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[Michael Winslow Czeiszperger <michael AT czeiszperger.org>]

On Wednesday, June 4, 2003, at 09:27  AM, Gina Norman wrote:
> At first I thought you might be being sarcastic, but upon further  
> reflection, I think you actually mean this... and I gotta say this  
> sounds like a fabulously bad idea, unless, of course, you want  
> Wal-Mart (or Time-Warner Cable or [insert your favorite monopoly here  
> that has little-to-no guidelines about how it has to service  
> customers] in charge of your safety.)

Maybe you need to reflect a little more :-)

But why stop there? Why pay to have a military that sits around most of  
the time? The military is a monopoly just like the police. If  
outsourcing all of the design, operations, and manufacturing duties is  
good for NASA, why wouldn't it be a good way to go for the military?  
Instead of having to pay for soldiers to sit on their butts most of the  
time, you can just hire 'em when you need 'em. It would have to be  
drastically cheaper since especially if took advantage of cheap  
offshore labor.

The National Center for Policy Analysis says that large private firms  
achieve 20 to 30% savings when outsourcing, so the military should be  
able to save $10 billion annually.

http://www.ncpa.org/pd/private/privd6.html

I don't think such companies would have any trouble attracting  
employees, especially with a benefits package that meets the, um,  
special needs of men stationed away from home:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/06/26/bosnia/


________________________________________________________________________ 
_________
No one really knows how to play the drums. There's nothing to know. You  
just hit
them with sticks. If you miss, just sit closer. -- Pratchett
        -- michael at czeiszperger dot org, Chapel Hill, NC