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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (24384)	7/30/2012 5:06:23 PM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

10 to 15% would probably be a great record for the government. Are you kidding? No. Government does a thousand very different things, every day. Far, far, far more than even the most diversified company. They have their fingers in virtually everything that happens in this country, from commerce and trade to legal and prisons to stop signs and concrete specification to zoning and landscaping, on and on, everything. Which is one of the main reasons why 10 to 15% would be a good record for government (along with the lack of competition and the ability to extract funds rather than having to find willing buyers). Try to do so much, and your unlikely to get great performance. Concentrate on the low hanging fruit and your success rate will be much higher.

To: Road Walker who wrote (24384)	7/30/2012 9:00:30 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

>> Government does a thousand very different things, every day. Do you really think as a general proposition that they do things well? I think most government workers are like everyone else, just trying to do the best job they can. I actually think government workers have improved over the years. But in my dealings with government (mostly IRS, CMS/Medicare services, and SSA) I have always felt the agencies were hamstrung by bureaucracy so thick even the bureaucrats in charge can't get anything done. I don't blame the people. When I was in public practice as a CPA I dealt with hundreds of different appeals officers, revenue officers and revenue agents, and seldom did I find one that didn't behave in an absolutely professional manner (I would qualify that where small towns are concerned, as they typically don't have their best people there). But these people just couldn't get anything done. Everything moves in slow motion. The military is a great example, where the inefficiency has been a running joke since WWII (at least), giving rise to terms like SNAFU and FUBAR. Look at the postal service, where the problems today are totally obvious and yet, they can't fix them. A few years ago they started to step up competition with package tracking. Hell, even when you buy the tracking service they can't tell you were your package is! I just don't see anything within government that seems to function well. I'm sure it is there somewhere, but it must be relatively autonomous and quite small.