List of Debate: Explicit role of govt.

[Sanjeev Sabhlok <sabhlok@almaak.usc.edu>]

Debate coordinators:
====================

I am compiling the points for debate raised in the past couple of weeks,
and putting them down for each "proposer" to defend in an independent
discussion carried out on their own machines.

a) Privatization techniques: 	Sanjeev 
	send mail to: sabhlok@rcf.usc.edu on this topic

b) What are suitable things for govt. to be doing: Charu
	send mail to: charu@iced.com on this topic

c) Origin of power over others: Sanjeev 

Please: others who are not listed here, but have sent in points for
inclusion in the manifesto at some place, please remind me about your
points (I think there was this one on the 2-year military service) so that
I can make an updated list of debates in progress.

Thanks! SS

(on Charu's points, in case you are wondering what these are: I am listing
them for your convenience)

> The criteria I propose we examine are the following: 
> 
> 1. Period of Return or Short Term vs. Long Term Benefit or
> Length of 'product' lifecycle.
> It is hard to get private capital to into enterprises  that take
> a long time to show returns or that do not produce tangible
> monetary returns.
> 
> An example is education. We probably all agree that it benefits
> society as a whole if ALL children receive at least a basic
> education. The returns are long term, at least a generation, and
> this is not the kind of return that shows up in quarterly
> financial statements to shareholders. This makes education a
> candidate sector for government to be involved. OK, I know there
> are private schools that do run at a profit, but they do not
> cater to the entire population, only those who can pay and I hope
> we agree that we don't want to build a society where the
> determinant of a young person's success is how rich their parents
> are. Though, this does bring up the point of mixed sectors where
> the government is one of many players thereby preventing
> collusion or market cornering. Similar arguments apply to
> healthcare and basic research.
> 
> I propose we consider government participation sectors that need
> long term investment that is not available from private capital.
> 
> 2. Single Supplier Situations or Natural Monopolies
> Some situations are natural monopolies. An example water supply
> and sewage services. [There may be present or future technologies
> that make it possible and just as efficient for me and my
> neighbor to have separate sewage service providers but I'm not
> aware of them]. Local phone and cable services represent similar
> cases.
> 
> I propose that such situations are candidates for public
> ownership.
> 
> 3. Power Critical Services
> I'm having trouble coming up with a better label for this
> class. What I mean is services like the police and
> military. Because of the high level of accountability a civil
> society demands from these institutions in return for letting
> them wield power, and because we cannot tolerate their absence
> for even the shortest period of time, their presence and control
> cannot be left up to private market forces.
> 
> This is a preliminary list and could use some refinement. I look
> forward to comments and criticism.
> 
> -Charu
> 
> 
>