manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (02/25/87)
1) Henry Spencer remarks that "greed" results in private institutions being more efficient, and cites the example of Federal Express vs Canada Post. This is an unfair example: Canada Post is an example of an organisation with incompetent management and no long-term commitment to remaining in business. It's very easy to find similar examples in the private sector: the Long Island Railroad is a very good one. If you want to relate greed and efficiency, consider public vs profit operation of hospitals. In the US, private-sector hospitals have been known to shunt "charity" patients to public hospitals, because they weren't as profitable (i.e., Medicare doesn't pay for as many useless tests as private insurance plans). In reality, neither greed nor altruism is a guaranteed way of running an effective institution. Instead, you need clear terms of reference, and a management which is committed to getting the job done. CBC Radio, Federal Express, and Vancouver City Savings Credit Union are three examples (public-sector, private-sector, and cooperative, respectively). 2) Jamie Andrews cites Via as an example of a good public sector corporation. I beg to differ (whereas deviant panhandlers differ to beg): I haven't travelloed via Via in about 10 years, but, in my extensive experience with both the old CN Rail and Via, neither was very responsive: I've been becalmed in a number of obscure towns (I know the town of Capreol by heart, having been stuck there twice!), and once my train never left Union Station in Toronto, because of a strike. There's nothing like being stuck in a motionless passenger car on a hot day, with the air conditioning busted, to make you consider Greyhound a reasonable alternative. Compare that with Amtrak, whose on-time service has been getting better and better (especially in the NE corridor). Amtrak's performance was so good that the Reaganites tried to hamstring it, for ideological reasons. Their budget proposal on the subject was torpedoed by Congress. The reason for the difference between the two? Via has been hamstrung by the government: it pays enormous costs to CN and CP for track usage, yet the railroads pay no penalties if they cause a Via train to be late. Because the corporation was never established properly (like metric, it was done by Order In Council), it cannot formulate a coherent business plan, as many of its day to day operations are subject to political interference. Both the Liberals and the Tories have promised to do something about it, but neither has.
imprint@watmath.UUCP (02/26/87)
Re: Greed vs. Altruism Now if you were in the hospital and the doctor was about to open you up for repairs would you rather the doctor be motivated by: a: Greed b: Altruism Now if you were going to the polling station to vote for a leader, would rather vote for the leader motivated by: a: Greed b: Altruism So we come to the final point, beyond being one of the seven deadly sins, what is greed good for anyway? Doug Thompson these opinions are not necessarily those of my employer -------------------------------Imprint-------------------------------- | CSNet: imprint@math.waterloo.edu Campus Centre Rm. 140 | | uucp: {ihnp4,decvax,allegra,utzoo} University of Waterloo | | !watmath!imprint Waterloo, Ontario | | CDNnet: imprint@math.waterloo.cdn N2L 3G1 | | arpa: imprint%math.waterloo.edu@ (519) 885-1211 x 2332 | | csnet-relay.arpa (519) 888-4048 | ------------------------University of Waterloo------------------------ Imprint is the student newspaper of the University of Waterloo.
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (02/26/87)
> Now if you were in the hospital and the doctor was about to > open you up for repairs would you rather the doctor be > motivated by: > > a: Greed > b: Altruism If what he really wants to do is benefit mankind by doing cancer research, and he's stuck making petty repairs to one lousy body after another while he waits for a job opening in the research wing, look out. I'd rather have a doctor who did a workmanlike job because I was paying him well and he wanted me for a repeat customer. Note that I didn't say greed was better than altruism, I said it was more reliable. > Now if you were going to the polling station to vote for a > leader, would rather vote for the leader motivated by: > > a: Greed > b: Altruism I'd be tempted to vote for (a). Altruists in positions of power scare me, because they'll betray their best friend if somebody convinces them that it's for the good of humanity. > So we come to the final point, beyond being one of the seven > deadly sins, what is greed good for anyway? Motivating people to undertake insignificant and unimportant tasks like building and maintaining civilizations. Or important jobs like cleaning floors and hauling away the trash. -- Legalize Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology freedom! {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry