steveinbsas said:
Do you think the system will improve if gutted and rebuilt by the US government?
Look at the USPS.
Yes, look at the post office- its cheap, efficient, reliable, and serves EVERY address in the USA. It lost a couple billion last year.
Which means it should probably raise its price to 50 cents. But compared to its private competitors, the USPS is a bargain.
I have used UPS and FEDEX professionally, in my business, for 30 years now, had accounts with both since the late 80's.
Their reliability is no more than the post office- with UPS, I would say its lower. Of course, this is just based on shipping a few thousand boxes, not on science.
And their prices are 30 times or more.
Compared to the post office, which many people infer is a failure if it loses a Billion, we have- private industry- like the banks, which lost appoximately 1 Trillion last year.
They, however, are paragons of efficiency and prove the supremacy of private industry- just as soon as the government bails em out to the tune of $1 Trillion.
But it would be sacriledge to subsidise the post office, or the trains, in the USA, because... well, personally, I dont know.
I think that even if the USA spent $2 Billion a year indefinitely on the post office, it would more than pay off- you see, civilisation requires reliable infrastructure to flourish- capitalism requires a reliable way to send bills.
If capitalism in the USA didnt have that horrible, socialistic, inefficient post office actually delivering their bills, and instead relied on $10 per letter 2nd day air from UPS- things would be SO much better, right?
In reality, the US government does a BETTER job than private industry in dozens of categories.
The overhead on Social Security is under 1%.
The overhead on the cheapest private pension fund is between 5% and 10%.
Government builds cheaper freeways and dams, bridges and tunnels.
Government runs cheaper, better schools and universities, police departments and fire protection.
Parks. Forest and natural resource management.
Public Health- would you want a nice, pay as you go, system for communicable disease protection? You know, homeless people can have TB, Cholera, the Plague, and so on- If I have insurance, I am safe, right?
Government manages workers comp insurance better than private industry- again, just based on 30 years of having employees, not your high falutin right wing talking heads, who undoubtedly know more than me.
A Government run military runs rings around private mercenaries, for cost, quality, and most important, accountability.
In fact, that issue, accountability, is essential to almost all of the above, and many more.
Government run health care, like government run wars, mine safety, and, yes, postal delivery, is accountable to the citizens thru elected officials.
Private insurance is not.
I come back, every time, to my friends in Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Scandinavia, and elsewhere, who dont go bankrupt, dont die in the streets, are not broke as countries, and somehow actually LIKE their single payer systems. And which, each and every one COST LESS for MORE CARE.
It works, in every other civilized country- and yet, somehow, mysterious structural problems will make it fail in the USA?
