What public service duties should private companies take over?

Macamus Prime

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2011
3,108
0
0
I for one choose local law enforcement. Picture it; Cop Corp US.

The low price of $4,999 a month will get you the following benefits on your Cop Corp PLUS program:
- response time of 15 minutes, when calling 911*
- 30% off Directions Advice from ANY local Cop Corp employee
- guarantee that the officer(s) responding to your emergency has a GED**
- guarantee that the officer(s) responding to your emergency do not have a past criminal record***
- assurance that the officer(s) responding to your emergency will not purposely shoot you, instead of the criminal****


* 15 minutes from when the call is logged into our system. Average log in time from our offshore team is approx 30 minutes. Average wait to get call logged in is 45 minutes. ** GEDs provided by our offshore team have been deemed acceptable, under law G.134, which was written and passed by our good Republican friends in congress. *** Officers promoted from the Cop Corp Premium program automatically have their past criminal records cleared. **** Applicable only if you are already dead or unconscious when Cop Corp Officer arrives at the scene
 

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
37
91
I exercise my 2nd amendment rights, I really don't care how long it takes for a cop to show up.
 

CycloWizard

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
12,348
1
81
St. Louis has moved to using private security forces even for public transportation because the city's police force is so ineffective. I'm not arguing for doing away with a public police force, only that using private rent-a-cops isn't as far fetched as the OP seems to think.
 

Macamus Prime

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2011
3,108
0
0
St. Louis has moved to using private security forces even for public transportation because the city's police force is so ineffective. I'm not arguing for doing away with a public police force, only that using private rent-a-cops isn't as far fetched as the OP seems to think.

Sanitation; turns out that the smell of rotting garbage isn't that bad to the health of human beings. So, Sanitation INC will allow you to store your own garabage on your own property for decomposition, for the low low price of $2,000 a month.

If you do not pay, Cop Corps INC will be sent in to enforce the payment of allowing you to let your garbage rot.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
The Food and Drug Administration,... nay - the Food and Drug Corporation.
Private entities like that do exist when it comes to less-important things. Instead of test and make legal or illegal, they just test and report. They also certify things as meeting their standards. It's often insurance related.
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/


Lots of things are a joint public-private thing.
-healthcare in my area is all privately owned clinics, but we pay for visits using a government issued insurance card
-all roads and rails in my city are constructed and patched by private companies
-the US military is built by private companies. The F-22 jet was designed and made by Lockheed Martin.
 
Last edited:

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
37
91
Really tough guy? And how many times have you done this?

Thankfully I haven't had to, and I hope I never do. My seatbelt has never saved my life either, but I buckle up every time I drive ;)

If you want to call 911 and wait for them to show up, be my guest. That isn't what I have chosen though.
 

CycloWizard

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
12,348
1
81
Sanitation; turns out that the smell of rotting garbage isn't that bad to the health of human beings. So, Sanitation INC will allow you to store your own garabage on your own property for decomposition, for the low low price of $2,000 a month.

If you do not pay, Cop Corps INC will be sent in to enforce the payment of allowing you to let your garbage rot.
Dear lord you're an idiot. Proof.
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,895
3,857
136
I'm well aware that every time a city privatizes its police force, the CEO of the company ends up being a sadistic serial killer with multiple personality disorder. I'm not willing to bet my life on one of his victims escaping and finding a magical cape with which he tries to restore hope to a beleaguered city.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
I'm well aware that every time a city privatizes its police force, the CEO of the company ends up being a sadistic serial killer with multiple personality disorder. I'm not willing to bet my life on one of his victims escaping and finding a magical cape with which he tries to restore hope to a beleaguered city.
And this is different from current police in what way?


also,
robocop-thumb-550x370-20760.jpg
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
I'm going to guess you've never heard of a water monopoly empire.
Is this bad?

About 2/3 of my province's electrical grid is owned by ATCO (a private company), so it's a complete monopoly in the areas owned by it. It doesn't seem to be a problem. Power is very reliable and the costs are reasonable.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
Here's an interesting video about a city that privatized many of its services.

