[SamAtt]

It's an interesting read and worth bookmarking if you can't get through right now (the page was going in and out as I read it).

It's kind of depressing though in that his point boils down to neither side's solution being all that effective at solving the problem. Moreover his meta point seems to be that it's too complicated a problem for politicians to solve based on their need to boil things down to a sound bite solution.

[roc]

Politicians don't solve based on the sound bytes. They win power with sound bites. There's no shortage of evidence of sound bites being blissfully ignored, by politicians of any stripe, moments after an election victory.

Politicians 'solve' based on lobbying efforts. And that's why they can't fix anything. Lobbying favors the entrenched and they like things nice and wasteful and anti-competitive.

[pyre]

Politicians love competition. If there is a bidding war between rival lobbyists, that's a good thing... for the politician.

[roc]

Firstly, I was referring to the resulting citizen-facing services being anti-competitive.

Secondly, I disagree. A small handful of would-be suitors is preferable. But a large field would only be possible if the firms were each smaller, which means they have less money for lobbying efforts in general. Which simultaneously means less graft up-front and a less-lucrative position as a lobbyist when your term is up.