Government Sustainability Vs. Privatization by Self Made Man
(libertarian)
Monday, March 1, 2010
Bureaucracy has always been synonymous with inefficiency and ineffectiveness in both the public and private sector. The biggest difference between the private and public entities is purely incentive driven. Most private organizations have a motivation to reduce bureaucracy in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The public sector is not typically faced with such problems. The tax payers provide an endless amount of revenue; while the state is not resistant to recession they are less likely to change with the economic tides. Without the encouragement to reduce cost and spending the state will not look for ways to improve.
The bureaucracy is a necessary institution and does serve a vital purpose to the general public; which depends heavily on its operational value. Bureaucracy provides a wide range of public services ranging from emergencies, crime prevention, and security too management of natural resources. Unfortunately, the aspiration to remove the negative inclinations from the bureaucratic label should be just as important as its services to the voting public.
If the government were to implement changes that better reflected the necessity to adjust its operational strategies such as the private sector; the bureaucracy would be in a better position to earn and provide the trust necessary for greater public support. Several examples of such change could manifest in many forms. From an economic efficiency perspective, the bureaucracy could re-organize and consolidate departments that perform relatively the same functions. An illustration would be the consolidation between the Department of Energy, Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Energy Information Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This would help to eliminate the fiscal personnel strain on overlapping work and goals.
Another example would be the privatization of certain departments. E. S. Savas; Presidential Professor at the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College describes reasoning for privatization as "divided into four categories: pragmatic, where people define a need for government to improve services; ideological, where there is a desire for less government; commercial, where the private sector sees opportunities for profit by performing government services; and populist, where people justify privatization in the name of a better society". [1] Such examples to accredit this theory would be the United States Post Office and Bureau of Prisons as being prime models for privatization.
As the government increases in size and scope the bureaucracy becomes more ineffective and disorganized. This ultimately leads to greater abuse and fraud and inhibits the public's ability to use the services responsibly and effectively. In order to become more receptive to the public needs, the government must take action to greater fiscal responsibility and overall reducing its size to a more manageable and responsive position.
[1] Savas, E. S. 1987. Privatization: The Key to Better Government. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House. Chapter One: Introduction
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