Comments on: What Fresh Hell Is This?

By: VMS

VMS — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:53:29 +0000

Well, they obviously shut you down in the busiest season because that’s the time for the most potential for harm. Lots of customers mean a higher probability of contact with the plague. Of course, it is the time of most actual harm to your business and the camper’s enjoyment of the great outdoors.

That said, these gummint employees should all be fired. Posting meaningful warnings coupled with safety tips seems more than adequate. Camping always entails some risk, and the consumer should decide if (s)he wants to take that reasonable risk, not the gummint. [On the other hand, the government has good reason to ban people from going over Niagra Falls in a barrel.]

I routinely hike in areas that are posted for rabid skunks (never saw one), but if I ever encountered one, I would know what to do. Also, I hike in bear country, snake country, areas with rocky steep inclines (gee I could slip and fall and hurt myself), areas with poisonous mushrooms (wouldn’t dare eat a wild mushroom even if I were sure it were not poisonous), areas with water containing Giardia lamblia and other microbial niceties, etc.

The gummint should shut down ALL recreational activities in the interest of the health and safety of the ignorant participants. For that matter, driving a car could be hazardous to one’s health! Hey, shut down the whole economy!

By: markm

markm — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:12:58 +0000

There actually is a working model for privatizing such things as health inspections and building code inspections. If you are producing electrical equipment in the USA, you go to a private company for safety certifications: Underwriters Laboratory (UL), or a few lesser-known competitors. UL can be pretty tough about making sure the design and production are right, but they aren’t unreasonable; if they were, much of their business would shift to a competitor. OTOH, UL and all the others know that their business depends on their reputation, so they won’t pass anything that is likely to malfunction and kill anyone or burn the building down. You might be able to bribe a county building inspector; don’t even try it with UL.

By: Rapid

Rapid — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:26:41 +0000

Ah good old, bacterium Yersenia pestis bringer of much change to Europe – on could argue it was the rats but no matter. Considering how few cases of plague there are in the USA (10-20) and the low mortality, this is beyond ignorance in terms of a reaction. Further, fleas are equal opportunity so unless you kill all the furry hosts, knocking out a few ground squirrels will not prevent the future spread.

By: Ron H.

Ron H. — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:44:56 +0000

NormD,

A third solution would be to eliminate the health department entirely. It only exists because of a ridiculous notion that business owners are too stupid to look out for their own interests.

No business wants their customers to be harmed or made sick, especially in these days of almost instant, universal communication. Any rumor of harm to customers can quickly send them elsewhere; an almost certain death sentence for the business.

I have to believe that business owners and operators would take excellent care of their own interests if the health department wasn’t handling that responsibility for them.

By: Mesa Econoguy

Mesa Econoguy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:34:33 +0000

Me too.

Can’t wait for those new & improved! regs…..

By: Methinks

Methinks — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:18:41 +0000

I run an over-regulated business as well. My regulator wants to kill its prisoners as well. Of course, if they do, then they will no longer be needed themselves – although, they’re too stupid to realize this.

By: David

David — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:59:40 +0000

The answer to your question is simple. Repeal the various civil service acts and return to the spoils system. Make everyone employed by the government fire at will—as in, really fire at will, for no other reason than because the firing authority says so. Then you’ll at least have accountability in the executive. An entrenched bureaucracy is unbeatable with the current rules in the long term. If you want to win, you have to change the rules.

By: caseyboy

caseyboy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:53:47 +0000

As if we needed another example of government incompetence or government officials grandstanding. Yet we continue to vote the same people in to office year after year. Governments, local, state or federal need a good douche.

By: NormD

NormD — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:41:06 +0000

This raises an serious problem for which I have not seen a “conservative” solution: When government is cut back, its employees can punish their customers in order to restore their funding.

I have worked in high tech for my entire career. Sometimes business is good, sometimes bad. When its bad, we have to cut back, get more efficient, rearrange things, perhaps lose some people or functions. Everyone understands this. In the extremely rare situations where a worker decided to punish the company for the downturn, they were fired in a heartbeat. What I tended to see was that people increased their effort to help the company make it through the downturn.

It seems as though the punish the customer attitude is pervasive in government employees. The last thing they want to do is become more efficient since this would show that they were over-funded in the first place.

How does one fix this? We can cut a government department’s funding. If that department then decides to retaliate we can do nothing except live with their behavior unless the department’s management decides to stop the behavior and I am guessing they won’t. In a private company when employees punish the company they cause it to lose ground to their competitors.

I can only see two solutions: Replace management (is this practical?)
Privatize the function (can we privatize heath inspections?)

If we cannot solve this problem then the government departments will create enough pain so that they will eventually win.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:48:29 +0000

I didn’t think coyote was in the business of providing private rodent recreation.