Friday 4 June 2010
Government's Titanic Failure -- Outsourcing Its Talent (And Power)
Absolutely, ladies. This never would have happened in the Soviet Union, would it? Or even in Putin's Russia. If the government didn't already own the experts and the equipment, they would simply nationalize BP - then sent exactly the same people and equipment to do exactly the same jobs they are doing now, albeit slightly less efficiently. On the plus side, after the crisis was over, the government would still own BP, which could then be given (in the USSR) or sold (in today's Russia) to a crony.
Same would be true for Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe. In China, the government would already own BP but it would not have been able to drill this deep and would not have the expertise to even tried to cap a deep well leaking.
So there are pluses and minuses to big government. On the plus side, when something bad happens, they can step in immediately, if not very effectively. Also, since government controls the press, the people are not unnecessarily upset by news coverage of the event. On the minus side, everyone is poorer and no one dares open their mouth.
Absolutely, ladies. This never would have happened in the Soviet Union, would it? Or even in Putin's Russia. If the government didn't already own the experts and the equipment, they would simply nationalize BP - then sent exactly the same people and equipment to do exactly the same jobs they are doing now, albeit slightly less efficiently. On the plus side, after the crisis was over, the government would still own BP, which could then be given (in the USSR) or sold (in today's Russia) to a crony.
Same would be true for Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe. In China, the government would already own BP but it would not have been able to drill this deep and would not have the expertise to even tried to cap a deep well leaking.
So there are pluses and minuses to big government. On the plus side, when something bad happens, they can step in immediately, if not very effectively. Also, since government controls the press, the people are not unnecessarily upset by news coverage of the event. On the minus side, everyone is poorer and no one dares open their mouth.
# posted by Had It in Holland Park @ 00:50 
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