Stimulus Provides Infrastructure

[YelloJeep]

Originally Posted by rivalarrival

....We've come to associate everything government-related with incompetence, fraud, waste, and abuse, but what we forget is that the reason we're hearing about this is not because it's the rule, but because it is the exception to the rule.

I don't know. I think that the fact that they are spending someone else's money means that they inherently aren't as interested in making the most of it FOR OTHERS. That's just the way it works. If I go on a work related trip and they are paying for my meals I will probably go somewhere different than I would if it were my money (I'm fairly cheap because I have to be!). Just the way it is. Don't come back with some holier than thou stuff about how it "wouldn't matter to you" who's money it was you would spend it the same....

I don't think the government has ever really proven that it is more efficient or as efficient as a private organization.

[rivalarrival]

How do you measure the accomplishments of government? When I go to a contractor, I can ask "How many miles of road can you pave in a day?"

How do I do that for government? Does it make sense to ask how many regulations they've enacted? How many terrorists they've deterred from blowing up planes? How many citizens they've harassed over trivial speeding tickets?

The very concept of "efficiency in government" is incredibly problematic to begin with. When we're talking about things like incentivizing electric cars, we're affecting the number of barrels of oil we import into the US, increased demand on the electric grid (and increased revenue), and a whole host of changes to entire industries. How do we even begin to measure "efficiency"?

Government and private industry have completely different objectives. Casually comparing the two and saying one is better than the other is an exercise in absurdity.

[YelloJeep]

Originally Posted by rivalarrival

How do you measure the accomplishments of government? When I go to a contractor, I can ask "How many miles of road can you pave in a day?"

How do I do that for government? Does it make sense to ask how many regulations they've enacted? How many terrorists they've deterred from blowing up planes? How many citizens they've harassed over trivial speeding tickets?

The very concept of "efficiency in government" is incredibly problematic to begin with. When we're talking about things like incentivizing electric cars, we're affecting the number of barrels of oil we import into the US, increased demand on the electric grid (and increased revenue), and a whole host of changes to entire industries. How do we even begin to measure "efficiency"?

Government and private industry have completely different objectives. Casually comparing the two and saying one is better than the other is an exercise in absurdity.

So are you saying that we shouldn't even attempt to evaluate efficiency? Are you suggesting that since they have different "objectives" then it isn't fair to try to evaluate? What ARE you suggesting?

Oh, check out this picture:

Couple of College kids (MIT) took these pictures for about $150. How much do you think the government would spend?


Guess I had better include the link! http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/...-money-budget/

[rivalarrival]

Originally Posted by YelloJeep

So are you saying that we shouldn't even attempt to evaluate efficiency? Are you suggesting that since they have different "objectives" then it isn't fair to try to evaluate? What ARE you suggesting?

Well, how about this: Should the RIAA be allowed to write and enforce copyright laws? They have lawyers that are quite knowledgable in the field, and the entire industry would gladly pay them to do so.

Oh, check out this picture:

Couple of College kids (MIT) took these pictures for about $150. How much do you think the government would spend?

NASA's solution would have allowed real-time streaming of those images, with the ability to stabilize the camera sufficiently to allow for high-resolution imagery of specific objectives, It would have included wide-spectrum image recording, from well below infrared through ultraviolet. It would have operated continuously for several years, if not decades.

If the government's objective was to get a few crappy, un-aimed low-resolution images from way up high like that, I'd be asking why the hell they were doing that instead of putting up a useful imagery satellite.