On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:46:53 -0500 Bill McGonigle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Government (as local as possible) would contract out maintenance of > the roads to the most competitive business. Market forces would > drive down the cost and improve the quality. Ideally, in the case of > State roads, the states would blockgrant the funds to the towns the > roads' ran through so oversight of maintenance would be local. This would not work. First, most of the highway contracts are bid out. Secondly, by localizing highways, you will get some really great roads connected to some really awful roads. Look at the way some local governments handle sewer and water. The problem is how a government contracts out the maintenance. It all comes down to competitive bids. The lowest qualified bidder wins. But, that bidder may simply do the minimum. Look at the Big Dig. Modern Continental was the lowest bidder and cut many corners. Certainly there was a lack of proper supervision, which was also contracted out. How many times have you driven down a local or state road and found the quality to be very different when you crossed a town or country boundary. Unfortunately, privatization does not always work, but in some cases it works well. Trash collection is another one to look at. In some communities, trash is collected by the city, in others it is contracted out to companies like BFI or Waste Management, in others it is privatized where the consumer buys specially trash containers that are picked up by the appropriate collector. One benefit of city or town trash collection is that the cost is in your taxes which are deductible. -- Jerry Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9
signature.asc
Description: PGP signature
_______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/