Drivers in Chicago are being ticketed for parking in front of inoperable parking meters, and some of the ones that are working have quadrupled their rates since Chicago Parking Meters LLC took over. The conclusion I hear? Privatization is bad. I agree. IF privatization simply means blindly handing over any governmental job to a non-governmental entity. This alone ignores the major benefits of privatization, which are competition and incentive-driven accountability. Neither are happening in this case. If Chicago Parking Meters LLC sucks, fire them and hire someone else. They obviously are either incompetent or have no incentive to do a good job. Unlike the privatization of highways, where the company tolls people for usage, and maintains the road to encourage use/tolls, this situation has no similar incentive. They're not in charge of the roadways. And honestly, I'm sure they weren't in charge of the rate hike either. They're simply in charge of meter maintenance. And if they suck, fire them.

Do you think you should pay the same amount of insurance on your land-locked home as someone who lives on the Ocean? With the much riskier premise of floods for the home with the more scenic view, this would be ridiculous, right? And yet, intrinsically, we don't like the idea of having someone with a riskier premise for sickness having to pay more for health insurance than us? Is it because that for many of these conditions, the party has no control over them? By the way, just to throw another wrench in the argument, the Fed DOES subsidize flood insurance for coastal owners.