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- Newsgroups: sci.econ
- Subject: Re: Question about Libertarian Idealogy posted to sci.econ
- Message-ID: <1992Sep14.164427.4097@desire.wright.edu>
- From: demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man)
- Date: 14 Sep 92 16:44:26 EST
- References: <1992Sep12.011348.3455@leland.Stanford.EDU> <1992Sep13.223901.4088@desire.wright.edu> <1992Sep14.150920.9404@spdc.ti.com>
- Organization: Demonic Possesions, Inc.
- Lines: 81
-
- In article <1992Sep14.150920.9404@spdc.ti.com>, burris@epcot.spdc.ti.com (Jim Burris) writes:
- > In article <1992Sep13.223901.4088@desire.wright.edu> demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man) writes:
- >>In article <1992Sep12.011348.3455@leland.Stanford.EDU>, bohnert@leland.Stanford.EDU (matthew bohnert) writes:
- >>> Hello to all...
- >>>
- >> Bureaucrats usually don't make good businessmen.
- >>
- >> Actually, my views are pretty close to yours, I simply don't trust the
- >>bureaucracy to do a good job. Personally, I have no objections to government
- >
- > Actually, the "various" bureaucracies in this country are surprisingly good
- > at what they are asked to do. Therin lies the problem. They are asked to do too
- > much. They are given unsolvable problems. They are subject to political winds,
- > which changes their mission every 2-4 years. They are underfunded and underpaid
- > when compared to the private sector. And they are constantly hounded, blamed,
- > chastised, and otherwise castigated by politicians needing a scapegoat, and by
- > people with an anti-govt bias, neither of which back up their wild assertions
- > with data.
-
- Well.... I'm not going to lump all gov. agencies in the same boat. To
- a degree, the agencies most visible to the public (HUD, EPA, etc.) will do
- better/worse depending on who is running them and to what degree the president
- believes in their mission.
- However, for some of these agencies, their mission is to perpetuate
- their existence, usually by perpetuating the problems. And some agencies are
- simply making the problems worse (EPA, for example).
-
- Now if we want to remove politics from agencies, why not privatize
- them? Let businesses contribute to an OSHA or EPA to be the watchdog. Then
- they can all advertize "approved by FOOBAR, so you know it's safe!". :)
- UL does a great job for consumer safety. How about letting they are
- another similar setup do the same thing for workplace safety?
-
- > The information I've seen in studying public administration in this country,
- > from the federal system down to the township or school district, is that most
- > of the customers these bureaus serve are satisfied that they've been treated
- > fairly, within the context of the rules they must operate under. And, though it
- > is difficult to compare, productivity of the public sector seems to approach
- > that of the private sector.
-
- Satisfied is a relative thing, though. Often people measure it by
- comparing it to the worst-case scenario. Am I getting *any* benefits? If yes,
- then at least it's better than nothing, etc.
- By taking one or two agencies and letting private concerns run the show
- we'd have test cases to see if government is the best answer.
-
- > Politicians pass laws and regulations that are of dubious quality for
- > electioneering purposes. Thus, eliminating special-interest campaign financing,
- > imposing term limitations, holding politicians accountable for their actions,
- > and limiting our expectations of government in general ("ask not..."), will
- > improve the operation of our governments. Even a limited government needs the
- > bureaucracy. Let's see: armed services; police and fire depts.; FDA; EPA; DOA;
- > school supers/principals/teachers; forest rangers .......... These are all
- > bureaucrats. The problem is their politically-appointed directors. Do you
- > agree?
-
- (What the government needs to do:)
- Armed services, police, courts: yes. FDA, no. EPA, no. DOA? Public
- land administration and schools: I don't think government should have the
- monopoly in these cases.
-
- As far as the problems go, the directors may simply be a symptom of the
- problem. Since the Peter principle and political rewards seem to be the
- primary method of advancement in government bureaucracies, the top will almost
- always be composed of yes-men, incompetents, and people beholden to political
- interests.
- But if promotions were based on results....
-
- The problems with government agencies extend beyond bad leadership.
- OSHA is apparently trying to see how little work they can actually do, the EPA
- is more concerned with treating the symptoms of pollution rather than the
- causes, the DEA and IRS are become feudal-style land grabbers, etc.
-
- We're giving government absolute power. Are we surprised at the
- results?
-
- Brett
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