Quote:
Originally Posted by 68style
(Post 8934472)
Ever heard the term relative? It's pretty obvious I meant efficient in comparison to other governments, not private businesses........... which do not and can not offer the services, most of which are not profitable, that governments do because their services end up being unfair or poor in the interest of profit margins at some point, particularly if it's a listed company. Or, even worse, they lie about their results which the government has much less interest in doing save for a few political situations. Government also cannot hide their financial activities like a corporation can, everything is transparent and accessible by any Canadian citizen/interested party at no cost to you including every worker's salary.
Your conclusion that government programs all turn to shit is the only thing ironic in either of our posts because private companies are WAY more likely to turn their service to shit in the long run and provide less for the customer while charging more, particularly if that business is a monopoly. Examples of this in our every day life are too numerous to even begin to list, be they services like TV or cell phone to the giant corporation of Apple itself. The direction and success of any government department rides on the minister in charge of it to provide direction much like a CEO would. There are, of course, good and bad ministers same as good or bad CEO's, but every single corporation is single-minded in its task to produce better results every year, particularly if its publicly traded, and those results are not usually achieved by providing a better product at a lower or equivalent price to the consumer. They're achieved by cutting costs using cheaper materials, moving production to cheaper countries, cutting workers, having a monopoly so the consumer has no choice or selling a brand image that belies the product.
You're also wrong that government agencies raise taxes when they run out of money. Raising taxes isn't even a last resort as it is political suicide for any elected official to do so... in lieu of this, government organizations restructure, reorganize and take on efficiency advice just like any company does. They move money around between programs. Some programs are forced to do without or halt certain projects they're working on or do more with less money. They have to eliminate part-time or casual staff or existing workers have to take on activities beyond their work descriptions. Budgets are set annually and overages are NOT permitted. So where are you getting your theory from since it's obviously not based on facts? It would appear that you are also very much misinformed. |
Sure, Canada is “efficient” compared to Venezuela but it’s hardly efficient compared to Singapore. Regardless, I don’t even know how you could use the word “efficient” when talking about government. It’s like discussing whose shit stinks less because governments are inherently inefficient.
I’m not arguing for a complete free market. My point is that anything the government touches will eventually cost tax payers more than the benefits that are provided. Thus, we should limit the amount of power of the state.
I don’t see you think how private companies are more likely to provide worse service than the government.
- Private companies have to compete in the market place and if they are unable to, a different company that provides better value will take their place. Example: Blockbuster is gone and Netflix is thriving. If a company has to take a loan, they have to use operating profits to pay interest on those loans. Governments print money to pay for their loans.
- The fact that a company fails is not a problem. If a company is mismanaged, it should not and will not operate profitably. In fact, most businesses fail, and rightfully so; they are managed by people who should not be operating companies. Those same people are running the government! Except in this position they’re not going to be bankrupt, they're gonna keep an inefficient system running.
- Governments creates monopolies by creating barriers of entry to the marketplace. ICBC is a monopoly and we’re suffering because we have to pay insurance rates that are much higher than what we would have to pay if there was a free market.
- I don’t see how you can say that companies don’t provide better products and services. Sure, costs are minimized by outsourcing, which is the right thing to do. Why would you pay for more expensive labour if you don’t have to? In return companies can reduce prices. Iphones would be $20k if they were made in North America with the minimum wage and other terrible labour regulations. How do you explain electric cars, 4k TVs, smartphones, and almost everything else that has improved dramatically? The government was responsible?
- Apple is not a monopoly. In fact, Apple is responsible for improving technology to such a great extent that we have super-fast smartphones that are faster than desktops from 10 years ago. If the government was responsible for phones, we’d probably have some sort of palm pilot type device with 100 buttons.
- How am I wrong about the government increasing taxes? Wages aren’t the only things that are taxed. Also, why are BC Hydro and ICBC rates always going up? Hmmm…..
- Everything you said about government restructuring and reorganizing is honestly laughable. Just because a budget is set does not mean the money is used “efficiently”. It’s actually impossible for governments to be efficient. Here’s an example: when a government program is created, wages are set not based on anything comparable to market rates.
I see the fundamental difference between us. You believe that the government should be used to improve society. I believe that governments will eventually fail and that people should help themselves. It's kind of a socialism vs capitalism debate in a nutshell.