nklr: private vs. public enterprise

[Thomas Komjathy]

Dennis Miller called them "elementary exit holes." [b]From:[/b] Mark Harfenist [b]To:[/b] DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [b]Sent:[/b] Tue, March 9, 2010 5:36:48 PM [b]Subject:[/b] [DSN_KLR650] nklr: private vs. public enterprise   as suggested we were to come up with a topic that we could all agree on so here is my attempt.....

>>>>name one project or service that the government has done more efficiently

than the private sector. Well....how about building most of our airports, interstate highways, bridges and ports?  Most of which were built using our parents tax dollars at a time when the marginal tax rate was 80% [sic].  Most of which remain in use today, although at current (very low by historical standards or by the standards of other industrialized countries) tax rates we can't even afford the upkeep, much less rebuilding or expanding any of them. These were the investments which made our country an economic, political and military powerhouse.  Other countries (c.f.: China, but also such third rate places as Croatia) are currently making the kinds of investments in infrastructure that we are no longer willing to make.  It's too bad, since I've been kind've enjoying things like highways, bridges, airports and the like. I don't mind paying for them either, since I think I get my fair share of use out of much of what my parents bought for me. Most of y'all sound a bit too eager to make debating points for one side or the other, while simultaneously determined to lock out contrasting points of view or contradictory information.  My mom and sisters live in Canada, and they get far better health care than I do, and for less money (and they don't wait long for non-elective surgery or other procedures, contrary to claims you'll hear here or elsewhere, for whatever that's worth).  What's that mean? My hometown has a giant new multimillion dollar cardiac wing on its hospital, built expressely to attract impatient Canadians as private-pay patients.  Does that make my sisters wrong?  They're all just data points in a very complex, interlocking, mixed bag of topics.  Trying to oversimplify, polarize and shout louder than the other guy is what kids do.  We'd all come across better if we managed to act less like kids and more like intelligent, thoughtful, complex adults.  Might find ourselves better governed, as well, if we demanded this of our elected officials too (many of whom have been sounding remarkably childlike recently). enjoy, Mark (On the road with my--yes!--KLR. ...Sierra de la Ventana, Argentina, heading generally northward for home)