[1] "Instead of huge Integrated Waste Management Boards consuming hundred of
jobs and millions of dollars, why can't we simply have a set of taxes such
as Landfill taxes (as in Arkansas), virgin material taxes, advance desposal
fees, and incentives such as reuse credits?"
PETER ANDERSON REPLIES: Beware jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
What you say sounds nice in theory. In reality, those kinds of laws go
through congressional and state house tax writing committees. These are (i)
the entities most overwhelming corrupted by millions of dollars of campaign
contributions by special business interests and (ii) legislative language
crafting taxes are by def
inition convoluted and beyond public understanding. The probable result is
to leap into a system where you will have ZERO influence and ZERO ability to
rally the troops to fight back.
STEVE SUESS WRITES:
[2] " I am a supporter of government owning ALL landfills because afterall
the obligation to monitor and safeguard a landfill will go on long after
most businesses cease to exist....so eventually it will fall to the
government anyway!"
PETER ANDERSON REPLIES: Excellent point. What you describe is a prime
example of 'lemon socialism.' Private entities take the profit before the
piper must be paid and then hand the ball off to government to take it when
there are no more revenues and just mamouth expenditures.
STEVE SUESS WRITES:
[3] "I am a supporter of government owning ALL landfills because afterall
the obligation to monitor and safeguard a landfill will go on long after most
businesses cease to exist"
PETER ANDERSON REPLIES: Just as in the 1930's when TVA set a bench mark for
private power pricing, it may well be important to have a balance between
public and private hauling, especially in the waste industry. Remember that
NYC planned to reap enormous savings when it privatized commerical carting
in 1957. As we all know, it didn't exactly work out the way economic
theorists planned.
As an economist myself, I can say that the profession is a bane to
civilization when it is blithely blinded by sweet theory and ignores sloppy
and uncomfortable reality.
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