GreenCardSeeker
08-22-2008, 06:41 AM
I think I've figured out a few of the major reasons why government is so bad at solving problems. These are the problems with resource allocation and the weaker planning abilities government would have if people themselves decided when they required services.
Resource allocation(I posted this in another thread earlier):
a) How much funding public operations get depend on the unfilled needs of whatever they're supposed to solve. More needs mean more funds required.
b) How much income the bureaucrats get is independent of whether the needs are filled or not. It is directly related to how much the government takes upon itself, however.
c) Adding a) and b) together, the logical action for bureaucrats to take is to take whatever funds they get and waste it on people or projects who don't need it, so they still have the unfilled needs to use as excuse for asking for more funds. Solving the problems they're expected to solve would be counterproductive.
Planning:
If people decided for themselves when they needed some services the government offered, the government might find needs fluctuating a lot. Generally government is never understaffed, but some years it might find itself very overstaffed, with no need for many of its employees, having to fire them. How do you solve that? Simple - make it the government's job to decide what services people will need and when they will get them. My experience with Swedish authorities is that when a citizen asks for something along the lines of healthcare and such, they often have to wait for several years, while it's available within weeks or even days if the government decides it's a good idea. With this strategy, what services the people are given is determined by the authorities, but that's no problem of course, since the government always knows best. If you find yourself without demand for your services, go out and find people to coerce into accepting them. To be eliglble for state welfare in Sweden, you're forced to recieve the services the government suggests, so finding customers isn't hard.
I believe that these are the two main reasons the government can never manage people services well. It sure must be pleasant running the bureacracy though, never having to worry about sales dropping, only thing you have to do is to appear in mass media and stress how much people need your services and that the people that question this need are awful egotists.
Resource allocation(I posted this in another thread earlier):
a) How much funding public operations get depend on the unfilled needs of whatever they're supposed to solve. More needs mean more funds required.
b) How much income the bureaucrats get is independent of whether the needs are filled or not. It is directly related to how much the government takes upon itself, however.
c) Adding a) and b) together, the logical action for bureaucrats to take is to take whatever funds they get and waste it on people or projects who don't need it, so they still have the unfilled needs to use as excuse for asking for more funds. Solving the problems they're expected to solve would be counterproductive.
Planning:
If people decided for themselves when they needed some services the government offered, the government might find needs fluctuating a lot. Generally government is never understaffed, but some years it might find itself very overstaffed, with no need for many of its employees, having to fire them. How do you solve that? Simple - make it the government's job to decide what services people will need and when they will get them. My experience with Swedish authorities is that when a citizen asks for something along the lines of healthcare and such, they often have to wait for several years, while it's available within weeks or even days if the government decides it's a good idea. With this strategy, what services the people are given is determined by the authorities, but that's no problem of course, since the government always knows best. If you find yourself without demand for your services, go out and find people to coerce into accepting them. To be eliglble for state welfare in Sweden, you're forced to recieve the services the government suggests, so finding customers isn't hard.
I believe that these are the two main reasons the government can never manage people services well. It sure must be pleasant running the bureacracy though, never having to worry about sales dropping, only thing you have to do is to appear in mass media and stress how much people need your services and that the people that question this need are awful egotists.