Quote:
Originally Posted by MS Fowler
Maybe the question is, " How much public stuff SHOULD there be?"
Or maybe, " Is there a better use for the public funds that do all that stuff?". Could any of it be dome better by private enterprise?"
|
I've heard many times that our National Park system is the envy of Europeans. The finest land over there for that sort of thing has long since been taken care of by private enterprise.
Privatizing military force in Iraq is not looking too good. Xe guys have pulled some pretty gnarly crap. Neo-crusaders, going over to waste hajis for the glory of God. Privatizing troop maintenance has resulted in 13 soldiers dead - electrocuted in showers. Mess halls with several types of pizza and many flavors of ice cream available. All of that stuff delivered at some cost in $$ and risk to life. Not sure it's such a good thing to make it as much like home as possible for our guys over there. Might tend to get too comfortable. Starts to look like we're colonizing the place.
Universities used to be private enterprise only. Only the elite could go to such places. We see how returned vets were treated in an atmosphere of almost exclusively private enterprise after WW1. Many Daddy Warbucks types came out of that but many, many more vets languished in poverty for years. After WW2, a bonafide socialist program, the GI Bill, provided much better treatment for returned vets and ended up being one of the best public investments of all time.
I don't see the private sector ever doing something as effective and far-reaching as the GI Bill.