GOP Endgame — Privatization of Government?
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A line in a recent New York Times article on the sequester caught my attention. The gist of it was that the short term economic pain of the sequester could be made up for by long term benefits for business. This got me to thinking. Is the Republican zeal for the sequester and cutting government, a cover up for privatizing government services? WIll many services performed by government workers go to businesses?
Federal regulations regarding food and environmental safety will still be in existence so inspections will have to be done to comply with them. If there are significantly less government inspectors, then businesses will have to hire their own. The privatization of a government service. This presents a number of problems. First is an inherent conflict of interest, why would inspector bit the hand that feeds him. Second, this increased cost of doing business would eventually be passed onto consumers. Finally, private business will see these services through a cost/benefit perspective and how they will effect the corporate bottom line. Not having to worry about the profit motive, government workers are more concerned about doing the most thorough work possible to comply with regulations.
Now, not all government duties can be directly transferred to private business, but many can and not necessarily to the benefit of the public.
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