Purely for discussion
Yesterday I heard a comment on the radio that made me sit back and give thought--so I will pose the same issue here. I'd like to hear your comments.
We have a long history here of degrading government's ability to provide services in a reasonably cost effective way and in a professional manner. The default seems to be that private based services are always best.
Now--to the radio comment: This past weekend NYC had more power failures due to overloads. ConEd has come under attack by the political leaders and discussions are taking place regarding either turning the operation of ConEd over to another private firm (they have previously done that on Long Island) or "nationalizing" the utility under the control of the city.
Now---for the wrinkle---the argument goes that we would not think of providing services such as police, fire protection, water supply et al by any entity other than government---so why not electric?
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis