A contribution site should be up any day now. Don’t worry, John! … 5:57 P.M.
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Ron Kaye blames L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa’s disastrous proposal for an up-to-28% utility hike–in the middle of a brutal recession, when private sector workers are hurting but Department of Water and Power workers have recently gotten raises–on labor boss Brian D’Arcy. But does D’Arcy want to use the mayor’s “renewable” initiative to create thousands of questionable union “green” jobs--or does he just want the DWP to become a cash cow that funds the rest of government? Kaye has argued both. And I suppose that could be the answer. … 12:15 A.M.
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The Perverse World of Democratic Party Values: I’ve mentioned that the state Democratic party is charging $60 for lunch with Arianna but only $20 for Los Lobos. It turns out they want $120 for dinner with AFL-CIO chief Rich Trumka. I guess that accurately reflects who’s boss in the Democratic party these days. … Arianna for $60 suddenly seems like a good deal. … 12:18 A.M.
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Saturday I spoke briefly to the the Alice B. Toklas GLBT PAC in San Francisco. They were very nice. It was kind of them to invite me to make a pitch. But I would say they were somewhat less than fully supportive of my message. I felt like I was one of those panhandlers in a subway car in New York. The passengers just look straight ahead into space. … You figure they’d at least want to argue. But debate isn’t on the agenda. Time to put it there. … 6:22 P.M.
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I’m not a Tea Partier. I’m in a distinct anti-government mood, however, after the U.S. Postal Service failed today to deliver an “Express Mail” letter that was mailed on Friday. Applying Kaus’s First Rule of Journalism:
a) This confirms my belief– informed by a stint working at the Post Office– that if you put an ordinary nondescript letter in the regular stream of mail it will promptly be delivered to the right address. Local mail carriers tend to know their customers and do a pretty good job. But if you pay extra for Special VIP Registered Certified Express Do-Not-Lose Service, your letter will be lost. It’s so special they put it in a special place! And then forget it’s there.
b) The larger point!: Consumers of government services are in for a bad time during budget crises. Not only do government agencies cut back on hours and personnel (often a time-honored ploy to trigger citizen demands for rescinding the cuts) but the personnel that remain on the job have an incentive to provide lousy service, lest citizen/taxpayers conclude that their new, smaller budget is perfectly adequate. This incentive operates independent of unions. … P.S.: Private firms–at least in competitive industries–normally can’t milk more money from their customers by providing bad service. (An exception, as David Cutler points out, may be the private health insurance industry. If you run a health insurance company and give great service, paying without hassle and on time, you may attract a lot of sick people as customers–and go broke.)
6:35 P.M.
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….and you’ll notice the inferior service how?
Old joke about the USPS. If you pass the test, you don’t get the job.
“the personnel that remain on the job have an incentive to provide lousy service, lest citizen/taxpayers conclude that their new, smaller budget is perfectly adequate.”
Yet, you want more government in our lives, so what are you complaining about?
Do you think with the expansion of government there is some critical mass point where all the bureacrats are suddenly going to become efficient and responsive?
You make no sense Klaus, which would makes you perfect for the Senate.
I’m not sure that’s legal. Will check.
A contribution site should be up any day now. Don’t worry, John! … 5:57 P.M.
Do you realize we can’t see the linked to facebook story unless we’re friends on Facebook with your brother?
No, I didn’t realize that. Thanks. But why my brother? That is my Facebook page.
So, will you explain to us how it is that you believe that while workers are incentivized to provide lousy service you want them to provide our health care?
Or is the secret that this is the way to solving the underfunding of social security?
Government workers will not be providing most of our health care. Even if Medicare were expanded to cover everyone, government workers wouldn’t be providing the health care. Government will be paying for the care, directly and indirectly. That’s not the same as providing it. The equivalent of the Post Office or Department of Motor Vehicles would be Britain’s National Health Service, I think.
My company sells stuff on the Web. We use a service called Endicia to print postage from our PC. Endicia lets you run stats reports. We noticed that “Priority Mail” consistently took the same number of days to deliver on average than First Class mail, and the maximum number of days was 1 more than First Class mail’s maximum. We eliminated Priority Mail as an option, because we got so many complaints.
On the other hand, international EMS is way faster than any other method.
It’s so special they put it in a special place! And then forget it’s there.
That sounds right. How many times have I wished I’d just thrown that important memo/letter/overdue bill on my office floor with the other detritus instead of “filing it” someplace so secure I’ll never find it again. Well I won’t tell you how many times; it’s embarrassing.