Private Sector

I agree with Thomas F. Schaller that there is waste and imperfection in the marketplace as well as government ("Sure, government is flawed - but markets are, too," May 16), but the pivotal difference is choice. I maintain the option to purchase goods and services from competing entities in the marketplace. If I do not agree with the business practices of a certain company, a competitor will get my money. In order to increase revenue, a company must produce enough quality to elicit demand.

Columnist Thomas Schaller makes a very solid argument about the relative ability of the government and free markets to get things done ("Government is flawed, but markets are too," May 15). His critics' arguments, however, fall flat. One reader wrote that competition in the private sector this leads to greater efficiency and better outcomes. But this argument fails to take into account the effect of monopolies and oligopolies on the supposed free market. Many industries are so expensive to get into that only a few players run the show (think of cable TV and energy)

I take exception to Thomas Schaller's assertion that "Overhead in federal insurance programs like Medicare and Social Security is minimal. By some estimates, only 2 percent of expenditures go to administrative overhead" ("Sure, government is flawed - but markets are too," May 16). My wife formerly worked in the Social Security Administration, and she says Mr. Schaller's arguments are way off the mark. "By some estimates?" How vague is that? Why doesn't The Sun require the learned professor to cite his sources?

Thomas Schaller make a case for how the private sector can be just as if not more flawed than the public sector ("Sure, government is flawed - but markets are too," May 16). One aspect of the comparison that he (perhaps intentionally?) failed to mention, however, is that in the private sector, dissatisfied customers always have the option of switching to a different vendor, bank, insurance carrier, etc. That's not the case with any government agency. That is where the private sector excels over the public sector.

Next Tuesday, Marylanders will cast their votes in the Republican presidential primary. Considering the critical challenges facing our nation - unchecked out-of-control spending, runaway entitlement programs, staggering unemployment numbers, skyrocketing gas prices, extremist threats, and a fragile-at-best economy - this may be the most important election of our lifetime. We all know that America has to do more than "hope" for "change," and that's why I am backing Mitt Romney.

The press is having a field day with the General Services Administration "team building" outing in Las Vegas on the taxpayers' dime. However, every day chartered jets land there and other exotic destinations, loaded with employees of corporations doing the same kind of activities and writing it off as a "business expense. " Doctors attend "seminars" at drug company venues with sunny beaches, gambling or golf, all listed as "business expense. " As we all know "business expenses" are deductions from income that means the tax payers are actually paying for the same kind of excess!

Thomas Schaller make a case for how the private sector can be just as if not more flawed than the public sector ("Sure, government is flawed - but markets are too," May 16). One aspect of the comparison that he (perhaps intentionally?) failed to mention, however, is that in the private sector, dissatisfied customers always have the option of switching to a different vendor, bank, insurance carrier, etc. That's not the case with any government agency. That is where the private sector excels over the public sector.

Columnist Thomas Schaller makes a very solid argument about the relative ability of the government and free markets to get things done ("Government is flawed, but markets are too," May 15). His critics' arguments, however, fall flat. One reader wrote that competition in the private sector this leads to greater efficiency and better outcomes. But this argument fails to take into account the effect of monopolies and oligopolies on the supposed free market. Many industries are so expensive to get into that only a few players run the show (think of cable TV and energy)

I've heard and read about the demonstrations of state workers whose salaries and benefits are being cut or at least kept from increasing. Through talk radio, many workers try to say that they have already suffered from quality of life issues, but I noticed a real disconnect. I don't think that government workers realize that the tax payers they are appealing to make about half as much salary, suffered from a lack of raises in direct income for at least six straight years, not to mention having seriously reduced benefits.

On July 8th, the government reported that the country added only 18,000 new jobs in June, further confirming that businesses are not hiring. Commentators and many government officials act mystified by these disappointing results, but as someone who works with and invests in small companies, it is not hard for me to understand what is going on. Our government policies discourage private sector job growth. Instead of reducing the costs and red tape incurred by businesses to hire new domestic employees, we have added a major new cost by mandating that businesses provide health care benefits or face federal penalties.

