I think part of the success of this message is that it’s so obviously silly that people feel silly questioning it.
i think it is beyond clear that some of you all have never worked in federal government to have such a rosy outlook
Maybe small difference in finances too, very often public sector struggles with basic tools. I "feel" that private sector is a little more prone to renew that part (to satisfy the efficiency gods). That said it often backfires because they will also replace perfectly good tools or software to get the latest shiny.
Then there's mass.. but large private corps will have the same issues.
I hate this argument for a different reason. There are entire classes of problems where monetary efficiency is not the primary metrics we should optimize for, areas where things like resilience, stability, and fairness all need to come before the purely economic considerations.
Can you turn some of that into a dollar measurement? Sometimes, but not as easily as a P&L, and the P&L wins.
Also this is not the sole purpose of companies.. SpaceX is a trillion dollar company with 0 profit.
The free market has created everything you use the more we turn the keys over to government's the worse things get.
Companies can't get infinite profits because they will be undercut by other companies COMPETING. The government can get infinite power and control though.. they have no competition.
To establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.
> Also this is not the sole purpose of companies.
Friedman disagrees.
> The free market has created everything you use the more we turn the keys over to government's the worse things get.
Which is why we have never needed government regulation of things like food, air, water, shelter, work safety, accessibility, or anything else. The free market provides.
> The government can get infinite power and control though
Which is why in a free society the government is answerable to the people.
This might be your personal ideological creed, but it is not a self-evident axiom you can just assert with zero backing.
> Companies can't get infinite profits because they will be undercut by other companies COMPETING
Then why haven't they?
> The government can get infinite power and control though.. they have no competition.
Are you aware other countries with their own governments exist?
Give an example of something the government does better than the market?
> Then why haven't they? Give an example where they haven't?
> Are you aware other countries with their own governments exist? And they all lose the most free market America? Why would we do more like them?
This thread's topic, for starters?
> Give an example where they haven't?
This thread's topic, for starters?
> And they all lose the most free market America? Why would we do more like them?
I'm not quite sure what you're saying here, could you rephrase?
Roads, electricity, water, heathcare, pensions, public transportation, and social services.
The best government is deeply imperfect but the regulation free Libertarian paradise is probably best demonstrated by some warlord somewhere. Great for him, not for any other individual.
And it got there in part through the evisceration of NASA.
> The free market has created everything you use the more we turn the keys over to government's the worse things get.
Government funds research that has brought us such advances as moon landings, computers, and the internet. What an odd example you chose in SpaceX
Yes after the monopoly of NASA ended we now have several real space companies doing real advancement.
I personally have never used one of these "government computers" have you?
What would you say Musk’s goal is? And do we want more of that?
Isn’t that what this very link is about? Where is the competition and lower prices?
Power, water, food etc the story is the same - or at least it is where I am. New Zealand.
Profit going to capitalist owners who don't do any work is an inefficient allocation, IMO, more than an "inefficient" government.
Government using money to buy capital and then provide services, deadly socialism.
It's always just been about capitalists wanting less competition. That's why they don't want the market to decide and fight for laws to literally outlaw stuff like municipal broadband. If they are so much more efficient, they should be able to offer an equal or better service for the same or better price.
In practice what the "small government" ideology actually does is get rid of these accountability mechanisms and put scammers and corrupt people in charge instead or relabels corruption as the policy through public-private partnerships.
Furthermore, nothing prevents applying these oversights over public-private partnerships (which is just a fancy term for outsourcing). The government decides who gets hired and on what conditions, so it can just enforce transparency requirements.
Those companies that win big pork filled contracts would never have any incentive to get the company to waste tax dollars.
Adding the profit motive in here definitely helps prevent waste