Comments by "" (@freesk8) on "Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government" video.

@Neylonx People in the country already have bad roads. But why should city dwellers be forced, at the point of a gun (all taxes are forced, you go to jail if you don't pay) to pay for roads they never or seldom use? If a developer wants to sell houses, he or she will have to pay to put in roads, and this cost will be factored in to house prices. Do you want to subsidize sprawl? This is what happens when city folks pay for country roads. Some utilities share the same delivery infrastructure.
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@karakzanreal Yep. When you hire someone to mow your lawn, GDP goes up. When you do it yourself, GDP goes down. But this speaks not to whether you should do things yourself or hire someone. It speaks to the imperfections of using GDP as a measurement of how healthy our economy is. Volantarism is good for individuals who engage in it. As long as they aren't conspiring to hurt or steal from someone else, this is a good thing for society.
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@HardSixable Hah! You think the people have any control over their govt anymore? That's plain false. A majority of Americans opposes the drug war and the Mideast wars, yet they happen anyway. Govt has been seized by the elite. If you don't see that, you have a lot of cognitive dissonance ahead, my friend. And I ran for congress in '02, '04 and '06. I was a state political party vice chair. I just went to a GOP caucus to support Ron Paul and became a county convention delegate.
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@Neylonx I agree with you on defense and police, but there are many examples of privatized roads and utilities that work just fine. And are you proposing a return to alcohol prohibition or just taxes? Demand for alcohol is inelastic, so taxing doesn't reduce use much. But it does raise revenue, and that is why taxing it is popular. Same with tobacco.
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@Neylonx Govt creates tragedy of commons. Privatization gets around that problem.
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In general, government is not the solution. Government is the problem. All of these solutions proposed are non-governmental. They are private initiatives to solve social problems. The prove that government is inefficient, ineffective, wasteful, and in many cases, tyrannical.
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@Neylonx Well, it wouldn't in the classic case of grazing land. And fisheries can be owned as well. I think the only area I can agree with you on is air pollution. Do you have other examples where privatization is not possible?
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@HardSixable Lots of ad hominem, personal attacks. That doesn't make you look very good, my friend.
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@karakzanreal So, what, people should be prohibited from volunteering? That's silly. A volunteer provides services for free. That makes people better off. I'll bet you'd outlaw chainsaws because axes require more labor, and thus create more jobs. I'd say you ought to learn a bit more about economics, before you claim to know what is outdated. Start with Bastiat...
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@Neylonx Power and cell phone providers share infrastructure that they pay for and maintain. This works better than govt monopoly. Wouldn't you like to have a choice? Toll booths only make sense for highways, and we have them already and they are not a burden. Local roads can be paid for with local gas taxes but roads past houses in the suburbs should be built by housing developers. Health ins should be subsidized for the poor, but all care should be free market. Govt services are worse.
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