Why is "privatizing" the government so wonderful - won't we get ripped off by corporatism?

Answer 1

WE do get ripped off by the privatization of government. Contractor personnel cost much more because of a number of reasons, first they can be terminated at any time so they demand higher pay just to cover their "unemployment". The typical Govt employee does a good job but over the years their income has fallen behind their counterparts in private industry (the contractors) and their retirement has been diluted as well. Yet government can point to the reduction the government personnel payroll with one hand while the contractor costs for doing the same job goes skyrocketing which they do not tell you about.
I speak from very personal knowledge. I was "contracted out", I served on contracting study teams and finally all the double standard approach finally got to me and I took the earliest retirement I could.

Please research this on your own, look at two figures the employee cost for the fed employee (including retirement and health benefits) vs the money paid "contractor personnel". It will not be easy to find but the figures are there. Try the GAO.

Answer 2

Because the primary reason that people take civil service jobs is that they know they can get away with the sort of laziness and incompetence that would get them fired from a 'real' job. Private companies therefore get better employees.

If there's only one place to go to take a drivers test, then the DMV employees can be as lazy and good-for-nothing as they choose. Their 'customers' are their prisoners, and have no choice. If there were three or four different private companies authorized to issue licenses, then the one that provided the best and fastest service would get the most customers, and make the most profit.

At the current DMV, if an examiner is too lazy to really check that you know your stuff, "so what?". He's a civil servant, so he's not going to be fired. Plus the DMV is a government agency, so they can't be sued if they put bad drivers on the road.

If it was a private company, though, the owners would have to be worried about getting sued if they give licenses to bad drivers, so they'd have an incentive to keep a close eye on their employees, plus the employees would know that if they didn't check properly they could be fired, so they would have an incentive to do their jobs right.

Richard

Answer 3

The Roman Empire Augustus eliminated private contractors in tax collection because, while they found that while they did bring in more money and were more efficient, they also tortured, extorted and robbed people (literally) and were extremely corrupt.

The Florida Department of Revenue experiments with using contract CPAs to do tax audits. Although they are able to do so, the cost is MUCH higher and the recovery is only slightly higher, with more appeals.

The IRS is now using private collection agencies.

Efficiency is great. Put me on commission and give me the power, and I guarantee I can extort more money than any government employee would ever dare.

Of course politicians can sell these contracts (er get large campaign contributions) more easily than they can sell civil service jobs.

If that is what you want, go for it.

Answer 4

How would you get ripped off? You buy what you want, and nothing more or less. They sell what the customer wants, if they make something people want, they stay in business and do well, if they make something no one wants, they either adapt or go out of business.

Answer 5

You mean you haven't already with monopolizing electricity and gas companies?

Sure, you can opt out by not buying, but one day when you call the police, they will charge you for a house call.

Answer 6

Try to be a little more specific if you want meaningful answers.

Answer 7

America is all about 'money'. To them its more important than people