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Comment by jld

7 years ago

How are dollars I have paid to the government any more mine than dollars I have paid to a company?

The government isn't supposed to run a profit. Therefore it becomes very difficult to know which part of it is wasteful and which isn't. Companies simply fail if they don't make a profit or have an outside funding source.

  • Not nearly quickly enough to be a curb on wasteful behaviour at large companies, and these are the ones that affect public policy.

    • Much faster than waste at a government is curbed, which is essentially not until the country’s currency collapses.

a company is accountable for the dollars you pay to it, and has to provide a commensurate value, or you take your business elsewhere. dollars paid to the government keep coming in no matter how wasteful their practices

  • That's not how people choose which health insurance policy is offered by their employer, or which private company won the contract to deliver their electricity.

    • You're right, at least in the case of highly regulated markets and when the state creates artificial monopolies (e.g. electricity).

      I'll correct my original comment then:

      At least private companies that compete in a relatively free market are losing their own earned money when they're inefficient, not someone else's.

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    • Those are some of the most regulated industries in existence. Those companies are "private" in the sense that private individuals reap profits, but their funding is secured by proxy through force (legislation/forceful-taxation).

    • Move to a location with multiple electricity providers. They exist all over.

      If you don’t like your employer healthcare, quit and find another or buy it on your own. There is choice there and you just don’t like it.

      1 reply →