by jacksez on Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:40 pm
While my own situation is more important to me than is yours or someone else's (after all, I work to pay my OWN mortgage, not those of others), I am concerned that others make out as best they can. But I've been alive for several decades and can tell you that the gov't isn't about to run anything better than the private sector can, at least if it's doable by the private sector (they can't wage wars or enter into treaties, but you get the idea). Adam Smith ("Wealth of Nations") had it right: When individuals are free to pursue their own *selfish* economic interests, a sort of "invisible hand" assures that the society at large is benefited to the max. Best case in point: Microsoft. A college drop-out collaborates with friends (volunteers, not forced recruits) to put their collective heads together and make a product. They risk their own capital, spend their own time, devote their own resources, and labor for years to develop their dreams. Purely for their OWN benefit because, after all, they just might make money. And they do. But who really benefitted? You tell me. The whole PC revolution exists largely because of that story. Desktop life wouldn't exist without MS or some other PRIVATE enterprise. And the cries over Vista OS is very telling: The government isn't telling them to go back to the drawing board, USERS are. Their customers. So they'll fix it, or make another product (I don't care; I use Mac). But regardless, can you imagine a Federal Department of Software and Technology? Would you use what they made? For any price? There's no INCENTIVE to excel because there's no PROFIT motive. Now, speaking of software, one ECONOMIC anomaly that has come on the scene more and more is Linux. Here we have an apparently superior product--according to its disciples--than anything on the market, hands down: Stable as a rock cliff, virus-free, unhackable, etc. Yet it's largely FREE. And the whole Linux universe is developed, improved, modified, updated, distributed, and used by millions of volunteers and devotees, each raving about it. Yet, since you can download a hundred different versions free, it seems no one is doing all this for money...just pride of accomplishment. Which is also fine with me. That, too is better than a gov't product, like Katrina. There's a gov't effort for you. Case closed.
