A Middle Solution for Public Sector Unions

[Kasz216]

Soleron said:

Kasz216 said:

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Australia for example I think have mostly had success with their GBE's and actually had problems since privatising some of them.

 

When run like independent companies they work great.  They only ever have problems when they're run like policy machines.  (See Fannie and Freddy.)

In my experience, public-private partnerships in the UK have been NOTHING but failure - private finance initiatives causing unimaginable off-balance-sheet debt, IT contracting, railways, utilities (spiralling costs, no maintinence), security contracting, driving test charges, school academies (my own headteacher who ran four schools privately is now jailed for fraud). NHS trusts with 10 layers of middle management and $200k executive directors of county councils. I would run for office on complete and utter seperation of those two if I could.

It just leads to a conflating of profit motive (to provide the least possible service) and election motive (to keep everyone happy from the poorest to richest). People with no commercial experience spend other people's money to something that creates market distortion, unassaiable monopolies, and distracts from the actual mission of the public body.

The breakfast cereal example is even more absurd than all of those things because it is effectively advocating communism (which doesn't work). If the state owns the means of production, normal companies cannot possibly compete and an efficient market is out of reach.

Do those groups activly try and make money for the government?  Or are they groups that pay the government so they can make money.

 

Outside which, in the cereal example, the government owns ONE means of production out of many... and companies certaintly could compete. 

I mean hell, schools are the perfect example.

private schools actually provide a cheaper more effective product on average...

even just "devolved" local schools do better, magnet schools and charter schools.  

People will tell you charter and magnet schools do worse, but they're decepitve when they do, because what they do is average all the charter and magnet schools scores vs a states entire public school record.  Ignoring the fact that charter and magnet schools only open in the worst neighberhoods.   Comparitive to other schools they do far better.

If the government can make money off a volentary product or source that's more likely than not to make money.  I've got no problem with it.  It's getting the most for your tax dollars.