my connection with the tea party

[kandrathe]

But I don't think this is a law of nature.

E.g. in the Netherlands we had (have) a wave of privatizing government run things like health insurance, energy, trains postal service and in our case things have become more expensive....sometimes a little better but the main difference we see is more commercials on TV and stories about top managers with huge salaries and bonuses.

Ok, regulation causes chaos to conform. Deregulation causes chaos in returning to market forces. Big salaries and bonuses is a separate issue best left to be between the boards of directors and stock holders. I agree they need to be more accountable to stock holders, so perhaps just some laws that give the stockholders more of a vote on executive compensation.

I worked at a railroad here in the US, just after deregulation under Jimmy Carter. Suddenly, we had to compete and with all this track as overhead. The first thing I helped them set up was an analytic center where they could evaluate the cost benefits of every segment of their track. We sold off unproductive lines to Coops and newly formed short line RR. Trucking picked up a huge part of the short haul business. And, we had to have something new, customer service. It took about a decade for all the chaos, bankruptcies, and mergers to settle down. The second department I built for them was a labor renegotiation group. Railroad compensation had become ridiculous during the period of no competition. Our modern diesel electric trains still had crews suited for the 1800's (e.g. Conductor (no caboose or passengers, electronic waybills), 2 brakemen (to watch left side and right side), fireman to stoke the boiler, engineer, and a back up engineer). There were over 180 different ways that these guys could earn pay (e.g. backing up the train, getting off to flip a switch, coupling or uncoupling cars, coming into the station late). Then, there was the 100 mile rule. They could only crew the train for 100 miles (the distance a train could travel in a day back in the 1800's). After 100 miles (at 50mph), they'd need to stop and change crews (usually met in the middle of nowhere by a taxi to drop off and pick up), but of course, they got paid a days wages. It was stupid. No business can operate this way.

At least when the government does something and it is too expensive the money goes to normal people working (e.g. having 10 postmen doing the job of 6). If a company does something too expensive the money goes to bonuses of top managers.

Ah, but that government waste came from over taxing the people. This waste (malinvestment) drags on the economy perpetually as these government programs never really get smaller until their is a crisis. If a company is wasteful, eventually it is reflected in their stock price. If they mess up badly enough, they go bankrupt. Problem solved.