NY Times: "Free Market Justice."

[muntrv]

Why private lawyers do better than public defenders?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/opinion/08hoffman.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

I wonder if John Stossel is gonna use this to bolster his "business good/government bad" theorem?

[charlyvi]

1. It boggles my mind

that free marketers think that business, who's highest ethical goal is to make a profit, should be trusted with the public welfare more than government, whose members are elected by said people. What CEOs do we elect? How do we impeach them? It's crazy.

[BayCityProgressive]

3. gag

Free Market Justice!??! That's a joke! We need to follow Venezuela's model and nationalize half of these shitty companies so that they work on behalf of the public.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. It's further mind-boggling to deal with people who think that

a for-profit system is ever going to have inherent cost advantages over a system that doesn't have to build a profit into its cost equation.

[BayCityProgressive]

5. exactly

I am a total commie and that is why. We would get so much more done if we cut out the profit margin. Also, we could focus on preventitive medicine rather than treating symptoms, this would cause a drastic cut in healthcare costs. society should be run for the total benefit of the people in society. Not a few parasites who cheat their way to the top.

[BlueStateModerate]

6. Incentive

It makes all the difference. Capitalism works, and like or not, it often weeds out inefficiencies.

[BayCityProgressive]

7. There are plenty of examples

of socialist programs working in Europe, Cuba, Latin America, and right here in the US and even Canada. Did you know that many of the things Democrats have passed were proposals of the Communist and Socialist parties in the US? Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Community-Trust Housing, Single Payer Healthcare, unemployment insurance, credit unions ect ect were all once considered very radical and were socialist ideas.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Assuming that greed is the only incentive.

Funny how many co-ops & the like have succeeded in the capitalist world over the years until the capitalists get laws passed to put them out of business. The banks whine a lot about credit unions, for example, saying the CUs, with their lower loan rates & higher dividend rates, are unfair because they don't have to make a profit.

[charlyvi]

9. At what cost? And I don't mean money.

Capitalism is okay, really. But some folks have elevated it to a religion. The market is good at many things, but it cannot solve everything. Government is good at other things. Each has it's function.

[BlueStateModerate]

10. Absolutely

The government is there to perform necessary functions for which there is no profit. Generally, capitalism does a better job when there's profit available.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Wow. Thanks for posting this.

It has a lot of personal significance for me. I'm a psychologist & I do a LOT of criminal forensic work, most of it for public defenders.