An interesting little concern here from Mariana Mazzucato. That government shouldn’t outsource things because government needs to be able to do these things itself. Or, as we might describe this, there should be lots of jobs in government for friends of Mariana Mazzucato:
But, regardless of who wins the election, there is an urgent need to enhance capabilities within the public sector. In recent decades the state’s capacity has been drastically hollowed out, and key public functions have been outsourced to management consultants and parasitic companies. This has become all too clear with Brexit: without sufficient in-house expertise, the Department for Exiting the EU is now spending millions on private lawyers and consultants.
So, Brexit is a once in a lifetime event – if it ever happens at least. But government needs to have, inhouse, the capacity to deal with a once in a lifetime event? That’s going to produce a remarkable level of featherbedding for those who are on call, isn’t it?
But then that’s the point, isn’t it. Jobs for the boys.
Oh, sorry, jobs for the boys’n’gals and you’re paying for it.
The language we use matters - it provides clarity to our own thoughts and enables…
It is now generally acknowledged that the structure of the NHS needs to be overhauled…
In the film Apollo 13, a loss of oxygen causes the crew to start inadvertently…
There's an idea out there which seems intuitive but then so many ideas do seem…
When we think about the darkly opaque goals of modern central bankers as they relate…
As the papers recently filled with the distressing images of desperate souls looking to escape…
View Comments
The state uses a lot of pencils. So it clearly makes sense for the state to grow its own rubber, mine its own graphite, copper and zinc, grow its own cedar, etc. - instead of outsourcing pencil production to evil capitalists, who will only make profits in order to purchase yachts.
(H/T Leonard E Read)
A defender of the state using the term "parasitic companies" brings a smile to the thinking class. Parasite is the term for the entirety of the government enterprise.
There is no problem with the Government having capabilities on tap -- as long as those capabilities are subject to the same constraints as capabilities in the private sector: Make a mistake, and you find yourself at the end of the long unemployment queue. Or Government needs change, and you find yourself at the end of the long unemployment queue.
After the very first democratic vote in South Africa, the vote counters asked to be employed full-time by the state, as their expertise will be required in the next election!