I haven't looked too much in to it but its interesting none the less:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8qFvo2qJOU

Seemed to work out ok for them according to the video.

Seems like that's how a lot of successful socialist places operate. Public funds going to private companies. Examples: Sweden is as socialist as it gets, but much of the education and healthcare in the country is operated by private companies. You get a government voucher or insurance card to pay for it.
 

dali71

Golden Member
Oct 1, 2003
1,117
21
81
I'm well aware that every time a city privatizes its police force, the CEO of the company ends up being a sadistic serial killer with multiple personality disorder. I'm not willing to bet my life on one of his victims escaping and finding a magical cape with which he tries to restore hope to a beleaguered city.

tumblr_lk1h1vLc6T1qcs2gdo1_500.gif


Community is a whole new level of awesome :D
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Several cities already employ private security forces for routine patrol, freeing up commissioned police officers to investigate crimes. I've seen Haliburton Security Guards (that's what it said on their sleeves) on patrol in downtown Houston and Dallas.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,161
7
0
Everything except for emergency services and things that only government can do such as zoning, building inspectors, health inspectors etc etc.

Those departments could be nearly self supporting through a fee for service basis though.

Building a house? Then pay for the inspections. Want to open a restaurant then pay a health inspection fee etc etc.

There are several cities that already do this and it works out great for them.

There is even a large city where the union run sanitation department was forced to compete with private companies for district contracts and the union was able to lower costs to the point that it won the maximum number of districts allowed under law.

So it can be done. And surprisingly, when a union is forced to compete it can do so very well because it has very low over head and no profit motive.
 

Macamus Prime

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2011
3,108
0
0
Dear lord you're an idiot. Proof.

And these guys are doing it all wrong I guess?? http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/home/home.shtml

So, get rid of them and bring in as many private companies to do the job right!! Nothing like good old corporate know how to get the job done right! We all know private companies are out for the best interests of the public, right?

Right?

For your one example of something done right, for the people, on a service or good that is frankly manditory (especially when PAYING for it), there are at least two examples of it being done wrong and it causing harm;
1) Enron - starving the need for power and electricity, just so they can drive the price of power up.

2) The majority of the privatized healthcare companies. People being denied coverage,... when they still pay for insurance; you pay for it, you should get coverage - I don't care if it cuts into your profits.

Sorry dude, corporations are for the most part evil, corrupt and are obligated to make as much money as possible - at any cost.

Another example; UBS Financial helps American citizens screw it's government out of tax dollars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBS

In July 2008, a United States Senate panel accused Swiss banks, including UBS and LGT Group, of helping wealthy Americans evade taxes through offshore accounts.[48] U.S. clients held about 19,000 accounts at UBS, with an estimated $18 billion to $20 billion in assets, in Switzerland, according to the findings.[49] In response to the report and the FBI investigation, UBS announced that it would cease providing cross-border private banking services to US-domiciled clients through its non-US regulated units as of July 2008.[50] In November 2008, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted Raoul Weil, Chairman and CEO of UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking and member of UBS's Group Executive Board, in connection with the ongoing investigation of UBS's US cross-border business.[51]
 

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Sorry dude, corporations are for the most part evil, corrupt and are obligated to make as much money as possible - at any cost.

... and in your land of unicorns and flowers the government is not corrupt and out to increase it's power over citizens? Lest you forget, the government is the entity giving those "evil" corporations monopoly situations and writing laws that enable them to take advantage of the consumer.

Remember that next time some government politician lackey tells you more government is needed to solve some problem.
 

Atreus21

Lifer
Aug 21, 2007
12,001
571
126
Can I get a show of hands, please?

Okay. How many people have NOT taken a single economics course?

I'm no expert. I've taken 1 micro course and 1 macro course. But that should be enough to prove to anyone that at the very least, private industry is far more efficient at 80% of certain operations than the government is. Why? Because they're in competition to provide what the customer wants. That's it.