Privatize or not?

Monday September 24th, Amos 8: 4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, — skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat, skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. 7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done. We as a nation have been under an assault for the last 30 years to privatize more and more the many things the government does. It is more efficient is the argument. They are right, it is more efficient, and that is the problem. In the drive for efficiency, i.e. “Where can I save a buck?” has inherent problems. We have seen some of the results in the recent rash of reports on imports from China along with many an ill in society too numerous to name in anything less than a voluminous book. Can’t trust government they say and indeed government has supplied many poor examples to point at. What is not heard however is that government “is” in a sense, the collective “us,” and of its collective duties, justice, fairness, and what is best for the whole in the long run trumps the bottom line every time. It may not be a good way to run a business, but as business has shown, there are more problems going too far the other way and what we need is a collective government to protect us from bottom feeding business practices, not be in cahoots with them.