Subscription-Based Firefighters Watch as House Burns

[Tiberius]

Yeah, I'd really like to see what Adrian, ultra-capitalist that he is, thinks of this.

I thought you guys knew me better than that. I'm a libertarian minarchist. I believe the only things the state should control are: the emergency services, the military (defence), and the justice system.

I base my political opinions on the three traditional ideals of libertarianism; life, liberty, and prosperity. The government must uphold the rights of each citizen to live to those ideals. That means they must protect citizen's lives at all costs, refrain from enacting laws that go against civil liberties, and stay out of the free market.

[Dotard]

What of education? Infrastructure? How about public transportation safety? (airlines, vehicle saftey inspections etc.) Taxing entities to collect monies to pay for it all? Well, I guess taxing entities could come under justice system even though the taxes are FAR from just.

[Tiberius]

I'm a believer in private education; I think children can learn far better in an environment which is individually (at least in some part) suited to their ability. Public education suffers from the problem of the class learning at the rate of the 'slowest' individual. Those with potential are held back when they could be expanding their education.

Infrastructure? If I were to start a country from scratch, I'd have it privatized. However, given that all countries have some form of infrastructure in place, if I were to suddenly take over the UK for example, I would implement a plan whereby the government either leases or sells the infrastructure to the free market.

Regulatory services would be private charities that work in the same way the government does. Business would have no requirement to have safety checks per se, but the regulatory charities would offer rating systems that can be easily viewed by the consumer, so that the knowledge of companies that do not do regular safety checks will affect their business in an indirect way (i.e. customers choosing other businesses). Such checks would be seen by a business as an advantage to have, rather than some kind of burden. Of course, as with anything in the free market, businesses are not exempt from the standard laws applying to citizens. If a business fails to do safety checks and kill a load of people, they will face the consequences, which could range from compensation to charges of some form of manslaughter for those responsible.

I don't see tax as unjust like some Libertarians. I see the state as a necessary "evil". It has to be there to uphold the constitution of the land, and as such does need some form of funding. You can view tax as the "fee" for ensuring that the government protects and upholds your rights. The government does therefore require some sort of department for handling taxes, which would be a low flat rate across the entire population.

[Jaysyn]

Regulatory services would be private charities that work in the same way the government does.

Please do go into a little more detail on this, I'd love to hear it's supposed to work.

Such checks would be seen by a business as an advantage to have, rather than some kind of burden. Of course, as with anything in the free market, businesses are not exempt from the standard laws applying to citizens.

I'm going to go ahead & guess that you've never actually ran or worked at a real world business, have you? And by business, I mean one that actually has to follow OSHA-like safety precautions.

[Minimalist]

Infrastructure? If I were to start a country from scratch, I'd have it privatized.

Remind me that I'd never want to live in Adrianistan. Sounds like a perfectly dreadful place.

[Tiberius]

Regulatory services would be private charities that work in the same way the government does.

Please do go into a little more detail on this, I'd love to hear it's supposed to work.

You know how the government does regulation? It's like that, only it isn't run by the government but by concerned consumers.

I'm going to go ahead & guess that you've never actually ran or worked at a real world business, have you? And by business, I mean one that actually has to follow OSHA-like safety precautions.

Not safety, but I worked for a bank which has very tight regulations. Business has one main aim: to make profit. You make profit by creating an attractive product for the consumer, and spending some of the money you make on improving the company so that more consumers will respect you and choose you over your competitors.

Companies that refuse to do safety checks do not look good, and if the lack of safety checks ends in disaster, the entire company will end up in trouble. Just look at what happened recently with BP. The company is being sued, fined, and has lost any respect it had by continually lying. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't ever recover from this. What any good businessman in a rival company to BP would do, is to make sure that all their safety checks are done properly, and then advertise that fact loudly and proudly, gaining a lot of their competition's market at the same time.

This isn't rocket science. The risk of losing everything by not doing safety checks is far outweighed by the positives that safety checks bring. Add the additional pressure of a consumer-oriented society as any Libertarian country would have, and you have a system where no company would survive long enough to make any profit if they didn't have the seal of approval from one of the regulatory charities.

[downbeatplumb]

Private companies do not work to the same standard as public ones.

Private companies motives are for profit the public companies motives are to serve.

I work for a branch of government wher the IT has been 'out sourced' you cannot believe the amount of extra stuff we have to pay for now that was previously done as a matter of course by the IT department.

I know of times when activities have been outsourced, with the end result being to seriously compromise actions that I cant really tell you about!

(I had written a lot more here but then had to delete a whole wadge)

Wish I could tell you more but I cant I just cant.

In my experience private business should not be in charge of anything that really matters, cos business man is just another term for crook.

[Tiberius]

Private companies motives are for profit the public companies motives are to serve.

Private companies motives are for profit, and they get that profit by serving the consumers. There is a guarantee involved with a private business that simply cannot be said of public services. Public services do not get anything in return; they exist only because the government forms them, and the government also controls the laws of the land, which puts them at an unfair level at the very start. If a public service fails for you, what can you do? Not much; the lines for complaining about such things are often long and bureaucratic. If a private service fails for you, you can take immediate action in a court.

[Jaysyn]

You know how the government does regulation? It's like that, only it isn't run by the government but by concerned consumers.

We already have Consumer Reports, yet companies get away with sub-standard products & services daily, please explain.

Companies that refuse to do safety checks do not look good, and if the lack of safety checks ends in disaster, the entire company will end up in trouble.

This didn't work out so well during the industrial revolution, why do you think it would work better in Adrianstan?

[downbeatplumb]

Private companies motives are for profit the public companies motives are to serve.

Private companies motives are for profit, and they get that profit by serving the consumers. There is a guarantee involved with a private business that simply cannot be said of public services. Public services do not get anything in return; they exist only because the government forms them, and the government also controls the laws of the land, which puts them at an unfair level at the very start. If a public service fails for you, what can you do? Not much; the lines for complaining about such things are often long and bureaucratic. If a private service fails for you, you can take immediate action in a court.

Once your house is burnt to a cinder you mean?

Private companies try to do the same job for less money and make a profit, this does seem like a recipe for disaster to you?

You are also belittling the mindset of public servants who genuinely do the job for the 'good of the country' rather for money grubbing share holders who see oppurtunities to cut corners and rake in extra cash. Remember I have experience of this and see daily how it works.