Myth: Government is more wasteful than institutions motivated by profit.

To comment on this video, go to: http://beingism.org/community/?q=node/13

Note: This video is part of a series which debunks myths pertinent to laissez-faire capitalism. Many points not addressed in this video can be found at the above link.

http://Beingism.org

Although government is often wasteful, institutions motivated by profit are far from models of efficiency themselves. It may be reasonable to assume that in the balance, profit-motivated institutions are naturally more inclined to search for and eliminate wasteful systems. What seems particularly unlikely, however, is that the amount of money lost to paying exorbitant salaries to executives and shareholders in many private institutions is enough to compensate for the amount of resources lost to government inefficiency.

For that matter, an institution financed by the government may be highly motivated to eliminate waste if the resources they are provided are finite. Further, even in the worst of situations, wasteful government is a problem we can all agree to develop systems to address. After all, no one is in favor of waste.

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[GoingGoingGalt]

I love how the video doesn't actually refute the so-called myth, it just says that private institutions are also wasteful. Even if that could be objectively proven, it doesn't answer to what degree, and how that degree compares to government waste. Remember, there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.

[Beingism]

@GoingGoingGalt See the longer and more developed version at

Myth: Government is more wasteful than institutions motivated by profit.

beingism [dot] org/community/?q=node/13

[GoingGoingGalt]

If you think that paying executives and shareholders is wasteful, build your own company that doesn't pay executives and shareholders as much. If your theory holds up, then these two are essentially replaceable, and you would be rich and putting these "inefficient" companies out of business at the same time. Now, why hasn't anyone tried this? Maybe, perhaps, your theory doesn't hold up.

[Beingism]

@GoingGoingGalt Or, possibly, businesses don't have any motivation not to pay the shareholders lots of money, as, well, they own the company...

When people say they think corporations are efficient, I really have to wonder if they've ever worked for one.

One of these days all the executives are going to get together and go live in a gulch somewhere while society falls apart without them. Or perhaps there's a reason they don't...

[catgumart]

I think any human endeavor can expect to be wracked with problems,mistakes, errors, confusion and unexpected twists and turns,,because people make mistakes & we can't predict the future & there are a lot of dynamics, not just in the external universe but within our own species that we don't understand or are fully aware of...but I think a government that sets laws down and maintains important goals and is organized by the people(more of the people) is the best idea going.