Nathaniel Ward » Government

Monday Links: That’s Not Privatization

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:32:37 +0000

Photo: Flickr/coltera

Municipalities are contracting out various public services like libraries and parking enforcement to private enterprises, and the Washington Post outlines some of the challenges of this approach. Unfortunately, the Post inaccurately describes this as privatization, which is when government divests itself entirely from a current function. Contracting the function while maintaining ultimate responsibility for its provision is simply outsourcing.
Stephen Smith points out that when it comes to “privatization” of government parking facilities, “the ‘owners’ are barely even allowed to set their own prices, nevermind decide to use their land for, *gasp* something other than parking.”
Adam at PlayNice.ly looks into what’s required to establish a merchant account for credit card processing. Smashing Magazine covers the same ground and suggests a few payment processors. Fundraisers should take special note of Adam’s warnings about PayPal, which may impose long-run costs hidden by its easy setup.
The reliably progressive StreetsBlog argues that it would be a mistake to cut federal funding for bike paths and rail transit, which it argues are cost-effective. But even if a program is cost-effective, does that mean the federal government ought to spend money on it?
Last but not least, Oregon lawmakers rick-roll the legislature:

The Unions Can’t Be Happy With This Sketch

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 03 May 2010 02:19:10 +0000

Saturday Night Live takes on public-sector unions in this hilarious sketch:

What I’m Reading — January 3rd

Nathaniel Ward — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:04:51 +0000

What Made American Universities Great. “Ivy League institutions rose to greatness only after being cut off from state aid and meddling.”
What’s the Matter With California? William Vogeli explains how the “big-spending, high-taxing, lousy-services paradigm” is ruining California’s appeal.
Dave Barry Looks Back on 2009. Choice quote: “Washington, rejecting ‘business as usual,’ finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.”

What I’m Reading — October 26th

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:49:06 +0000

Robert Samuelson on the Public Option. “The promise of the public plan is a mirage. Its political brilliance is to use free-market rhetoric (more ‘choice’ and ‘competition’) to expand government power.”
Unlearning the Lessons of State Health Reforms. “Despite these state-level failures, President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are pushing forward a slate of similar reforms. Unlike most high-school science fair participants, they seem unaware that the point of doing experiments is to identify what actually works. Instead, they’ve identified what doesn’t—and decided to do it again.”
Just How Relevant Is Political Science?

What I’m Reading — September 14th

Nathaniel Ward — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:25:19 +0000

Class Warfare. Responding to hard times, governments around the world decide not to tighten their belts but to increase their revenues through punitive taxes.
Is This Really a Compromise? The Baucus proposal addresses superficial concerns but doesn’t address the principal conservative complaint about the Left’s health care plan: that it vastly increases the size and scope of the federal government.
Norman Podhoretz on Why Jews are Liberals. “[I]n virtually every instance of a clash between Jewish law and contemporary liberalism, it is the liberal creed that prevails for most American Jews. Which is to say that for them, liberalism has become more than a political outlook. It has for all practical purposes superseded Judaism and become a religion in its own right.”
Tyler Cowen on Politics and the Economy. “But we are now injecting politics ever more deeply into the American economy, whether it be in finance or in sectors like health care. Not only have we failed to learn from our mistakes, but also we’re repeating them on an ever-larger scale.”

What I’m Reading — August 30th

Nathaniel Ward — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:50:14 +0000

100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library.
How Consumer-Based Reforms Can Fix What Ails Health Care. David Goldhill on how the current system fails us and what to do about it. “The most important single step we can take toward truly reforming our system is to move away from comprehensive health insurance as the single model for financing care. And a guiding principle of any reform should be to put the consumer, not the insurer or the government, at the center of the system.”
Is Conservatism Dead? “Like the liberal writers of the 1950s, Tanenhaus wants to see a conservative movement that accommodates rather than opposes liberalism, and thus one that will accept its role as subordinate to the dominant liberal tradition in American life.”
Should the NEA Promote the Obama Agenda? “Do you think it is the place of the NEA to encourage the art community to address issues currently under legislative consideration?”

What I’m Reading — July 21st

Nathaniel Ward — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:06:25 +0000

Obama Is No Post-Partisan.
Deconstructing a Poor Argument for Same-Sex Marriage.
Samuelson on the Consequences of Big Government. “Without anyone much noticing, our national government is on the verge of a permanent expansion that would endure long after the present economic crisis has (presumably) passed and that would exceed anything ever experienced in peacetime.”

What I’m Reading — June 5th

Nathaniel Ward — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:17:51 +0000

Competitive Altruism. This article misses a key point that economists since Adam Smith have understood: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”
VATs Mean Big Government “The income tax system we have today is a nightmarish combination of class warfare and corrupt loopholes. Adding a VAT does not undo any of the damage it imposes. All that happens is that politicians get more money to spend and a chance to auction off a new set of tax breaks to interest groups. That’s good for Washington, but bad for America.”
The Health Care Fight Got Tougher. The Blue Dogs have agreed in principle to a “public option” government-run health insurance provider, one that would “compete” with private sector plans.

What I’m Reading — June 4th

Nathaniel Ward — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:14:56 +0000

Dependence on Government Grows. This is not good news. “The recession is driving the safety net of government benefits to a historic high, as one of every six dollars of Americans’ income is now coming in the form of a federal or state check or voucher.”
Are Progressives Losing Steam? Dana Milbank notes that “it’s more fun to be an opposition bomb-thrower than a palace guard.”
The Rise of New Conservative Media Outlets.

What I’m Reading — May 25th

Nathaniel Ward — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:28:08 +0000

Spending Restraint? Never! “The New York Times says tax increases, not fiscal restraint, are the route out of recession. Their reasoning? Government will spend your money better than you will.”
Words of Warning from 1940. Herbert Hoover: “Directly or indirectly they politically controlled credit, prices, production or industry, farmer and laborer. They devalued, pump-primed and deflated. They controlled private business by government competition, by regulation and by taxes. They met every failure with demands for more and more power and control.”
E.J. Dionne on Obama’s Goals. Can President Obama create a new “centrist” alliance? And can a program really be called centrist if its principal aims are to make everyone more dependent on government?
Useful tips for writing subject lines.