Someone would have to turn over a lot of flat rocks in the search to find a politician or bureaucrat who would even make it past the first few weeks of Econ 101… 
Govt employees are not hired to make profits. Referring to them as “they” instead of “we” does a great job of tossing the blame somewhere else but it helps breed misunderstanding too. If they were designed to make profits, the fire department, who are our friends and neighbors too, would just drive by a burning house of a non tax payer and take the cat out of a tree for those that do. Selective servicing for the well to do would turn deficits into surpluses…quickly.
It doesn’t take a course in Econ 101 to get that. Now, if one thinks that govt. Should be a profit making enterprise, that’s the one who needs to enroll…immediately. Govt is non profit. If it shows profits and surpluses on a regular basis, it is being run poorly. Then, your tax dollars are truly being wasted.
And yes, you get what you pay for. Gas taxes will go up if you want improved infrastucture as people drive more with lower gas prices and order more goods delivered by trucks over these same roads. Govt. Should be one of the few places where surpluses are plowed back into the economy and not used as profits to look good on the books while sitting in the Cayman Islands.
Well not to get off track but government should be efficient, period. Efficiency is often the creation of limited resources in business, government, and personal life. The more money one has, the more money will be spent and sometimes frivolously. Just like the more storage space one has, the more stuff will be stored. Plus government needs to develop good policy that strengthens rather than weakens the common good. Good road infra-structure is important to the public well being but it takes economic sense to prioritize the projects for the best public benefit.
Efficient yes, but not in the way a private business is. Businesses set up rules that put them first their owners second, and the buying public last. To a large extent, this is order to run an efficient, money making operation, and they should do this. It does not mean a business cannot be responsive to their customers. The government must put the customer, citizens, first. This implies that efficiency is not the #1 item on their list. Citizen well-being is and should be #1 for govies.
If for profit, private enterprise was more efficient then non profit governments, , especially in collecting tax dollars when the price of gas was low then using that money to rebuild infrastructure, it would have been done long ago. Your gas tax dollar when managed for infrastructure, plowing, sanding or just filling potholes is so much more efficiently used for the benefit of more people by non profits local and state govts then a for profit which has to divert huge sums, just to pay dividends, it isn’t close. No, efficiency is not the goal of most for profits…the goal is profit.
Profit motivation breeds inefficiency in delivery of services and goods to everyone equally much more so then stressing service wo profit when they have to deliver services to non payers.
Efficiency and not profit is the goal of govt. when it has to serve the needs of everyone equally, even non payers,
Actually, private enterprise is in charge of collecting gasoline taxes in the form of sales taxes. They just turn it over the the government they collect for.
And to think that the Interstate System was built with a 4 cents/gallon tax during the Eisenhower era! The contractors who built the system were pretty efficient, I would say.
Just don’t let the government do the building!
I got involved in local government some years ago and with zero exceptions, every official seemed to think that government should be a money making enterprise.
It did not matter if expenses were covered and the reserve fund was stuffed. The mantra from every one of those officials was “we need the revenue…”.
No matter the project, common sense and being frugal with tax dollars are non-issues.
There’s a constant parade of consultants, engineers, and contractors lined up to fleece the city, or the state, or the Feds. A “Change Order” is a regular on the menu…
@Docnick
Other then a very few exceptions, do we actually think the govt. makes anything ? 
I guarantee one thing. The highways were built by private contractors who charged a lot less per unit length then they would have you or I paving our driveway. But, isn’t that the whole idea ? Using funds efficiently to create jobs. Eisenhower; IMho, one of our greatest presidents. Great too because he like the Imperial with a Hemi.
@dagosa welcome to the world of outsourcing that is more expensive. Local governments used to trade equipment, loan machines to allow local and county governments to do road repairs at less than a contractor price. Walker and the repubs in WI have decreed any job over 100k estimated cost must now be bid to private contractors. It does not provide a savings. As a side note Milwaukee passed an ordinance or whatever requiring sick pay compensation, the state overturned it, and have made recent inferences that the minimum wage should be eliminated. Tie in the lack of ability to collect damages for discrimination, busting of collective bargaining, tax cuts for the rich, refusal of funds to expand medicaid, green energy or high speed rail, let me know if you see a pattern.
“And to think that the Interstate System was built with a 4 cents/gallon tax during the Eisenhower era! The contractors who built the system were pretty efficient, I would say.”
I really hope you realize that inflation has taken place–with a multiplier effect–ever since those days. If we take…let’s say…1958 as a year when Interstate construction was going hot & heavy, there is a massive difference between the 4 cents of that era and today.
