David Slack on the moral vacuum behind healthcare privatisation:
"Americans under their private system spend twice what other nations do - 19% of GDP versus 9-11% - yet get a poor outcome. The UK matches US cancer survival while spending 40% less. Medical bills cause two-thirds of US bankruptcies."
Not to mention systemic delay and denial of care that Actually Kills People and leads to extrajudicial executioners becoming folk heroes. We really don't need that here.
https://subslack.substack.com/p/exploring-david-seymours-maths
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I'll never cease to be amazed at the gullibility underlying arguments that the private sector is "more efficient" at delivering public goods.
If you imagine two operations, given identical revenue and service level requirements, any kid can tell you that the one that doesn't need to show a profit will have better outcomes.
How do libertarians get this obvious, basic principle so utterly wrong, and what makes them think they can fool the rest of us?
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Right? Profit IS inefficiency by definition.
@phil_stevens
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@phil_stevens "what makes them think they can fool the rest of us?"
The fact that they seem to be able to, I guess.
I don't understand how people can gripe about how, e.g., biscuits taste like shit, come in a smaller packet, and still cost more but on the other hand also believe that running a government like a business is a good idea... but apparently quite a lot of people do.
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@Salty Which is why, of course, that people like Seymour seek to enshittify education early. Critical thinking is the mortal enemy of right wing ideologies.
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@phil_stevens
@SimonCHulse
Also ... If a private sector provider of public services goes bust the risk inevitably falls back to the public sector, so even the excuse that "we don't have to worry about it 'cos the private sector is in control" is total bollocks.
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@phil_stevens one particular Government consultation impacts three entities, two which are financially not "profitable", and the other is. Guess which entity is most likely going to be chopped up?
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@phil_stevens They believe that without government intervention the world will converge to a natural state with a perfectly functioning market where strong competition forces companies to be efficient, or they'll lose perfectly-informed customers whom they can never lie to.
It's sweet really.
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@isaacfreeman There's a part about everyone getting a pony, isn't there?
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@phil_stevens The market will arrive at the fairest possible price for a pony. If you do decide not to pay that price, that is a free choice that you have made.
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@isaacfreeman @phil_stevens
This is ALL representative of the indoctrination required to accept that obscene economic system, neoliberalism.
I strongly recommend Monbiot's Invisible Doctrine.
Lays it all out fairly clearly.
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@phil_stevens what? Libertarians living in their dark caves, looking out holding spears?
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@phil_stevens there have been studies. Mainly from European privatised utilities and services. Private companies do provide a cost saving initially. They find efficiencies. But as they have a monopoly, there's no incentive to invest or provide quality customer service. They milk the assets, let things deteriorate and get paid anyway. After 20 years, privatisation costs the public roughly 40% more.
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@guigsy The "efficiencies" are only possible through accounting that treats short-term liquidations and labour reductions as positives on the balance sheet, all the while ignoring future liabilities from the rundown of asset condition and organisational capability.
The driver for all of this, of course, is the presumption that shareholder value is the sole purpose of a corporation, and the abandonment by the state of requiring social responsibility in the charter.
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@phil_stevens E.g. public transit, and the people criticizing it for “not turning a profit”. Sir, it’s a train; its purpose is to take you places not make money for you.
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@suzannealdrich @phil_stevens If you want to make money, be glad that people can get to your place of business with money still in their pockets.
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@rupert @suzannealdrich This is a very esoteric, advanced concept and you might need to break it down and add drawings or make a short video to reach the target audience.
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@phil_stevens @rupert Just make it pithy: “The profit is the friends we made along the way.”
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@phil_stevens they are enamoured with the "capital market" - American boys who went to the right schools and are now at the big 4, VC, or private equity - some societal tumor that feeds them.
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There are always those who think it's the other people who aren't working hard enough. Usually they are ignorant of their own privilege or arrogant enough to think that they magically deserve it.
@phil_stevens
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@hamishb Not too many years ago these people would have owned slaves.
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@phil_stevens My attempt at an answer: One of the facets of stupidity is when a person is so blinded by ideology that they rarely start with a dialogue or investigation. They feel they know the answer from the starting point.
Unfortunately, in the US Ayn Rand created a cult of individualism and pursuit of happiness. Complete dead end. She was a failure as a philosopher and actually not a very good novelist. So it’s easy for other failed human beings to mindlessly echo her drivel.
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@michaelormsby The first rule of wilful ignorance: Block out any and all arguments that cause cognitive dissonance by dismissing them and refusing to engage on their merits.
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@phil_stevens if the private sector was better at everything, where are the private sector libraries?
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@Bwacton @phil_stevens Some neolib will reply: "Amazon!"
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@runoutgroover @Bwacton A predatory retail monopoly that ran at a loss for more than a decade and was only able to do so because they figured out how to monetise excess capacity in their datacentres.
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@phil_stevens they’re pedophiles. that’s all they really care about, the rest is a front
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