The graph above shows that government spending on “education” has increased massively while all outcomes have been flat. If this model were implemented by the private sector, everyone associated would be fired and the system would declare bankruptcy. Even worse, the spending has been directed disproportionately toward “administration” rather than actual instructors. See here.
Category: benefits of privatization
Sep 10
Chicago neighborhood discovers the magic of privately-funded police protection
Interesting story out of Chicago, which has suffered under a torrent of violent street crime over the past few years. It seems some private citizens have started paying for private police patrols out of their own pockets. Neighbors are overwhelmingly supportive of the idea, and there are preliminary observations that the crime situation has greatly …
Jan 29
Government solutions after government poisoned thousands in Flint: Send money to fund more government!
Unlike a private business, which loses money and goes bankrupt after providing bad service, government agencies generally benefit from failure and crisis. Failure means even more money and power! Good money after bad. Here is an Associated Press article about Michigan lawmakers passing a bill to take $28 million more from taxpayers to divert to …
Jan 22
The Lesson from Flint: Never Trust Government to Deliver a Vital Good or Service
The City of Flint, Michigan–long under the political control of pro-government extremists–is now in the news for secretly supplying high-lead water to its population. Lots of political blaming and shaming. But the lesson is: Never trust government to dispense a vital commodity or service. The private sector would NEVER knowingly provide contaminated water to customers. …
Dec 04
How Government Regulation Crushed Lysander Spooner’s American Letter Mail Company
In 1844, Lysander Spooner launched a mail company called the American Letter Mail Company. Spooner’s company competed directly with the U.S. Postal Service, delivering letters and parcels between major cities in the eastern United States at a lower price than the government’s rates. Spooner’s company had offices in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, and delivered …
Nov 12
TSA Security Fails 95 Percent of the Time
After 9/11/2001, Congress deprivatized airport screening and created the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA is 10 times more expensive than the private-contract screening in place before. Yet it provides no greater level of security. Recent undercover attempts to smuggle weapons or breach TSA security checkpoints found that undercover agents were able to get weapons past …
Oct 05
U.S. Postal Service Lost $5.5 Billion in 2014; Its Average Vehicle Gets 10 M.P.G.
The U.S. Postal Service lost $5.5 billion in 2014 and has lost many more billions over the past decade. Even as global trade, communications and shipping has skyrocketed, the Postal Service can’t operate efficiently. U.S. Postal workers are greatly overpaid. Hundreds, even thousands, apply for every opening. It might be said that the PRIMARY purpose …
Sep 16
As western societies choke innovation with high taxes and government controls, Asia’s millionaires become world’s richest group
Europe and its colonies–especially British colonies–led the way in global prosperity and innovation between the 1600s and the 1900s. Small governments, constitutional law, and the industrial revolution led the people of the West to lead the world. Now a new report indicates that Asian societies–especially those in southeast-Asian nations that have mostly rejected socialism and …
Jul 02
An Example of a Society that made itself Wealthy: Singapore
Amidst all the recent news of societies foolishly impoverishing and destroying themselves with socialism, it is always good to point to societies that transformed themselves from poverty to abundance. The country of Singapore was a 3rd world country just two generations ago. Most of its population had no running water and no electricity. Life expectancy …
Jun 22
An Explosion of Wealth and Prosperity in Latin America? Low Tax Rates are Slowly bringing Latin America into the First World
Even as the West is careening toward socialism and forced redistribution, some Latin American countries are increasingly seen as low-tax havens. And the numbers of wealthy Latin Americans is growing rapidly. A June 21, 2015 story in Yahoo News detailed the fascinating growth of the super rich in Latin America. Mexico and Brazil, for example, …
