Regarding the differences between the private and public sector...?
@ Pretty much all other responses: I can agree that the public sector is more prone to failure and inefficiency than the private sector. That said, imagine, for the sake of argument that a particular agency, say the EPA, is particularly well run and manages to avoid the sorts of waste and inefficacy that we frequently see in government. The agencies administrators, through their good management skills, have succeeded in preventing or obtaining reparations for all manner of environmental damage. They've prevented what otherwise would have been substantial losses in private property values, fishing and tourism industries, and health costs, and left society as a whole better financially better off than it would have been otherwise. Is the fair thing for the administrators to be paid at a similar rate to that of corporate executives? Or is the difference between deciding how business should be done and how it should not be done more important than the fact that both roles, when p
What do you think of Roy Spencer's foray into economics, and comments about his job?
On his blog, Roy Spencer (climate scientist and global warming "skeptic") says that he has just published a book on free market economics. Among his comments in that post: "since government is so inefficient and wasteful, more poor people would be helped if charity was coordinated by the private sector. Americans are extremely charitable, even after the heavy tax burden we have." "The government simply uses its power to decide that ever-increasing amounts of personal wealth be diverted through them — with a cut off the top — to support causes which the private sector could do more efficiently." "I would wager that my job has helped save our economy from the economic ravages of out-of-control environmental extremism. I view my job a little like a legislator, supported by the taxpayer, to protect the interests of the taxpayer and to minimize the role of government." I find this last quote rather stunning - I thought a scientist's job was to do sound, unbiased scientific research. Spencer thinks his job is to minimize the role of government? What do you think about these statements?
How does collective bargaining differ between public/private sectors?
well, in the Public sector it is a wig from the Union at a table with a politician and they decide how much money the union employee's are going to make from a salary. There is mainly an up to this equation. More money, better pensions, better health care. Not necessarily a bad thing until you get to the differences between the two. In the private sector it is a union wig at a table with a person representing the COMPANIES that have an over-head, that have their own bills to worry about, that have a big say in how they manage their profits. If the company can't afford to pay the employee's 100,000 per year, guess what, they won't have to agree to 100,000 per year. The Private Sector Unions realize that they can't push too hard otherwise they'll put the COMPANIES out of business. In the PUBLIC sector unions, the funding comes from the tax payers. The tax payers don't really have an 'over-head' recognized by the unions. They can push as hard as they want and the politico's that were elected from the union funding will push just as hard to get the unions what they want. It's really that simple. As a previous member of a Private Sector Union we gave up the original contract we had with the companies of a guaranteed pay raise to help the companies that were having such a hard time finding work and paying employees. Because we knew that pushing to hard could possibly bankrupt the company. You can't really bankrupt a state, the feds will bail them out. Think about it. And if I get a thumbs down, instead of thumbs downing and running how about explain where I'm wrong. @BFlowing I can agree, for the most part, with everything that you're saying except for the part about cutting corners coming from the employee's side. That doesn't hold true with Public Unions. Look at what's going on in Wisconsin, the governor is asking the union to contribute more to their pension plans and their own health care and it is causing screaming fits from the Public Union reps and the Democrats ran and hid as opposed to being forced to vote.
Does the president of the US pay for all of his food or is it a taxpayer expense?
Brian Dunlap hit it right on the head.So, I'll just enhance that information.The president of the US receives $400,000 per year (which is low, considering the inflation-adjusted pay for Taft was $1.8 million and for most presidents, it hovered around $1 million per year, which I think is fair†). The president also receives a $100,000 travel allowance for non-official travel and a $50,000 expense account to help defer non-official expenses and the taxes thereof---including, you guessed it, food for the Residence (which is the name for the top floor of the White House where the current president and his family lives.What does this all mean:Like any elected federal official, the President gets some paid time off from the job for which Uncle Sam is willing to foot the bill. I have no idea how much time this is, but it's probably an accounting nightmare. Let's just assume that he gets three vacations a year. The costs of getting Trump’s family from point A to point B aren't totally free. He receives free travel (with restrictions) within the USA by AF1 because, no matter what, he's still the president and part of the cost of being in office is forever being shielded and watched by staffers, whether he wants it or not. So, while the staff and fuel of AF1 might be covered, the actual expenses of other things (like shipping his luggage and hostelry) may not be covered, thus the 100k travel allowance.The $50,000 expense account is there mostly to help defer the taxes on items he purchases like sundries and personal items for the Residence. All of the staff is covered and the cleaning and the furniture that is owned by the National Park Service & the non-profit White House Historical Association (which helps furnish and maintain the historic pieces within the WH). http://whitehouse.gov1.info/visi...†The POTUS should be well paid while in office. The CEO of Kohls gets a million dollars per year, of Walmart something like 20 million dollars per year, for Ford, something like 10 million dollars per year. The President should be paid in "multiples of the per-capita income as established by the treasurer of the US every four years" in order to avoid having to constantly adjust it (25 x the PCI would be about right). http://bber.unm.edu/econ/us-pci.htm
What exactly are "private prisons"?
Most prisons are operated by government agencies. However, some private companies have seen the potential for profit in owning and operating private prison facilities under contract to local governments. In the United States, private prisons are paid a per-prisoner, per-day rate by the contracting government agency. Private prison executives claim that when governments contract with private prisons, the taxpayers save money, but this claim has never been proven. The private prison industry is controversial. To provide prison services and make a profit, the private prisons find programs to cut. These can include medical programs, training programs for correctional officers, food quality, and so on. Many have argued that the cuts in these programs are inhumane. Some have correlated the rise in prison violence, escapes and both prisoner and guard deaths in private prisons to a lack of adequate training for the correctional officers. The private prison industry counter-argues that excessive regulations and government inefficiency are to blame for the massive costs of public prisons, and that private entities can provide the same services at a lower cost. In some isolated cases this has been true. However, the private prison industry in America -- much like the public prison system -- has neither been profitable nor safe. One major private prison company is Corrections Corporation of America. Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (which briefly operated as WWC) is now named GEO Group.