That government monopolies like the post office and public schools deliver inferior service at greatly inflated cost is as well established as any fact can be this side of Eternity.

I suppose that is why you and your Tea Party demanded government keep its hands off people’s Medicare.

I’m not a Tea Partier, nor do I wish the government to keep its hands off Medicare. Medicare is a government program and I wish they would do a better job of administering it.

Even Obamacare isn’t a government monopoly. It may be bad or doomed to fail from the start (by design?) and lead to a government monopoly of health care, but it isn’t one as currently constituted.

In regard to courts restrainedradical, alternative dispute resolution is all the rage in Illinois to relieve crowded court dockets. Mediation with a private mediator is required in all cases involving kids.

As to police, private security firms are booming because the police in most communities are unable to protect the citizenry.

In regard to the military, that is one of the few areas in which a government monopoly is warranted, since Letters of Marque and Reprisal to private citizens are just not of much utility in modern warfare.

Funny video. Difference between public and private schools is not the cost but the care of the parent(s) for their children. If you agree to pay for your child’s education in either time, homeschooling, or in tuition, private school, you are vested in the outcome. You care enough to get involved in more then just going to a sporting event that your child is taking part in.

It is not about the money, it is about the family. So vouchers for terrible parents is a horrendous idea. Too bad you are so far off the mark, but keep the comedy coming. It is fun to watch general lies told by nice pretty people.

How about next film you use the Joker from Batman? That would be more entertaining.

By Steve’s reasoning people who can’t afford private schools or to have a parent staying home to teach are by default bad parents. Their children should be foresaken to the ghetto of piss-poor public schools. Not only is that wrong-headed, it’s sickening.

Having dealt some with students in the public school, all the factors are relevant. Poor environments, over-worked or lazy parents, disinterested teachers, etc. There isn’t one magical factor that can turn around public schools; a foundational and gradual change is necessary.

so vouchers for terrible parents are a horrendous idea

SteveO, why not answer three questions to clarify your own thinking and our understanding of it.

1. What proportion of parents are ‘terrible’?

2. Why should the selections of non-terrible parents be constrained by the incapacities of the terrible parents?

3. What criteria do you fancy ‘terrible’ parents will use to select schools?

4. If the ‘terrible’ parents select for convenience of commuting, how does that leave the aggregate set of selections worse than it is now, given that people are compelled to make use of geographically proximate schools?

Dodd, Frank, Obama, Pelosi, Reid must – commoin good – control the economy and install command economy/central planning because the majority are racists, christianist terrorists, or NASCAR-loving retards who are too stupid to know what’s good for them.

Plus, once the people are reduced to an equal level of dependency and desperation (Obamacare prophecy: before 90% were well-insured; after 100% harmed by government-controlled health) and they are disarmed, it will be easier to control them.

I’m a kook. Sadly, I’m not alone.

Krugman . . . I wonder what he calls the planet on which he lives.