Originally Posted by FarmallMTA
Name me one single industry in which government control lowers costs. Just one. And just what is it that you think profits are and what is it that you think they do?
Air traffic control, police, military, health care, and justice off the top of my head.
Can you prove any of that? I don't think so.
You can't honestly believe that our justice system is cost effective. Here's a article, for instance, about a study that found "privately run prisons produce results equal to or better than publicly run correctional institutions and at a lower cost":
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sparksfly.shtml . And you can't possibly think the prosecutorial side of our justice system is efficient. The trial of OJ is a case in point.
Nor can you honestly believe that Medicare, Medicaid and other government run portions of the health care system are efficient and cost effective. Here's an article (
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/22...e-costs-rise-faster-than-private-sector-care/ ) on how government-run health care costs are rising faster than private sector care.
And do you really think the military can be fairly described as a "cost effective" organization? No, it's a get the job done no matter the cost organization. As the cost of numerous wars prove. As the cost of military equipment and parts prove. There is a reason that civilian organizations are asked to perform certain functions for the military. Cost.
As for police, I again challenge your claim. What proof can you offer that a government-run police organization is less expensive than a private one? I can offer sources like this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=_b...5rjmDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2
From a purely financial perspective, alternative service providers, such as private security firms, provide certain savings. For example, ... snip ... The private officers were paid $10.00 per hour for the patrol services. Conversely, public police cost 2.79 times as much as private police in 1979. More recent data reveals that it costs at least $100,000 per year per police officer when salary, benefits, and overhead expenses were calculated into the equation (Reynolds, 1994:2)
As for government funded air traffic control being less costly (you're not the first to suggest this one), are you kidding?
The cost inefficiency of the FAA is notorious. How could an organization that allows controllers to earn over $200,000 a year, not including benefits, be considered cost effective compared to a private run system? Even the FAA recognizes the problem (
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/faa060205.htm ) but have they really done anything to fix it?
And if government run air traffic control is such a good idea, why have so many countries gone in the other direction? Here:
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-34639774_ITM
Commercializing air traffic control: have the reforms worked?(Report)
Publication: Canadian Public Administration
Publication Date: 01-MAR-08
... snip ...
This industry depends, in turn, on a network of air navigation service providers (ANSPs) that manage the flow of air traffic. A badly run ANSP can jeopardize safety, cause substantial travel delays, or impose heavy costs on cash-strapped airlines.
The ANSP sector has experienced extraordinary innovation over twenty years. By 2005, over forty countries had commercialized their ANSPs--a process that typically involves the introduction of new funding methods for the reorganized ANSP, new governance arrangements, and new mechanisms for safety and economic regulation. ... snip ...
The United States has not followed this path. Air traffic control remains within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which in important ways is still organized as a conventional government department.
... snip ...
In this article, we provide results from an unparalleled study of the performance of ten commercialized ANSPs, as well as the FAA, between 1997 and 2004. This study was undertaken by a team led by a former government executive who managed the commercialization of the Canadian air navigation system and overseen by an advisory panel of government and industry representatives from several countries.
We find that ANSP commercialization has generally achieved its objectives. Service quality has improved in most cases. Several ANSPs have successfully modernized workplace technologies. The safety records of ANSPs are not adversely affected by commercialization, and in some cases safety is improved. Costs are generally reduced, sometimes significantly. Other risks of commercialization--such as erosion of accountability to government, deterioration of labour relations, or worsened relationships between civil and military air traffic controllers--have not materialized.
So again, I challenge you to support your claim.
