said by moonpuppy :

And most of those are allowed to fail. If the government department fails, they get more money.

said by NetAdmin :

That's one that describes a lot of companies in the private sector too.

said by SHABAZZ :

About time. Hopefully we can take back market share from Asia.

said by moonpuppy :

inefficient

said by satellite68 :

So, you are, independently, at your expense:

-picking up your own garbage and disposing of it properly
-plowing/salting your own streets - all of them that you use on a regular basis
-assessing your property for market value
-policing your city for crime
-ensuring your neighbors don't open a chicken coop, meth lab, community open toilet, prostitution ring, heavy metal concert venue, etc. next to your property
-etc.

said by satellite68 :

Having worked for a municipal government for years, I can say with authority the private citizen, whom we serve, is either very grateful for the services their taxes provide, or as illustrated above, ridiculously living in some kind of bizarro world of make believe that just doesn't understand what it takes to keep civilized society civilized. I'd love to see individuals like moonpuppy start collecting their own trash, policing their streets, etc. - and paying for it out of their own pockets. He'd soon realize what a pittance we pay in taxes in this country (compared to say, Sweden or Canada)

said by satellite68 :

In essence, they do pay with their taxes - however, the strength and power of government is that they can do all of those things at a deeply discounted rate, as opposed to an individual trying to do it alone.

said by satellite68 :

And to echo majormarco, those who usually gripe the loudest about "big government" are usually the ones who turn a blind eye to the protections he listed above, not to mention the fact that they voted the Bush admin in twice, who are overseeing the biggest government spending spree we've ever seen. Want smaller government? Maybe you should have thought twice before voting the "fiscal conservatives" in for two bloody terms.

said by satellite68 :

If Obama is 10% better than Bush as a president, he'll go down in history as being a savior.

said by moonpuppy :

The private sector produces products and services. The public service does not produce any products and the services are, by and large, inefficient.

said by bender :

im so lost as to how this is bad. whats the difference between the private and public sector? besides the fact that the government has to answer to the people and business answers only to the stock holders.

said by TKJunkMail :

Watch out for turf wars:
»news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-10092···1_3-0-20

said by Quake110 :

I fail to see why some people are afraid of big government.

said by jester121 :

Or grow government even bigger.

said by SHABAZZ :

About time. Hopefully we can take back market share from Asia.

The Obama administration's CTO job could be one of those bureaucratic positions that ends up consumed by turf wars rather than making real progress against initiatives. CNET News' Stephanie Condon noted the overlaps, which could turn into conflicts, between a White House CTO and CTOs working in various agencies:

The jurisdiction of a CTO could overlap with other agencies or executive positions in areas such as innovation policy, cybersecurity, or intellectual property enforcement. To avoid those overlaps, the Obama team will have to decide, for instance, whether the CTO would focus on goals like making agencies more efficient or take on a broader agenda such as dictating policy.

The technology to accomplish his long list of goals exists, but the funding, expertise, focus and political will is lacking in many areas. Transforming the U.S. government technology infrastructure from a plodding battleship (outside of the NSA and a few other high-tech agencies) into a speedy, adaptable ship built for the Internet age isn't going to be solved in the Obama era.