Quote:
Originally Posted by ARIES666
It's ok to leave the upkeep of roads and highways, collection of garbage, etc, etc to municipal or state or federal governments...god forbid they also have universal healthcare.
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Except here's the problem with your analogy, Aries -- when has the state or federal government ever handled those things both efficiently AND in a true cost-conscious manner? Where it worked in a good, clean, trouble-free manner AND it was actually economically sound? And take note of what I just said. I didn't say cost-
CUTTING manner, as if I want everything to be bare bones and run completely low end, where you're trying to pinch every penny. I have no problem with throwing SOME government resources or money at the problem, in particular to help the truly, truly, truly poor. After all, that would be the humane thing to do.
But here's where I laugh at the idea of government sponsored, universal healthcare actually working: The post office.
For crying out loud, the government can't even deliver a fucking letter on time. Seriously, it can't. Forget about how long a standard postage stamp or standard package will take. That's just a total crap shoot. But even more laughable, even if I PAY for an enhanced service such as Express Mail (overnight delivery) it STILL shows up late...and even if I PAY for an enhanced service like Priority mail (guaranteed 2-3 days), it can still take as long as 10 or more days.
And think about it. Going all the way back to the Pony Express and running the clock all the way up to today, if EVER there was a government program that the American people actually came together on and said "Sure, I'm willing to see some of my tax dollars spent on establishing a good, reliable mail service. I think we ALL benefit from that" -- it's the fucking Post Office. And yet for all the BILLIONS spent on it across the decades, what did you get? A government service bogged down in rules, regulations, up and down budget cuts and continually hampered services...and in the end, shoddy service that even became a universally recognized joke.
Yet along comes something like Fed Ex as a PRIVATE business company, that says "Hey, pay us a few bucks more and we'll get your letter there overnight. Or we'll refund your money" -- and BOOM. Suddenly you've got a company that blossoms and actually DOES the job is says it will do. Why? Because unlike a Federal government operation...which supports itself with a never-ending supply of tax dollars, so it really has nothing to gain or lose by being in operation...in the case of Fed Ex it HAS to do it's job and do it reliably, otherwise it goes under.