NASA: We're sending humans to Mars

Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by peterashford on Tuesday December 02, 2014 @10:21PM (#8691721)

I'd say that since the 90's there's been a general pulling back from the Washington consensus. So I take issue with your assertion about every first world country following the US. I say this as a citizen of a first world country where people are pretty concerned to ensure we do NOT follow the US in terms of political corruption and economic division.

Your point about startup investing is rather off the mark. Most startups fail - which is not something you can do if you're providing the water supply or sanitation services for a country (or county). Governments might be less lean but redundancy also means resilience.

Your comment about an alternative universe resonates with me. As a non American, it's how I often feel when I read comments from people like you who assert that "It's just true by definition" that the private sector is more effective at everything.

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Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by sillysaurus3 on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @02:57AM (#8692443)

I didn't mean to assert the private sector was better at everything. Sorry for the confusion. I only meant to say that it's better at most things.

Is that really mistaken? Since I'm getting so much pushback, I should probably think about changing my view. But I don't understand how this could be true: "The public sector is better than the private sector at most jobs." It seems like the vast majority of the time, it's the other way around.

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