Why do you think that is? Because the private sector would put the postal service out of business.
What does the government do better than private industry?
The United States military.
As for the VA - their electronic health record system is considered world wide as best in class.
I'm also pretty damn proud of the USPTO, CDC, USPO, EPA, FDA, CIA, FBI and yes NASA (among a host of other American acronyms). Sure we aren't perfect, but we're still the best in the world. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Well until such time as there is it's kind of hard to make that judgement.
I don't know but sending a letter for 40 some cents from one side of the US to the other to me doesn't seem like such a bad deal.
FedX is actually a company that will be undergoing some major re-tooling over the next few years. Their overnight service is not enjoying near the level of success as in previous years. With increasing use of high speed uploads and downloads of documents there's not as much market for this as in the past.
This was the primary reason for their acquisition of American Freight a few years back which they converted to FX Ground.
But to get to your question I think we've talked about this in the past as to whatever government can do private industry can do better. There's probably plenty of examples where that may be true but the simple fact is that there are some facets of civilization that it's the "gummint" that has to carry the load.
Roads/Defense/Schools/Building and maintenance of Infrastructure.
I don't think it would be a good idea to put banks in charge of monetary policy.
Should we put Reuters News Service in charge of Foreign Policy?
Look, I'm wary of Big Brother as much or maybe even more than the average person but let's face the fact that a strong central government is a necessary evil. Now it's certainly fair to argue how strong that central government should be allowed to become.
It's not realistic to think that anything government can do private industry can automatically do better.
To think private industry has the will of the people at heart is naive at best. History has shown time and again that when left unchecked companies will hold profit at higher esteem than the health and welfare of the people they serve (see current economic crises).
If the system Sean advocates was really "best in class" then it would already be in existence. However, to base a society only on the book value of its private industry is a system which does not serve the will of the people and is doomed to fail. The Constitution was written to serve this country's people not her currency.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Sean, are you saying that we should get rid of health care for old people and little kids??? You are tough. My daughter's boyfriend was able to get it for his daughter after he lost his job. No, it's not perfect but she was able to get treatment for an ear infection recently and has had a visit to the dentist and eye doctor. The average wait in the emergency rooms where I work is about 6 hours....we can't handle the load of patients who have no money, no insurance and use the ED because they can't get care any where else.
I used to work for the US Forest Service and I think they do a pretty awesome job too.
40 cents for a letter is not what it actually costs, otherwise the USPS wouldn't be loosing money.
Hasn't it been said by people ranging from Gandhi to popes to politicians: The true measure of a society's value is how it takes care of its weakest, its young, its old, its poor, its sick?
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Yes, where does it say anything about education, energy and (ahem) healthcare.
Don't get me wrong, there is a need for government. If I didn't know that I'd be an anarchist.
But that doesn't mean I think the government is the solution for education (what's wrong with local funding and local management of our schools), energy (when this became "ignore all the abundant energy sources we have and instead force energy rationing and subsidizing of hybrid cars and solar), healthcare (how many miracle drugs, revolutionary cures and surgical techniques has the government created?).
Do you really want your visit to the emergency room to work like a visit to the DMV?
RAC - people run private industry and people run the government. How naive is it to think that the people in goverment are all angels and the people in industry are all demons? Fact is, private industry is generally held far more accountable than anyone in the government.
Cindy - who said anything about "getting rid of healthcare"? Why should health insurance be any different from, say, auto insurance?
When I buy a car, I get an insurance policy. When I need an oil change or maintenance, I go to the garage and pay for the service. If I have an accident, I make a claim against the insurance and take it to an auto body shop.
My company doesn't "own" my policy and I don't loose it when I change jobs.
My policy doesn't pay for every little bit of service or paint scratch I get. Otherwise it would be - surprise - very expensive like health insurance.
I can't just show up at a garage and say "fix my car but I can't pay for it".
"They" will present their health reforms as an emotional appeal to make sure everyone has healthcare. But this is really about getting everyone to pay into it, whether they want to or not. Like social security, like medicare.
Well 40 some cents is what it costs me. Like I said, not bad.
That's what the stamp costs you, but if the postal service is loosing money it must be getting subsidies to stay afloat. That would mean tax dollars and, hence, it costs more the 40 cents.
I don't think they receive subsidies. That's why they're losing money.
By Congressional decree they are required to charge what is required to not lose money.
Hence, the regular rate increases on virtually all classes of mail.
Regardless, I still think it's a fair deal even at more than what they now charge.
The idea of someone picking up a letter from my mailbox and delivering it to someone's front door two thousand miles away for less than a buck just seems like kind of a bargain to me.
Yes Sean, the Preamble does speak to those concerns about education, energy and health-care under "promote the general Welfare" [of the People].
