Name One Thing Government Can Do Better Than The Private Sector

other than police enforcement, national defense and courts of course. I can't think of one. If you can think of something, show examples or data or both. I felt compelled to ask this question after I watched this special.

Part 2

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Part 6

[edit on 3-11-2008 by Cool Hand Luke]

[edit on 3-11-2008 by Cool Hand Luke]

Well they can certainly spend more money than anyone else even if they don't have any.

They can disobey their own laws and get away with it,

second line

*snip* the people below them.

This was a two line post.

But now it's three lines.

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[edit on 3-11-2008 by GAOTU789]

reply to post by Darthorious


I agree. So why do people put up with it? Are we too apathetic? Too ignorant? Too complacent?

Regulation - if the US government had better regulation, the credit crunch would have been somewhat suppressed and less damaging.

Somalia is an example of anarcho-capitalism, I'm not so sure I would want to live there, however.

manipulate
terrorize
exploit
To name a few.

Strangulation.

A large python or anaconda excel at strangulation for sustenance.

Congress can take any individual or business and strangle them much more effectively than anything in the world.

For example. We as a nation bemoan the loss of jobs overseas. Rather than decrease taxes to bring corporations and business to America, we rather tax the living crap, in essence a process of financial strangulation, out of our businesses, forcing them overseas.

Any day the US wants to maximize national prosperity, you simply cut all taxes to a flat 10 percent, and get out of the way. Because businesses will pour back into this country, unemployment will approach zero, and wages will have a net increase.

Think about it. If ten percent was good enough for God Almighty, it should be sufficient for the US Government.

Take a truth and turn it into a hidden agenda and keep it from the masses as a story of "It was a weather balloon." explanation...

provide safety nets for the most vulnerable in the community.

throw more resources at a problem.

understand the community.

tell its share holders (taxpayers) to bugger off.

privatisation of utilities such as telephone, electricity and water here in Oz hasnt really worked we are paying more money for less and its not like we can vote the private businesses out of office.

privatisation craps up everything.... dont even get me started on roads !!!

Originally posted by mattguy404
Regulation - if the US government had better regulation, the credit crunch would have been somewhat suppressed and less damaging.

I wholeheartedly disagree. It was the government that forced mortgage lenders to give loans to people who couldn't afford it. Remember businesses only two goals are profit and self-preservation. Do you really think banks would by choice give loans out to people they knew would not be able to pay them back?

Somalia is an example of anarcho-capitalism, I'm not so sure I would want to live there, however.

Somalia is an example where there is no rule of law and a government that is incapable of enforcing simple laws against stealing and killing because the government itself violates those two laws

The one thing a government can do better than any private sector is spend money. In real life, and having to answer to stockholders or a board of directors; there is no way in hell you'd sell a plan to spend $2,000,000,000 on an economy in a state of free fall collapse.

A private sector company would have let it collapse then throw money at fixing the problem instead of creating more problems trying to fix a broken system.

[edit on 3-11-2008 by hinky]

Originally posted by Demandred
provide safety nets for the most vulnerable in the community.

Have you seen people on welfare? How easy is it to get these people to get a job?

throw more resources at a problem.

Here is a challenge for you, I want you to name one time in history where government throwing money at a problem, fixed the problem.

understand the community.

Go to any part of a major city where there is government subsidized housing and tell me they "understand the community"

tell its share holders (taxpayers) to bugger off.

Yes they do not like questions like "where did all that money go?"

privatisation of utilities such as telephone, electricity and water here in Oz hasnt really worked we are paying more money for less and its not like we can vote the private businesses out of office.

In canada the more cellphone business that come here, the cheaper my bill has become because those business are competing for my money. And yes you can vote out private business by not buying from them and buying from their competitor because with competition comes choice rather than a government run monolopy which never see prices go down. Instead they go up.

privatisation craps up everything.... dont even get me started on roads !!!

Are you kidding me? I wish we had private companies building roads in Canada. We have the worst highways in the world. If you want to see the difference, drive 15 minutes in either direction fromt he canadian-american border and tell which country has the better roads. [Hint: American highways are 1 million times better]

Originally posted by tmbandt
manipulate
terrorize
exploit
To name a few.

They have alot people ensuring that what the citizens of a country need is more government, more nanny state so they can wipe your a$$ for you from cradle to grave, while robbing you from cradle to grave.

Originally posted by hinky
The one thing a government can do better than any private sector is spend money. In real life, and having to answer to stockholders or a board of directors; there is no way in hell you'd sell a plan to spend $2,000,000,000 on an economy in a state of free fall collapse.

A private sector company would have let it collapse then throw money at fixing the problem instead of creating more problems trying to fix a broken system.

[edit on 3-11-2008 by hinky]

Star for that post. The only thing I would change is your first sentence to is "The one thing a government can do better than any private sector is waste money" just so we don't get people mixed up because in real life spending denotes investing or trading for something. The only thing they invest in is more bureaucracy.