I take exception to Thomas Schaller's assertion that "Overhead in federal insurance programs like Medicare and Social Security is minimal. By some estimates, only 2 percent of expenditures go to administrative overhead" ("Sure, government is flawed - but markets are too," May 16). My wife formerly worked in the Social Security Administration, and she says Mr. Schaller's arguments are way off the mark. "By some estimates?" How vague is that? Why doesn't The Sun require the learned professor to cite his sources?

I agree with Thomas F. Schaller that there is waste and imperfection in the marketplace as well as government ("Sure, government is flawed - but markets are, too," May 16), but the pivotal difference is choice. I maintain the option to purchase goods and services from competing entities in the marketplace. If I do not agree with the business practices of a certain company, a competitor will get my money. In order to increase revenue, a company must produce enough quality to elicit demand.

This column may stress you out. It stressed me out just writing it. Start counting on your fingers how many of the following aggravations you have encountered personally. Ready? •You call a customer line to report a problem with some product or service, and after being forced to navigate through a multi-stage menu of options, you finally get a live person - who, unfortunately, seems capable of responding to only small set of basic requests. •You file an insurance claim, but the paperwork and documentation required to get the claim paid seem intentionally convoluted so as to deter you from ever collecting.

A political campaign is about the worst time to have a discussion about economic realities. The party that is out will speak of nothing but looming disaster, while the party that is in will be singing nothing but "Happy Days Are Here Again. " And, since our current political system is in a permanent campaign mode, economics never escapes the warp of politics. The truth is, it is easy for politicians to pick and choose among the facts to support whatever best serves their campaigns because economic news can be good and bad at the same time.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, the first woman appointed to serve in that role, said Monday she would step down July 1. Swaim-Staley, 55, informed Gov. Martin O'Malley's office Friday of her decision, which she said she made after 25 years of working for the state in order to pursue opportunities in the private sector. "I'm just at a place in my life where I think it might be nice to do something different," said Swaim-Staley, who was named to the role in September 2009.

Regarding you editorial "Twice as nice" (April 25), my wife and I along with our kids went through credit card debt not once but twice. The second time we had to cut up the credit cards and simply decide that if we couldn't afford something, we wouldn't buy it. (Of course there were exceptions, such as medical emergencies.) What has always bothered me about government spending when as a nation we find ourselves deeply in debt - to the tune of some $15 trillion currently - the government always threatens to cut police, firemen, teachers or other vital public services.

Carroll County spokeswoman Maggy MacPherson is leaving her job for a post in the private sector. MacPherson, 41, of Gettysburg, Pa., has accepted a job as government/public relations executive for Cavalier Mid-Atlantic LLC, a Richmond, Va.-based telecommunications company that is expanding into Maryland. MacPherson has been with the county for 11 years. She was hired as a public information coordinator in 1988 and was promoted to communications manager in 1991. She has been the county's public information officer since 1995.

BAGHDAD - Hampered by years of violence, a decimated infrastructure, a lack of foreign investors and a flood of imports that undercut local businesses, Iraq's private sector, particularly its small non-oil economy, has so far failed to flourish as its American patrons had hoped. In its absence, the Iraqi government has been sustaining the economy the way it always has: by putting citizens on its payroll. Since 2005, according to federal budgets, the number of government employees has nearly doubled, to 2.3 million.

Regarding the proposal for Harford County to set up a business loan fund: Is it really a good idea for those of us who pay taxes to the county and state to allow these respective governments to get into the business of making high risk loans to businesses? Capitalism, a cornerstone of the western economic model, is the system wherein keepers of large sums of money (capital) — be they bankers or business tycoons or some combination thereof — make investments in ventures that they identify as having the potential to generate wealth.

The press is having a field day with the General Services Administration "team building" outing in Las Vegas on the taxpayers' dime. However, every day chartered jets land there and other exotic destinations, loaded with employees of corporations doing the same kind of activities and writing it off as a "business expense. " Doctors attend "seminars" at drug company venues with sunny beaches, gambling or golf, all listed as "business expense. " As we all know "business expenses" are deductions from income that means the tax payers are actually paying for the same kind of excess!