Name one thing the govt does more effficiently.....

[ruffryder]

You're correct, govt is typically far from efficient with our $$. But IMO it should go without saying that every program should at least try to be lean and efficient for the strength of our economy and to help the image of govt and politicians.

I completely agree, but what mechanism is there to implement efficiency? Private companies are about profit, and efficiency is a big big part of it, as increases in efficiency mean increase profits. What motivation do people in govt have to increase efficiency? As the capitalist system has shown, money is a very good motivator..

Not profitable but important to the people.....are you referring to unemoyment, food stamps and othe handouts?

I am referring to clean water, clean air. Open public spaces, national parks, state forests.. Public transportation, roads, bridges. All of these take massive funding that are difficult to do in the private sector.

If so, those are only important to the people getting them. Those programs have expanded so much the last decade it is bankrupting us. They need to be minimalized so more people will get motivated to find work. 50+% of US homes receive some sort of govt assistance.....thats not sustainable. Perhaps this is all part of the bigger plan.?

I agree completely, but I don't think that our budget problem can be solved by this alone. Defense plus medicare/medicaid plus social security are our big problems. The rest is just small potatoes, IMO.

 

[Mafesto]

Rufffy is right about motivation.

Let's say you manage xyz national park & your annual budget is 10 million.
If you streamlined & had a 15 million surplus, you budget would be cut.
Govt is a use it or lose it business & therefore billions are wasted intentionally.

 

[winter brew]

And this is why we need govt to shrink and allow private enterprise to do as much as possible.
Private business does it with incentive bonuses....is the any of that is govt? I would think getting "lean" is govt would be viewed by govt employees as the "wrong direction"....getting "lean" might mean the work can be done with fewer people.
I'm trying to remember which Governor it was that got elected and cleaned house a decade or so ago....layed off a huge % of govt employees and turned it over to private business.....everyone was pissed! But a few years later he had ex-govt employees thanking him because they now did a similar job but got payed more, accomplished more and just felt more productive....some even started their own businesses.
A short spike in unemployment but in a short time the state was spending far less $$ and had lower unemployment.
There was a TV show about it....don't recall who or where. ???

 

[ruffryder]

Let's say you manage xyz national park & your annual budget is 10 million.
If you streamlined & had a 15 million surplus, you budget would be cut.
Govt is a use it or lose it business & therefore billions are wasted intentionally.

I am not sure how you get past it, but it is definitely part of the problem.. Some large companies are like that as well.

 

[ruffryder]

And this is why we need govt to shrink and allow private enterprise to do as much as possible.

Then you run into the problem where it is difficult to change the govt system functions due to it now effecting the profits of companies. Look at our recent fight with the govt for the ability to sell liquor in private stores. It wasn't the govt fighting Costco.. it was all the middle men that would loose a lot of money.

Same thing could be said about Boeing and their thoughts about decreased military spending for aircraft..

Though, I guess the big issue is to not have govt use private enterprise to do the govt's job, but just remove the job from the govt's role and not be involved with it.

 

[milehighassassin]

I can mail a letter from new York to Los Angeles for 45 cents. That pretty damn impressive considering the private alternatives would cost probably $6.

Postal system has its struggles but their prices are more than fair.


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[milehighassassin]

I don't totally disagree, but I don't totally agree with you either. There are a bunch of plain ol' employees that are part of the problem as far as efficiency goes. Just look at your State DOT. Look at how many State vehicles go home with employees each night. Waste of money. How much heavy equipment gets purchased each year and then the work is contracted out and said equipmenmtn doesn't get used as much. This does include the maintenance and Highway Patrol. State and County govt. is what we see everyday and they are not efficient.

Private companies allow vehicles to go home with employees as well.

Some or it might be wasteful but when someone leaves their house they can go directly to work. No need to go into the office, spend and hour getting your vehicle and other essentials. It works extremely well for anyone on call.

And as long as the vehicle is not being used much outside of work you are probably saving fuel. For DOT generally road supervisors are who take vehicles home.


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[ruffryder]

I can mail a letter from new York to Los Angeles for 45 cents. That pretty damn impressive considering the private alternatives would cost probably $6.

Postal system has its struggles but their prices are more than fair.

Most of govt services are subsidized, meaning the prices that are charge are not meant to cover all costs. That is similar to the post office. While it is pretty cheap to send a letter at the post office, your tax dollars are also paying the post office...

 

[skibreeze]

I can mail a letter from new York to Los Angeles for 45 cents. That pretty damn impressive considering the private alternatives would cost probably $6.

Postal system has its struggles but their prices are more than fair.


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Most of govt services are subsidized, meaning the prices that are charge are not meant to cover all costs. That is similar to the post office. While it is pretty cheap to send a letter at the post office, your tax dollars are also paying the post office...

MHA, this is a terrible example, the post office is losing Billions every year. As much as I hate agreeing with Ruffy on anything, you are paying thru higher taxes and worse, a higher deficit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...year/2011/09/05/gIQAQWEw4J_story.html?hpid=z3

 

[milehighassassin]

They need to raise rates and make changes, but again. They are extremely efficient for the 45 Cent stamp. Raise prices to 65 cents for all I care. They are still FAR cheaper than ups or FedEx.


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[milehighassassin]

Also that article is from September of 2011 and it is saying they "could" lose that much money. They didn't actually lose that much.


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[slash]

takes MONEY out of my pocket

 

[ruffryder]

They need to raise rates and make changes, but again. They are extremely efficient for the 45 Cent stamp. Raise prices to 65 cents for all I care. They are still FAR cheaper than ups or FedEx.

That is because they are subsidized. The cost of mailing a letter has little to do with the actual cost of mailing the letter. The cost is set by congress, not by a business case.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Private companies allow vehicles to go home with employees as well.

Some or it might be wasteful but when someone leaves their house they can go directly to work. No need to go into the office, spend and hour getting your vehicle and other essentials. It works extremely well for anyone on call.

And as long as the vehicle is not being used much outside of work you are probably saving fuel. For DOT generally road supervisors are who take vehicles home.


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But that's the private company's money, not the taxpayer's money. I know what I pay each week for my drive to and from work. And I am not too thrilled knowing that a part of my money I earn goes to pay fuel costs for Joe Govt Employee to commute to and from work.

 

[milehighassassin]

Would you rather pay for a gallon or two of gas at $4 a gallon right now (probably less for government since they don't pay taxes in their fuel) or pay and hour to and hour and a half of labor at $18 an hour?


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[milehighassassin]

That is because they are subsidized. The cost of mailing a letter has little to do with the actual cost of mailing the letter. The cost is set by congress, not by a business case.

They are not subsidized. That is a fallacy that most people think.

They support themselves.


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[HawkShot99]

They are not subsidized. That is a fallacy that most people think.

They support themselves.


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In the true non-subsidized world known as private business they would long ago have been out of business.

In 2011 they took in $65.71 billion. Not to bad. Only problem is that it cost them $70.63 billion to do it. Now where do you think that $5.1 Billion came from?

And to add to how they are not truly a non government organization. They pay no property tax, income tax, vehicle registration, ect...

 

[ruffryder]

They are not subsidized. That is a fallacy that most people think.

They support themselves.

hmm.. guess you might be right..

from wiki

The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters. However, it does receive tens to hundreds of millions per year in "implicit subsidies", such as breaks on property tax, vehicle registration, and sales tax, in addition to subsidized government loans.[6] Revenue in the 2000s has been dropping sharply due to declining mail volume,[7] prompting the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to reduce its budget deficit.[8]