Good lord -- all you people & your new cars, no doubt bought with money found in your sofa cushions (&/or expropriated from your man- & maidservants).

Life insurance from my father's passing. I got a 50 MPG car so I wouldn't have to drive my 16 MPG Suburban (which I still need to keep for occasional towing/hauling purposes everywhere I go). I paid $25,000, but it will save me money, about $1000/year in gas, and extend the life of the Suburban, which is over 120,000 miles.

Car dealerships aren't run by the government, but they are protected by (state) government laws preventing manufacturers from selling their product directly to customers, so I'm not sure that's a great example of the public sector's devotion to customer service.

Yes, it is. You can vote for another party--or you can go to another jurisdiction.

If we were still under the spoils system that might be an option but changing parties does not change the efficiency of government bureaucracies. I would be interested in learning how to change my jurisdiction so that the Department of Water and Power would provide better service. Do I just declare myself a sovereign nation?

but I'm going to save a couple of hundred bucks and drive up to Miami today to pick it up.

How does one drive "up to Miami"? Do you live in the Keys? Hydroplane from Havana?

How does one drive "up to Miami"? Do you live in the Keys? Hydroplane from Havana?

Maybe he's using a non-eurocentric map

How does one drive "up to Miami"? Do you live in the Keys?

Yes, though one could drive "up" to Miami from Homestead as well.

Car dealerships aren't run by the government, but they are protected by (state) government laws preventing manufacturers from selling their product directly to customers, so I'm not sure that's a great example of the public sector's devotion to customer service.

My point wasn't really about public vs. private sector. One can say that the government should be doing a better job without making an argument for privatization. Believe me, our private supplemental insurer wasn't any more helpful than medicare when it came to figuring out who owed what to whom, they just had a recognizable motivation to be unhelpful beyond incompetence and under-staffing.

My point wasn't really about public vs. private sector. One can say that the government should be doing a better job without making an argument for privatization. Believe me, our private supplemental insurer wasn't any more helpful than medicare when it came to figuring out who owed what to whom, they just had a recognizable motivation to be unhelpful beyond incompetence and under-staffing.

I've been on Medicare for 3 years, and before that had Blue Cross / Blue Shield, with several other companies before them. I also have a supplementary policy from United that fills in the Medicare gaps. Total premiums are just under $250 a month, which is about what BC/BS was after I turned 60.

But the difference in coverage is like night and day. It isn't just that I haven't had to pay a dime in out-of-pocket costs for the past three years, which is an enormous difference from before, it's the total lack of paperwork. Before, you needed to be a professional something to figure out what the hell all those statements meant, and when you'd call the company for clarification all you got was a complete runaround. It was a total nightmare. Paperwork would be coming in right and left, sometimes in the form of a bill, sometimes with "THIS IS NOT A BILL", but, mostly telling me that they were only covering a tiny percentage of the doctor's bill.

And as for "competition" being the answer to that, every ####### company was the same: Low premium prices for the first six months or year, then double digit increases every year after that, in spite of the fact that for all but two of those years all I had was routine checkups and preventive tests, and never went over my deductible.

By contrast, since I've turned 65, the ONLY paperwork I've seen is either a check in reimbursement for up-front payments to doctors, all paid back 100% and within a few weeks of an appointment; or an "EXPLANATION OF BENEFITS" that breaks down what Medicare paid and what the supplementary policy paid. No out-of-pocket costs, and not one minute of explanation has been necessary.

The only kicker AFAICT is the Rx coverage, which is way too expensive for the eyedrops I need, so I just buy those drops from Canada and save about 60%. A single payer policy with the government negotiating the prices would bring those costs down, but of course that would also entail a UN occupation of Georgia or something, so I guess that's out of the question.

If we were still under the spoils system that might be an option but changing parties does not change the efficiency of government bureaucracies. I would be interested in learning how to change my jurisdiction so that the Department of Water and Power would provide better service. Do I just declare myself a sovereign nation?

The disinction you are alluding to is not real. In both instances, private and public sector, your recourses are limited. The same reservations apply to the proposition that you can take your business elsewhere. You have rights, you have the power to make an effect, and that power is neccessarily restricted in its effect. I can change medical insurer--and you know what? They are pretty much all the same, and, moreover, you rely on the government vetting them and underwriting them so you don't get screwed if they go bankrupt or decide to do their version of what those lenders did in the mortgage crisis.

The solution is to make the government more responsive while realizing that you are not an island. That's hard--but having an effect on an entity or preserve in the private sector is hard, too. You can vote for Commissioner of Public Power or vote for he who appoints him. You can make so he feels your presence. You can join the Sierra Club or its opposite. You can organize for and against. You can contact the local media. As a last resort you can move--even out of the country if it's that bad. But, you can't get around the facxt that social organizations, public or private, or hard to work and change, one way or another. That's what those 55000 people who were let go when Boeing moved to Oregon a while back, and now I understand certain divisions are moving back. It's tough.