11-10-2010, 01:49 PM
An interesting thought experiment would be for people to consider what exactly a public good is (Econ 101 with Prof. Boskins in 1981).
My definition of a public good is something that we should all agree the state should do. An additional caveat is that it is something that would not be done without the state doing it.
Police, the military and the courts are definitely a public good. I hope we can all agree these are appropriate activities of the government. You probably could add the prisons, although there is definitely room for privatization there. Is education *always* a public good? No, it is not. Education would take place without government involvement. People would send their kids to private schools. If all kids went to private schools, the cost of private schools would go way down.
Another thing to think about: why should my libertarian buddy Garvin who has no kids have to pay for educating my five kids (which he actually does today because two of them go to schools that his property taxes help finance)?
I am not saying we need to get rid of all public education tomorrow. I am saying that we are seeing the results of an out of control government, and the situation is getting very alarming indeed. The Fed is in the middle of Quantitative Easing 2, which means the Fed, at this very moment, has implemented a policy that is, in effect, monetizing our debt. This is already driving down the dollar and causing a lot of problems with our trading partners (who cannot sell as much to us because their currencies are overvalued). We have the president-elect of Brazil, a former Marxist, lecturing us on our debt problem.
The debt problem will filter its way down to state government, and it will mean people need to take a close look at what is essential for govt to finance and what is not. The days of government financing everything are over, at least for the foreseeable future.
Sorry to be such a gloom and doom guy, but I don\'t know much about Stanford football, but I do know something about this subject, so I thought I\'d weigh in. I will shut up now.
Errrr, Go Stanford!!!!
My definition of a public good is something that we should all agree the state should do. An additional caveat is that it is something that would not be done without the state doing it.
Police, the military and the courts are definitely a public good. I hope we can all agree these are appropriate activities of the government. You probably could add the prisons, although there is definitely room for privatization there. Is education *always* a public good? No, it is not. Education would take place without government involvement. People would send their kids to private schools. If all kids went to private schools, the cost of private schools would go way down.
Another thing to think about: why should my libertarian buddy Garvin who has no kids have to pay for educating my five kids (which he actually does today because two of them go to schools that his property taxes help finance)?
I am not saying we need to get rid of all public education tomorrow. I am saying that we are seeing the results of an out of control government, and the situation is getting very alarming indeed. The Fed is in the middle of Quantitative Easing 2, which means the Fed, at this very moment, has implemented a policy that is, in effect, monetizing our debt. This is already driving down the dollar and causing a lot of problems with our trading partners (who cannot sell as much to us because their currencies are overvalued). We have the president-elect of Brazil, a former Marxist, lecturing us on our debt problem.
The debt problem will filter its way down to state government, and it will mean people need to take a close look at what is essential for govt to finance and what is not. The days of government financing everything are over, at least for the foreseeable future.
Sorry to be such a gloom and doom guy, but I don\'t know much about Stanford football, but I do know something about this subject, so I thought I\'d weigh in. I will shut up now.
Errrr, Go Stanford!!!!