[edit on 3-11-2008 by Cool Hand Luke]

[edit on 3-11-2008 by Cool Hand Luke]

Originally posted by Cool Hand LukeHave you seen people on welfare? How easy is it to get these people to get a job?

its easy to single out the unemployed but there are also those who are disabled and elderly

Here is a challenge for you, I want you to name one time in history where government throwing money at a problem, fixed the problem.

i never said it fixed the problem i just said they have more resources to to throw at a problem and resources dont just mean money, it can mean man power, able to legislate

Go to any part of a major city where there is government subsidized housing and tell me they "understand the community"

ahh but there is housing no? else they would be living without a roof over their head, they wouldnt have access to public transport whom when gov controlled arrived on time and charged a FAIR fare, busses are now privitised we have late busses rude drives and we get over charged for.

Yes they do not like questions like "where did all that money go?"

dont know why

In canada the more cellphone business that come here, the cheaper my bill has become because those business are competing for my money. And yes you can vote out private business by not buying from them and buying from their competitor because with competition comes choice rather than a government run monolopy which never see prices go down. Instead they go up.

in Oz telstra holds the monopoly once gov owned now private they lease out their infrastructure still charge a mint but other companies have to pass the costs onto consumer so they charge alot too

Are you kidding me? I wish we had private companies building roads in Canada. We have the worst highways in the world. If you want to see the difference, drive 15 minutes in either direction fromt he canadian-american border and tell which country has the better roads. [Hint: American highways are 1 million times better]

the private companies build roads here get funding from the government to do it then put up toll booths to recoup money they didnt spend and every year the tolls get increased, when goverments fund the roads on rare occasions they needed toll booths to recoup costs they were only a fixture for a specific period of time.

and now the private companies are using cashless tolls which on paper sounds kewl except for the fact you need to get this little transmitter/receiver thing for you car and most companies you need to have a credit card to get one so if you dont use them often enough to justify having one or dont have a credit card you cant use them. and the thing that really bites is public money was used to build these damn roads !!!!

[edit on 3-11-2008 by Demandred]

Originally posted by hinky
The one thing a government can do better than any private sector is spend money. In real life, and having to answer to stockholders or a board of directors; there is no way in hell you'd sell a plan to spend $2,000,000,000 on an economy in a state of free fall collapse.

A private sector company would have let it collapse then throw money at fixing the problem instead of creating more problems trying to fix a broken system.

[edit on 3-11-2008 by hinky]

that maybe the case but how many lives would be destroyed in the process, private sector has no concious or moral obligation their god is the almighty dollar, most governments cant afford to think like that because they wont be in power long

Originally posted by Demandred

its easy to single out the unemployed but there are also those who are disabled and elderly

I am not talking about the disabled. I am talking about the people that made the choice not to work. I want you to do an experiment. Go out to a physically capable beggar on a street with a list of jobs and offer them to drive them to an interview. [Hint: You will never hear such a long list of excuses not to work.]

i never said it fixed the problem i just said they have more resources to to throw at a problem and resources dont just mean money, it can mean man power, able to legislate

Well government can throw all the money, manpower, and legislation to a problem and still never even help a problem. Way more often than not, they make it worse. Example why are public schools continually getting worse and private schools continually better?

ahh but there is housing no? else they would be living without a roof over their head,

Umm... do you know what these neighborhoods look like? Do you know what the crime rate is these areas? Is this the type of place you would want to raise your children? How many of these people work?

they wouldnt have access to public transport whom when gov controlled arrived on time and charged a FAIR fare, busses are now privitised we have late busses rude drives and we get over charged for.

Now when you say the busses are now privatized, is there more than one bus company? In other words, is there competition? Or is just the government funding a single private company? I would argue that government funding a private company is one of the worst ideas ever and has always resulted in what you are describing.

in Oz telstra holds the monopoly once gov owned now private they lease out their infrastructure still charge a mint but other companies have to pass the costs onto consumer so they charge alot too

Get the gov completely out, and competing businesses in

the private companies build roads here get funding from the government to do it then put up toll booths to recoup money they didnt spend and every year the tolls get increased, when goverments fund the roads on rare occasions they needed toll booths to recoup costs they were only a fixture for a specific period of time.

Again get the government funding out, and competing businesses in and costs will go down and quality will improve

and now the private companies are using cashless tolls which on paper sounds kewl except for the fact you need to get this little transmitter/receiver thing for you car and most companies you need to have a credit card to get one so if you dont use them often enough to justify having one or dont have a credit card you cant use them. and the thing that really bites is public money was used to build these damn roads !!!!

Let me ask you a question. Would you rather be taxed your whole life for those roads or would you rather pay a small fee for just when you use them?

Slaughter millions of innocent civilians with the OK of the public.

The government cant manage or do anything better then the private sector. Everything they put their hands to becomes a huge cluster....

That is why I dont understand why people would vote for someone who wants MORE government involvement and control. Makes no sense to me.

[edit on 11/3/2008 by greeneyedleo]