And I never said "people in government are all angels and the people in industry are all demons." What I said was they have different objectives (in theory). Business works to serve a profit and government works to serve the people (in theory). Somewhere in between these two interest is an equilibrium which produces the most successful societies.
As for your "question" to Cindy about "how many miracle drugs, revolutionary cures and surgical techniques has the government created?" You are kidding right? Who do you think has directed and funded many of the miracle drugs, revolutionary cures and surgical techniques. A specific example is trauma medicine. That didn't come out of your family doctor's office - it was developed on the battle field by many a dedicated military doctor. The list here is endless. Government has always been at the forefront of medical discovery. To state otherwise is simply untrue.
Your only partly right rac about buisness. They don't just "exist" to make a profit. Thats derogatory and misleading as if their bad and serve no purpose. To be succesful as a buisness you must offer a product or service and compete with all the other buisnesses that offer the same thing or things you do and do it better ie: offer better value. If you suck at it you wont "exist". You will fail and miserably. The example of the postage stamp is perfect. They "exist" because the government won't let them fail. In other words the government wont do away with them. You think why should they? I say why not? Should the government be in the mail buisness? Can private enterprise do it better? Hell yea! When I had to send an overnight package to my son in New York I went to good ol Uncle Sugar (USPS) and tried . No way Jose. First they would but no guarantees because they don't guarantee the weather or anything else and no refund of the extra fees if they don't make it.I went to the UPS store and no problem. Did it cost more? yea a little but guaranteed. And the value negates the extra cost. Thats how buisness works. Yea government is a necesary evil but it should be a small evil. It doesn't need to be in the mail,train, or a host of other buisnesses. And who developed all the great medicines? Big old evil buisnesses baby! Yea they did it for profit so what? Yea military doctors are saints no doubt. But the military(government didn't come up with the medicines entrepreneurs did. You really want us to believe what you're shoveling. Shit I think you already do believe it. You should run for elected office. Hell I'll vote for you. To quote Doug, It's just about who's the least assholiest right? Hahaha
Profit is the ONLY objective of business... as it very well should be. How is that derogatory and misleading? It's simple Business 101. If you can't make a profit then you won't be in business very long. Your own post goes on to reiterate that point.
You also miss the point about government involvement in medical discoveries. To say the government has no role in medical advancement is like saying the government has had no role in the advancement of modern military weaponry. In many cases both are developed by "big old evil businesses(your words)" but they are done so at government request and direction. Let's also not dismiss the medical discoveries from countries outside the US (not all of which support free enterprise). We are a great nation because of our form of government not in spite of it.
And the FEDs run the best damn coast guard in the entire world. I mean they have to... now that I'm not running it any more. Supply and demand... dumbasses get into trouble out on the ocean, and uncle sugar daddy comes to the rescue. Who could do do it better? Who else would be willing and/or able to do it? And free of charge at that.
RAC - which are the "most successful societies" in your book?
OK - feds should run military, coast guard, federal highways, foreign policy, defense of the country, interstate commerce, the FBI, the CIA. yes yes yes. Of course.
I'm not talking about that. I am talking about mandating how cars are made (we have to get rid of SUV's to recover our economy? he actually said that yesterday - give me a break). I am talking about getting everyone onto one healthcare program that is controlled and mandated by the government. I'm talking about making us all slaves to the feds - wether we are bound by necessity of the services we can't get anywhere else or by the forced support of working to pay into it.
Where does it stop Doug and RAC? Are there any aspects of your lives that should not be controlled by the feds (how about "smart meters that tell you when to turn off your lights" - another one from yesterday).
We recently had a smart meter installed at our house. It dose not tell us when to turn off the lights.
However since installation our utility bill has gone up quite a bit.
I'd like to have our dumb meter back.
Matt,
go to FedX and ask if they'll send a letter for you for .50
Like the private carriers the USPS offers Express Mail Insured Service.
Next day delivery.
No one, not FedX, UPS or USPS can offer guarantees against weather delays.
Sean, the "most successful societies" in my book? - that's easy, the United States of America.
I agree - the US of A is the most successful society. Next question is: why is it so successful?
Dave,
I'm not rich but...I have 12 bucks in my wallet and today is payday so for today I'm solidly in the black.
Eat your hearts out bitches!
Another easy question Sean, because Dave use to run the Coast Guard.
Cheeseburgers.
Football.
Our women don't wear burquas.
Plentiful & inexpensive grilling products.
South Park.
ESPN.
Liquor stores.
Grocery stores.
Radar detectors.
Remington express loads.
Drive in theaters.
Netflix.
French fries.
Budweiser.
Just to name a few.
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