Geronimo says: Here's another jolt of adrenalin from the author of the Cronkite chronicle, which was post #1. As with the first post, if you're still interested in what Maher had to say by the time you finish Mr. Jetmore's disquisition, you'll find a link at the bottom.Larned Jetmore said:
"His overall point is good -- greed is bad. (See URL below) Of course it is. But I won't begin to go into why his examples in many cases don't even begin to support his premise, and in fact misunderstand and distort how profit-seeking contractors actually reduce the cost of the public services he talks about.
Or maybe I will.
Yes government often contracts with private, profit-earning business to take over some of the services of government. And in many cases, it is very easy to prove that the services cost less than if the government did the same thing itself. In the end that is a net savings to taxpayers and to the public.
I'm not making this up. This is precisely why the government has chosen to pay these contractors to do some of this work. It's the ONLY reason.
My problem with Bill Maher is that as likable and smart and good-hearted and charming as he is, he often doesn't know what he's talking about. His intentions are good, and his world-view is admirable, and his morals are much purer than many of the people and institutions that he criticizes. He's a good guy. But sometimes he overgeneralizes to the point of misleading people. This essay is a good example of that.
There are many, many, many instances in which profit-earning contractors do a better job than government ever could. Not because they are cut-throat, sleazy, con artists, but because they are more efficient and knowledgeable and experienced providers of the services. For every Halliburton in
Don't fall for this cheap logic that profit is somehow evil. Maher shouldn't either. What is offensive about The American Greed Machine is the focus on short-term profits when no real service is rendered. The banks and Wall Street financiers, who are absolutely instrumental in keeping the larger economy moving, strip far more profit from facilitating deal-making that underwrites keeping America in business, than any of the "contractors" Maher criticizes, who actually provide a physical product or a specific service to fulfill a governmental obligation. At least they are providing the service or product, and we are paying their tax-paying employees to do what they are good at, rather than paying the government itself, which would have to recreate the same institutional capability at higher cost, to do the same thing.
Greed is bad. No question. Profit, however, isn't necessarily bad. What would you do if you couldn't mark up the cost of the beautiful art objects you find for your customers, as payment for the long hours you spent finding them and recognizing their particular aesthetic value for your very picky client? Profit, in its purest form, is recognition of value delivered. It doesn't cost me a specific amount of money to write 1,000 beautiful and meaningful words. I am paid for the quality of those words that I create out of my imagination and my knowledge and a little thin air to fulfill the requirements of someone who contracts with me. Am I evil for wanting to be paid for my creativity as well as my time? That is basically profit. So is my profit tainted? Of course not. And neither is yours.
Larned Jetmorehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-not-everything-i_b_244050.html
