David Sirota: The Lesson Of The DMV

[marmar]

The Lesson Of The DMV


by David Sirota

Like most people, I dislike spending time at the Division of Motor Vehicles.

But during a recent attempt to obtain a driver's license, I discovered The Lesson of the DMV — one that flips economic dogma on its head, and that America should keep in mind as our state legislatures convene this winter.

When I walked into the drab office in Aurora, Colorado a few weeks ago, I was given a ticket with a number on it. Let's just say my number was much higher than the number currently being called. I sat down with about 75 others, and after an hour, we were told the computer system crashed, meaning we had to come back another day.

The next week, I visited a different office to try again. I took my number and waited two more hours as three DMV employees struggled to service a crowd of 125 people.

By the time I posed for my license photo, I had spent three total hours in a DMV office, as had at least 200 other people.

While I smiled for the camera, I considered this mundane encounter with state government in economic terms. Between all the people I waited with, about 600 combined hours of economic output was extracted from the state and thrown away. Multiply that over an entire year throughout any given state, and you see how poorly run public services take a severe — and hidden — toll on a state's economy.

Services, of course, do not fail in a vacuum. They fail because budget cuts leave them lacking adequate resources to succeed. While Republican economics teaches that less government spending means a stronger, more efficient economy, my experience at the DMV suggests otherwise, as does this state's overall experience as a test tube for conservatives' budget and tax doctrine. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota.html

[AdHocSolver]

1. Make the government look so bad that the people will happily privatize everything.

That way, someone with a lot of money can take over essential services, and force people to pay exorbitant fees, that will make people remember the taxes they paid for the same services with fondness.

It is usually Republicans who belong to the corporate class who want to lower your taxes, and then reduce the government services you get, and then suggest that things will work better if you vote to privatize that service.

Does anyone detect a scam here?