So you think a private, for profit business would be incorruptible?

Compared to the corruption we have now?

Jl, your right about private industry in the meat inspection business. Bad argument on my part. I was thinking they would answer to an oversight committee but the comitee would just award the contract to whoever played ball with them on kickbacks and favors so I guess we are stuck being robbed either way.

I sure wish the private-sector, all-efficient, and all those other adjectives used in this thread to describe how great the private-sector is - credit card industry could come up with a way to secure their freakin' networks. I rarely use a credit card, but this is the 5th time in 3 years that my account has been compromised. I have never been out any money, but that is beside the point. It is not like I get to choose which payment processor a merchant uses, so it
is not like I, a consumer, have any recourse.

Not saying government could do it any better, but they probably couldn't do worse than the private sector.

And the oversight committee would have to be paid for by someone. Either the meat inspection industry or the consumers. If it's the consumers, then someone is going to have to collect the money. How will they collect the money other than levying some kind of tax or perhaps a fee
(tax by another name). All of a sudden the
committee is government.

There are a whole lot of other examples. I don't
buy all the liberal bull and propaganda that is
going around these days, but there is plenty of bull and propaganda on the conservative side too. As usual, I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I'd love, and I mean freaking love, for you to show me a government agency that has to turn a profit to stay in business! It's no wonder we are doomed when people can't see the problem with an entity that can't even break even and think its ok to borrow over a trillion dollars a year from China so we don't have to live within our means. Private industry isn't perfect but they are a far cry from the inept bunch that run our government.

As for your cards being compromised and thinking that doesn't happen with government, you need to do a little Google search and see just how often government websites get hacked. If someone wants your info bad enough they can find someone who can get it no matter how bullet proof they think the system is.

JL, I'm astonished by some of your answers. Of course it would be tax money that would pay for it. What the hell do you think pays for the inspections now? Do you think that government agency does it for free? Private industry has corruption just like government. The difference is they can't stay in business if they lose over a trillion dollars every year and think the solution is higher taxes so they don't have to work within a budget.

I'm done here. I honestly thought you were joking with some of the positions you took.

How about getting rid of ALL the current leaders, reducing the Federal government workforce by 80%, delegate more legislation to the State & Local level, eliminate career politicians, hang the ones that commit the first crime while in office, quit buying votes, eliminate 70% of entitlements and enact a fair tax? How's that for starters? It's been proven time and time again that the private sector is FAR more efficient the the "peoples government help me" sector. Just ask the former USSR, East Germany, Cuba etc.....

Dallas County,

(the government creates a national currency and the full faith and credit to back it).

So you're going to trade whatever you do for a living for chickens and cloth and gasoline, etc.?

I have worked for the federal government, state government, contractor in the nuke power industry, a contractor in the defense industry, construction, and a grocery store. There were lying, cheating, thieving, lazy people in everyone of them, I bet there are few in your profession too.

JL I wouldn't trade the form of government our forefathers founded either. You ever read the stages of capitalism and why every capitalistic society has eventually fallen back to socialism and tyranny every single time throughout history? Hint : the problem isn't capitalism

Wmd, my profession is full of crooks and liars. You see I work in the credit card processing industry. Although my company was started by men who saw how corrupt it was while working for another processing company and branched out to provide honest and forthcoming solutions for merchants and they require all their agents to under go criminal back ground checks to weed out the known bad apples.

My contention is not just that the federal government is bad at most jobs but that they don't have to even operate at a break even rate. They are wasteful and Money whoring theives because they don't have to subscribe to normal business practices. So what if they waste money! It's just tax payer money and they will just ask for more when they need it or just borrow it from China without any real way to pay it back. Private industry can't operate for an indefinite period like that and our government can't either.

Those that think our government is capable and being run as well as private industry are taking a position that I can't fathom.

JL, we don't have a democracy. We have a Democratic Republic. Huge freaking difference.


I want to make myself clear . My problem is not with government doing any job or performing necessary functions for the good of the people. My problem is they won't do it in an efficient cost effective manner. Is their waste in private industry? You bet. But guess what? If it continues at high enough levels then they go out of business and another better more efficient competitor takes their market share. Our government has no fiscal rules to operate under except don't spend more than you have in the budget .... no thats not right. Our government doesn't have a budget right now or for the last 2+ years. They must not spend more than the treasury takes in ..... no thats not right. They have had to borrow money from China every year for several years because they spend more than they take from tax payers. I should have stopped at they don't have any fiscal rules. Crying freaking shame people don't take issue with how horribly inept our current government has become. They will wake up one morning to find everything and I mean everything has changed and I mean that in the most literal of terms.

I think some people want to believe the government is capable and will get us out of this mess and that a total catostrophic collapse can't happen here. I think its a security thing that they are doing in lying to themselves so they don't have to face reality. And why should they when our government won't either?