Just think that 4 hour call will sooner be replaced by a chat bot that claims to have AI features but is just a flow chart of
randInt(1,100)
If randInt <40:
Call denyClaim
Else:
Call referToAgent
Capitalism isn’t efficient! It’s creates whole industries that have no other purpose but to lech off the system. Land lords, insurance, none rehabilitation based justice system, private/charter schools, car dealerships, military industrial complex, etc.
Eh, some of those provide value:
- land lords - good ones fix stuff
- insurance - good ones pay out claims
- private/charter schools - provide competition for public schools, and generally both get better as a result; we like our charter school, but we only went because our local admin was driving teachers away (since been replaced)
I got nothing for the rest.
In another thread someone pointed out that there’s land lords and there’s property management. Sometimes one entity is both, but not always. Property management provides value for money- i don’t want to deal with maintaining the building myself, so I’ll pay someone to do it. Landlords just make money because they happen to own the place, but provide little to no value.
Also private schools I think mostly are a vehicle for racism and undermining public schools. I don’t think they’re good.
Property management is a service a landlord could pay to handle maintenance, and they have an incentive to keep costs low because the landlord could always pick another management firm. Some are good, but I just can’t get over that conflict of interest.
I was more referring to mom and pop landlords, who actually care about the property and don’t want to deal with vacancies, so they’ll sometimes actually lose money to keep tenants happy to just not deal with it.
And I really don’t have a problem with private schools, as long as they don’t receive public funding. Vouchers are dumb.
Charter schools are another beast entirely. They need to post good test scores to keep the charter, they often can’t pick their students (ours uses a lottery), they often can’t charge any fees or tuition (so 100% publicly funded), etc. So they end up being like public schools without bus service where the school has a little more choice on how they approach curriculum (though they need to cover the same material).
Car dealerships is a weird one in that list. That’s like saying one should go to cuisinart to buy a toaster rather than Walmart. They’re a car retailer…
Uhhhh the car buying process is so different than any other industry that comparing it to buying a toaster is disingenuous. What if I told you, “you’re not allowed to buy this toaster from Cuisinart directly.” Not only that but you must go to a store with a mark up to buy the toaster. Would you feel the same?
Different than any other industry? Have you ever tried to buy parts for your HVAC system? Or parts/software to repair your tractor? Or warranty work for your appliance? It’s all the same, you need to go through the ‘authorized service department’ to get anything from those companies.
I had this same argument 20 years ago when I compared private industry’s efficiency to a Comcast call center. Four hours of hold for ‘you plug back in and out?’ and/or a disconnect.
Albeit I now work in government where we are culturally required to refer to people as ‘customers’. Though people are always shocked when they get a response from a human within a week’s time. The bar of expectations is low.
customers
For everyone who thinks “users” or “clients” is dehumanizing, it can in fact get worse. IMO “clients” isn’t even that bad as a way to differentiate people you are serving from those you are not serving, but I would never be able to accept calling the people I help “customers”. We are not doing business, this is a public service ffs.
Efficient at what and for whom? The whole concept is bullshit when applied to a social science like economics.
It’s not just (time now required for task)/(time previously required for task)? So if it normally costs 4 hours to get a jug of water, and we build pipes to make it cost 4 minutes, then it’s a 60x increase in efficiency.
Bias: manufacturing engineer
In capitalism, you become more efficient the closer you get to producing nothing while charging infinite dollars to everyone.
If you have to charge 1/60th or less per unit of water and the market size remains the same, your example is less efficient, even if the pipes were free.
From the short-sighted beady eyes of a soulless ghoul running a company whose sole service is to supply water: yes this would be inefficient if it costs more. From someone with just the tiniest imagination: with easier access to water, what else could we do for people?
Once upon a time this type of vision was common, business schools did a fantastic job turning everyone into idiots.
As someone who lives in a first world country with a socialised healthcare system, I find this almost unbelievable and morally repugnant.