$1.00 in 1958 had the same buying power as $8.21 in 2014.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.83%.
Regarding recent times, here is your fun fact for today:
In 2007, the inflation rate was 4.08%.
This was higher than any year since 1990.
In 2008, the inflation rate was 0.09%, the lowest rate since 1954.
While inflation is now higher than it was in 2008, it still pales by comparison with what took place in the economy between the late '50s and today.
Ahem, we don’t use public funds to create jobs, we use the funds to meet common public needs. The jobs will be a by product. Contrary to what some famous folks think, government does not create jobs (outside of government employees), corporations and businesses do.
I thought Ike liked Caddys? Didn’t know he was an Imperial fan.
You might google brownback effect, @bing and understand the concept that taxes and payouts to people improve the economy, then see what cutting taxes to benifit the rich has to do with a major fail, yet it is the agenda, and I benifit but laugh on one hand and cry on the other.
Yes, but the reason for that low inflation rate was high inployment and limited consumer buying power. It was not a good thing .
Speaking of trucks. Who would have thunk that the biggest selling truck in America towed it’s maximum pay load with a 3.5 L six. We though at one time that only big motors could haul.
@VDCDriver I’m fully aware of inflation since the 50s, something like 500%. However, the system got built without any bellyaching by drivers or taxpayers. Now the system is in need for much need refurbishing of bridges, etc, and everyone says there is no money.
@dagosa In the US there are not a lot of government companies that actually make anything; the US Mint comes to mind and it has a monopoly.
In other countries we have Renault which used to be French government owned, BMC in Britain, which no one could run efficiently, various aircraft manufacturers around the globe, some of them quite competitive.
In Canada, the Mint is an independently operating company that prints money for many small countries and also strikes their coins. They custom make medals and commemorative coins for many events and organizations. Their prices are very competitive and they make a profit most years. This is one of the few competitive government manufacturers that knows its stuff.
The Chemical industry in many countries is government owned, and operates with varying degrees of success. The ones that do often use foreign expertise to get those efficiencies.
jtsanders Government tends to forget they work for us until it’s time for re-elections. One of our 2 Senators who was “invisible” doing nothing for 6 years suddenly re-appeared at election time. The low information idiots re-elected him! He should run for POTUS!
Barkydog You have an excellent comprehension regarding replacing civil service with contractors which are the lowest bidders with employees who are paid lower than prevailing wage with no additional benefits. I am now retired with 30 years Army Aviation National Guard with concurrent 20 years Federal civilian employee working for the National Guard. In the mid 2000s the Federal government had a great idea that they could replace military and federal civilian employees with civilian contractors saving a ton of money. Military aircraft maintenance and repair is held to a much higher standard than civilian. It is necessary as military aircraft may need to be pushed to or possibly beyond their design limits in combat situations. Just one simple example. Military aircraft fuel trucks and tanks are tested daily for water and other contamination which could cause an engine failure. Civilian (Federal Aviation Administration FAA) requires this test every 30 days. This is your airliner fuel. Our civilian contractor bridge inspector could have acquired a degree in something last week compared to a civil service employee who has a 30 year old structural engineering degree and has been practicing it for the entire 30 years!
VDCdriver I now see where the normal inflation of 3.8% comes from. Have they been to a grocery store lately. Many items are at 100% inflation! Please explain this.
@sgtrock21
. I am with you.
Efficiency has to be measured over time.
There is a comparison to be made between govt funded and regulated public infrastructure projects and those construction jobs done by the same companies but funded Privately. . We see it on our road association when we use govt. Matching govt. funds… The final projects lasts much longer then those left to the discretion of private contractors with out govt. oversite. We who do work on our roads on our end are all DEP certified and can work with and tell private contractors how we want jobs done while the other association on the other end of the roads do not. Our jobs cost more initially of course, but Over the years, these cheap jobs have had needed replacement over and over while ours have upwards of twenty year life expectancies and longer.
We use “best practices” by requirement and over time, we save thousands of dollars. Sorry…as far as roads are concerned, give me govts. accountability ever time over leaving road projects to "for profit " decision making. If you want your road tax dollar to be spent efficiently, it will be better done this way… I felt that way when I was in the military, I feel that way now. There is a proclivity amoung private contractors when left to their own discretion in planning projects. They often do it in a way to maintain their own job security by returning next year to do the same job they screwed up this. Is that our definition of spending road tax dollars efficiently ? .I think not.