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Well, lookee there. Britain's health system is in humanitarian crisis - red cross...

calfoxwc

By calfoxwc
in POLITICAL DISCUSSION

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gftChris Newbie

gftChris

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Yes, it's suffering from major cutbacks under the tories - who then get to say "look at how badly it's performing" then subsequently selling it off to private companies owned by their friends.

 

And that's not hyperbole, that's actually happening. For example it happened with the post office already (and at a huge discount no less).

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OldBrownsFan Newbie

OldBrownsFan

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Yes, it's suffering from major cutbacks under the tories - who then get to say "look at how badly it's performing" then subsequently selling it off to private companies owned by their friends.

 

And that's not hyperbole, that's actually happening. For example it happened with the post office already (and at a huge discount no less).

 

Anything run by the government can be run more efficiently and less costly by private industry:

 

"Now the success of the British Government’s privatization of Royal Mail - albeit that some questioned the value secured for the taxpayer - shows how this is a model that could be emulated in the US. The initial Royal Mail sell-off in late 2013 raised £3.1bn for the UK’s coffers. Yet, as recently as 2010 the UK’s postal service was described as ‘under serious threat’ and ‘unable to survive in its current form’ in a Government report."

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogeraitken/2015/06/19/us-postal-service-40bn-ipo-royal-mail-sell-off-points-the-way-despite-hurdles/#3b173e258154

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OldBrownsFan Newbie

OldBrownsFan

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Privately owned prisons in this country may disagree with your blanket statement here.

 

Debatable:

 

Arguments For Private Prisons

https://sites.google.com/site/privateprisons2/pros

5 Bad Reasons to Scrap Private Prisons

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-30/5-bad-reasons-to-scrap-private-prisons

 

Don’t end federal private prisons

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/19/dont-end-federal-private-prisons/?utm_term=.045778356f81

 

Benefits of Private Prisons

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/opinion/benefits-of-private-prisons.html

 

 

The Private Sector Always Does a Better Job than Government

August 15, 2010 by Dan Mitchell

Using road management as an example, John Stossel explains that government does a worse job than the private sector, even at things that theoretically are a government responsibility. Part of this is because of the profit motive, to be sure, but a big reason is probably because government bureaucracies inevitably are filled with overpaid bureaucrats who understand that job security is best assured by maintaining problems rather than solving them. Stossel makes an excellent point by noting that “contracting out” is not the same thing as genuine free enterprise. But at least it means whatever government is doing (either good things or bad things) will be done for less cost and with more competence.

 

Free enterprise does everything better. Why? Because if private companies don’t do things efficiently, they lose money and die. Unlike government, they cannot compel payment through the power to tax. Even when a private company operates a public facility under contract to government, it must perform. If it doesn’t, it will be “fired” — its contract won’t be renewed. Government is never fired. Contracting out to private enterprise isn’t the same thing as letting fully competitive free markets operate, but it still works better than government. Roads are one example. Politicians call road management a “public good” that “government must control.” Nonsense. In 1995, a private road company added two lanes in the middle of California Highway 91, right where the median strip used to be. It then used “congestion pricing” to let some drivers pay to speed past rush-hour traffic. Using the principles of supply and demand, road operators charge higher tolls at times of day when demand is high. That encourages those who are most in a hurry to pay for what they need. …for years there was a gap in the ring road surrounding Paris that created huge traffic problems. Then private developers made an unsolicited proposal to build a $2 billion toll tunnel in exchange for a 70-year lease to run it. They built a double-decker tunnel that fits six lanes of traffic in the space usually required for just two. The tunnel’s profit-seeking owners have an incentive to keep traffic moving. They collect tolls based on congestion pricing, and tolls are collected electronically, so cars don’t have to stop. The tunnel operators clear accidents quickly. Most are detected within 10 seconds — thanks to 350 cameras inside the tunnel. The private road has cut a 45-minute trip to 10 minutes.

 

https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/the-private-sector-always-does-a-better-job-than-government/

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gftChris Newbie

gftChris

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That's not what for profit means

It would just make more profit. For example, "As top prison warden for whositville state prison, I believe that criminals are less likely to re-offend when they are trained in something, so to that end I will be mandating all inmates work for free on construction projects"

 

"Hey governor, I got a bunch of workers who will work for free, all you need to do is pay me 'the prison' and they're all yours. Treat 'em like shit, nobody will care"

 

And then you have regular members of society who *haven't* been sent to jail, and would be working on that job for actual pay, suddenly out of a job.

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LogicIsForSquares Enthusiast

LogicIsForSquares

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Debatable:

 

Arguments For Private Prisons

https://sites.google.com/site/privateprisons2/pros

5 Bad Reasons to Scrap Private Prisons

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-30/5-bad-reasons-to-scrap-private-prisons

 

Don’t end federal private prisons

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/19/dont-end-federal-private-prisons/?utm_term=.045778356f81

 

Benefits of Private Prisons

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/opinion/benefits-of-private-prisons.html

 

 

The Private Sector Always Does a Better Job than Government

August 15, 2010 by Dan Mitchell

 

Using road management as an example, John Stossel explains that government does a worse job than the private sector, even at things that theoretically are a government responsibility. Part of this is because of the profit motive, to be sure, but a big reason is probably because government bureaucracies inevitably are filled with overpaid bureaucrats who understand that job security is best assured by maintaining problems rather than solving them. Stossel makes an excellent point by noting that “contracting out” is not the same thing as genuine free enterprise. But at least it means whatever government is doing (either good things or bad things) will be done for less cost and with more competence.

 

Free enterprise does everything better. Why? Because if private companies don’t do things efficiently, they lose money and die. Unlike government, they cannot compel payment through the power to tax. Even when a private company operates a public facility under contract to government, it must perform. If it doesn’t, it will be “fired” — its contract won’t be renewed. Government is never fired. Contracting out to private enterprise isn’t the same thing as letting fully competitive free markets operate, but it still works better than government. Roads are one example. Politicians call road management a “public good” that “government must control.” Nonsense. In 1995, a private road company added two lanes in the middle of California Highway 91, right where the median strip used to be. It then used “congestion pricing” to let some drivers pay to speed past rush-hour traffic. Using the principles of supply and demand, road operators charge higher tolls at times of day when demand is high. That encourages those who are most in a hurry to pay for what they need. …for years there was a gap in the ring road surrounding Paris that created huge traffic problems. Then private developers made an unsolicited proposal to build a $2 billion toll tunnel in exchange for a 70-year lease to run it. They built a double-decker tunnel that fits six lanes of traffic in the space usually required for just two. The tunnel’s profit-seeking owners have an incentive to keep traffic moving. They collect tolls based on congestion pricing, and tolls are collected electronically, so cars don’t have to stop. The tunnel operators clear accidents quickly. Most are detected within 10 seconds — thanks to 350 cameras inside the tunnel. The private road has cut a 45-minute trip to 10 minutes.

 

https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/the-private-sector-always-does-a-better-job-than-government/

 

The company I was contracted through was working a contract for WVDOT. We did all of the planning and later the construction on a bunch of FEMA and roadway projects. We were cheaper and got the job done in half the time that public road workers/engineers could get it done. So the state was paying engineers and road workers at the state level to just be the middle man. It is wasteful for the tax payers.

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