Which further highlights how many "problems" that tech people in the US have tried to solve (transit->uber, various health care start-ups, etc) are essentially due to the failure of the US state to function properly or even focus on the right thing.
Yup, it seems US citizens pay crazy amount of hidden tax because of inefficiencies caused by fanatical anti government propaganda.
This isn't only about freedom it's about keeping power in certain hands.
+1 for this. When working in Germany I talked to citizens who told me their state is also heading that direction.
More things are denationalized so private companies now have the responsibility but also the revenue (like "Autobahn" or some time ago the post).
When I understand it correctly those where initially financed by public money so it seems like this investment is now being absorbed by the companies overtaking the business.
Accordingly there are strong voices who demand less control of the economy by the government.
I think they had a good system running (look at the numbers) and now they destroy that by adopting the ideas of the US-system.
That ends up including things like utilities, but also most of the US automotive industry, banks, etc. (It also requires the listener to have an understanding of expected value, and other basic statistics.)
“socialized losses, private profits” seems to include any government spending that benefits society, such as public ownership and funding of roads, but private shipping companies (and all the industries that rely on them) profiting from their existence.
Read up on corporatism. It describes the overlap of moderate Democratic and moderate Republican ideology pretty well.
It is a shortening of “corporate fascism”, and is the idea that the government exists to protect the economy, which is best done by strengthening existing power structures that power the current economic system.
Therefore the government should defer to corporations whenever possible.
It's also showing up in presidential campaign. Biden is known corporate Democrat. He is still leading in the polls, but losing it. The recent Ukraine revelations also didn't help and looks like Warren is taking over. Out of nowhere 3 new "moderate" candidates appeared, and also Harris got a large donation.
Jim Crow, Watergate, Catholic priest abuse scandals, regulatory failure in 2008, too big to fail, gerrymandering, police involved shootings, Hurricane Katrina flooding, Keystone Pipeline leaks, ...
And, yes, it happens in local markets too: taxi medallion systems, overzealous zoning, local corruption, running Amazon out of Queens, and so on.
We could call skepticism fanatical, but that dismisses some pretty substantive history and current events regarding government corruption and incompetence.
Just like how most public healthcare proposals in the US while technically raising taxes would end up leaving the individual with a much lower financial burden because of the ridiculous amounts of money Americans pay for healthcare and medication.
This belief that the US is capable of implementing a socialized system in an affordable manner seems kind of fanaticism given the incredible amount of evidence to the contrary.
Keep in mind the United States only fails so spectacularly at socialized system implementation because the power of the socialized service to negotiate is defanged to prop up the excesses of the private sector.
Let the government flex its muscles without artificial constraint, and watch how fast the market has to rein itself in to remain competitive.
The reason Medicare is loathed, is because Medicare has a mandate to not excessively spend, and it's pricing is actually determined by people with the public interest in mind first and foremost, as well as having its pricing accessible as a matter of public record instead of being hidden away in a locked filing cabinet somewhere.
The combination of those two factors are a powerful tool for shaping an industry away from "make as much money as possible while providing a service" to "provide as much service as possible while the money holds out".
Sorry, I should have further qualified. It is loathed by the Medical Industrial Complex because they actually have the oomph to buy things at basically cost + a modest markup.
Unlike with insurers where price gouging becomes viable.
Whereas the belief that the US is capable of implementing a non-socialized system in an affordable manner is so hilariously contrary to the evidence, that it makes faith in Santa Claus seem well-grounded.
Another way to put that is that tech people, being tech people, try to solve fundamentally political or social problems by throwing technology at them. And so far it pretty much never works out, unsurprisingly, since it turns out not all problems can be solved with a website.
The failure of these people to fix their state, you mean. Instead choosing for the easier and more profitable option of going into tech and the road paved with good intentions.
You can build gigantic multinational corporations, disrupt all kinds of industries, change significant parts of people's lives with tech all written with code and rules and regulations but somehow making a well-functioning country is too hard, even when there's well-working smaller prototypes available to learn from.
