[jokethrowaway]

Democracy is still majority rules, which means a huge part of the consumers of government are still forced to accept conditions they don't like. There is also that mafia bit about having to give away part of your earnings or you go to jail.

We need to decentralise the system so that fewer majority votes are needed (ideally, zero) and politicians hold less power (ideally, zero).

Most state functions can be privatised trivially. Some are more complicated but it doesn't seem like we're moving in this direction at all.

Every year the government spends more of the money stolen from taxpayers and keeps getting bigger and more powerful (and probably more corrupt).

[turbinerneiter]

Can you give me an example for a privatised service that is doing better than the public one?

Because I only have negative examples, where after privatization prizes went up and quality went down.

[alentist]

Read up on SELTIC (the Service, Efficiency, and Lower Taxes for Indianapolis Commission) and how their privatization initiatives dramatically improved Indianapolis.

https://bg.hbr.org/1997/05/can-business-really-do-business-w...

https://www.govtech.com/magazines/gt/Indianapolis-Mayor-Step...

https://fcpp.org/2018/05/04/the-indianapolis-champ/

[jokethrowaway]

Private health care in Europe.

The cost of public health care is staggering and the quality is abysmal. If you can afford it, if you have something serious and you don't want to wait for ages or get poor equipment or lack of testing, you'll go private even in Europe.

I'd say private health care in the states is very successful as well (high quality and research) but the prices are ridiculously inflated because of government / insurances.

[germinalphrase]

It’s an article of economic faith that private parties will always, by definition, provide superior outcomes with reduced costs.

[alentist]

It’s an article of economic faith that government parties will always, by definition, provide superior outcomes with reduced costs.

[germinalphrase]

I have never encountered your position in the wild.

[alentist]

I highly doubt that.

[germinalphrase]

Perhaps my perspective is skewed by living in the Midwest. By virtue of some private interests, I interact with quite a few very conservative people and perhaps the ‘average man on the street’ is already more culturally conservative than on the coasts.

I maintain my position though. I really have never come across a person in conversation who would take an absolutist position that government action is always going to be better than private enterprise, but the opposite absolutist position is somewhat common.

It say it’s an article of faith because the people I’ve spoken to are not up for discussion about it. They have established their belief and nothing will cast a shadow of doubt upon it.

[d1zzy]

I grew up in a communist country, everything was state owned, everything was crappy (I mean quality wise) and generally out of stock but hey, it had amazing price (dictated by the state of course), theoretically anyone could afford it. That resulted in huge lines waiting for small stock drops (not unlike the new PC hardware situation with scalpers these days, which is funny) of chicken, electronics, bananas. Of course, it was even better if you knew someone working at those stores, then you'd get a heads up or they'd "reserve" some for you.

So in general I'd say I've seen government fail to run plenty of businesses. A more modern example would be PG&E which is in this weird situation where it's so regulated that it's almost government run but it's technically a private entity. There are also plenty of pure private entities that haven't run well (but at least, such entities end up being bankrupt, a healthy alternative for non-profitable private businesses).

So in my experience, seeing both private and publicly run companies fail, I've started to think that this aspect of it (being privately or publicly controlled) is not what makes the company run well but it's one of the many factors that can contribute to it. I think a more important factor are the interests, skills, will and agenda of those that control it, regardless of whom they answer to (voters or board).

And let's not discard the particularities of each business. Some enjoy a natural monopoly, others face tough competition. These are more important aspects contributing to efficient use of resources than, again, who the CEO answers to.

[joejerryronnie]

I’ve read about this form of government in Snow Crash. High speed pizza delivery seems to be a good investment.