Monday, March 18, AD 2024 9:35pm

Government Monopolies v. Competition

Another fine econ 101 video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity.   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.  The mystery to me is why we still keep making this fundamental mistake of assuming that a government monopoly is necessary rather than  looking into new measures to reach the goal sought.  The faith in government, especially on the political Left, is as charming in its naivety as it is irrational.

The last century was often a long sad failure to heed the warnings of Rudyard Kipling in his poem The Gods of the Copybook Headings.  I hope this century will not repeat this inability to learn some very simple lessons about the limits of  both government and wishful thinking.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
19 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
M.Z.
M.Z.
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 9:13am

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.

RL
RL
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 10:34am

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.

restrainedradical
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 10:36am

What about government monopolies like the police, courts, and military?

restrainedradical
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 10:43am

What wrong with private military companies like Blackwater?

SteveO
SteveO
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 12:12pm

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.

RL
RL
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 4:27pm

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.

n4nadmin
n4nadmin
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 4:36pm

Steve,

That’s a nice bit of water carrying for the Ruling Class – don’t pay any attention to non-government results! They don’t matter! Just keep shoveling money at the government, we promise we’ll get it right…and when is that new security gate going to be installed around the homes of the elite to keep the public school graduates out?

The problem with public schools lies in the fact of their “free and compulsory” nature. Every parent should pay at least a nominal, direct fee for the education of their children – and should be allowed to send their child to whatever school they choose and will accept the child. No child should be compelled to attend school after about the 5th grade.

Do that, and all education problems will resolve themselves.

Michael Denton
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 4:47pm

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.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, August 27, AD 2010 7:58pm

I see it in terms of THEM feverishly foisting on US a command economy/central planning bureaucracy to allocate (ration) limited resources among relatively unlimited needs/desires.

trackback
Saturday, August 28, AD 2010 12:02am

[…] HAT TIP: The American Catholic […]

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, August 28, AD 2010 4:56am

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?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, August 28, AD 2010 4:59am

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

Other than positing the Democratic Congressional caucus’ 1,000+ page bill will generate a state of the world worse than the one we now have, just who among those you usually tangle with says Medicare is untouchable?

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, August 28, AD 2010 9:12am

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.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, August 28, AD 2010 1:48pm

T. Shaw,

That sounds kooky. I will give you this, though. I have stopped believing Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz have been transparent about their aims and motives. Neither is an obscure figure in the economics profession. ‘Tis disconcerting.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, August 28, AD 2010 3:00pm

I’m a kook. Sadly, I’m not alone.

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

letschooseschools
Wednesday, September 1, AD 2010 6:16pm

Another attempt to help Steve0 think clearly.

“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.”

Many low-income (terrible?) parents cannot afford a significant financial investment in their child’s education.

However, if they could CHOOSE the school where their child attends, then they could make an investment in that particular school that is much more valuable than money.

They would have the opportunity to invest THEIR CHILD in that school. They will work hard to make sure that investment is successful.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top