tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8831741882077822891.post3479296960189708242..comments2023-07-12T22:34:35.794-07:00Comments on Simon King's Blog: Business fundamentalists Simon Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546918914904499503noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8831741882077822891.post-57770540038710596012015-07-22T15:07:34.595-07:002015-07-22T15:07:34.595-07:00If I have understood you correctly, I take pride i...If I have understood you correctly, I take pride in being called 'a conservative left winger.' There are elements of classical conservatism that I like - especially socially - whilst I generally espouse progressive/lefty causes. If on the other hand, you mean that I am an old fashioned lefty who doesn't go for a more modern variety of leftism, that doesn't bother me either. I identify with Old Labour. I have never heard the term 'conservative leftism' before - I like the ring of it, though. I goggled it, but found nothing.<br /><br />I wouldn't necessarily say that <i>all</i> public services must be publicly funded and that anything privately funded is a travesty. That would seem needlessly dogmatic. I think that business strategies shouldn't <i>interfere</i> with the delivery of public services (or, at least, what traditionally would be considered public services). Hence, they get marketised. That's a seriously depressing tendency I find in this country. (In my 'other' country, Chile, where this kind of market fervour was first exported to, it's only worse). In education, wherever the funding comes from, I don't think that you should be 'selling' ideas to students. I don't think that schools should compete with one another to be better. The same would go for health care - I don't think that those kind of strategies should be used when your life might well be at stake. Nor do I think that competition in this sector is desirable. So, regardless of public or private ownership, I think that it's good to retain socialistic principles when delivering what would traditionally be called public services: education, health care and public utilities. Simon Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546918914904499503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8831741882077822891.post-942138971160577832015-07-18T05:02:43.487-07:002015-07-18T05:02:43.487-07:00I think you're a good example of a conservativ...I think you're a good example of a conservative left winger. You take for granted the traditional lines between economy and state, even though they are historically shallow and parochial, and you justify your hatred of the pro market people by saying that they are crossing sacred lines between, say, education and "the economy." The economy obviously includes education since ever pencil sharpener must be paid for with real money, so this is not a natural dichotomy. I think there are certain arguments for keeping certain institution "pure" from unseemly market influence in certain regards, but they shouldn't be kept pure for the sake of a budgetary tradition. My own view is that our institutions should be run <i>competently</i>, and there's as much a threat from inflated and mediocre government bureaucracies as there is from cynical and corrupt investors. Both are incompetent, and both steal from the public weal.Liamnoreply@blogger.com