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.
Why did you assume that I meant "prisons and prosecutions" when I said "justice", and why did you assume I was limiting my scope to the US? And why did you ignore the part of my post that talked about profit motives and perverse incentives? Are you completely ignorant of
history?
Your link is also worthless -- a hodgepodge of quotes does not equal evidence. Show me the numbers.
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.
Again with the US centric viewpoint. First, the article you link to appears to be very selective in its analysis of data -- something I expect from the Heritage Foundation.
Second, virtually every other developed Western democracy has universal health case in one form or another, and they end up paying about half what we do on a per-capita basis for better overall outcomes. Rolfe, darat, and several others have explained this ad nauseam in several different threads. Overall, they have health care systems that are cheaper and more effective than ours at making sure people stay healthy and don't get forced into bankruptcy due to things beyond their control. Maybe our government is uniquely incompetent at administering a healthcare system, but that does not excuse the huge amounts of wasteage our current hodgepodge of private insurers inflict upon us in the name of profit.
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.
My point was more along of the lines of the nightmare that would be a private military organization whose services were for sale to the highest bidder, or do you really think that society would be better served by having multiple mercenary military organizations instead of our current arrangement?
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
Sorry, I can't be bothered to read the whole book to digest your point. Summarize it, please. So we have private security services, and rentacops are cheap. I don't care about that. I care about not returning to the days of Pinkertons distorting the market by enforcing the will of the highest bidder using quasi police powers, or justice not being done because you can't afford it -- those lines are blurry enough as is without a profit motive entering into it.
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
I have never payed much attention to privatized air traffic control. As I said, they were examples pulled off the top of my head. It may be that a well-regulated for-profit market in that area is more efficient than a non-for-profit one, although how such a market would be structured is beyond me. I will concede the point for now.
