The loudest voice, piercing through the debate over health care is unquestionably sure "privatization is always better." Because Republicans (who are in the government) will readily tell you - the government never does anything right. Which explains why the most popular people in their Grand Old Party no longer hold any personally "taxing" jobs in the government (Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and as of Sunday, Sarah Palin), opting (fittingly) for private political gigs.The article goes on to look at how the right might "sell" privatized fire fighting with some over-the-top political ads. Funny.
Less government control is always good? The private sector is always first-rate? Free market capitalism is the cure-all? Even for health care?!
Let's look at this reasonably: Firefighting used to be a private for-profit industry. In the 1800's, the early days of urbanization, in cities like New York and Baltimore, there were private "clubs" or "gangs" who were in charge of putting out fires. The infamous Boss Tweed started his illustrious political career at a volunteer fire company. The way it functioned was the first club at the scene got money from the insurance company. So, they had an incentive to get there fast. They also had an incentive to sabotage competition. They also often ended up getting in fights over territory and many times buildings would burn down before the issue was resolved. They were glorified looters. It was corrupt, bloated and expensive -- but at least it wasn't the much maligned "government controlled."
The post makes some serious points. It is well worth a read.
No comments:
Post a Comment