More Thoughts on Privatization

Passing the buck: Remember Ma Bell? You needed a phone, you knew who to call. You had a problem on the line, you knew who to call. You had a problem making a long distance call, you knew who to call. But privatization led to a fragmented telecom infrastructure, rising costs, and bad service. Rather than creating an environment of healthy competition where companies would be forced to offer better prices and service, we got annoying telemarketers trying to get us to switch long distance carriers, plus endless finger-pointing whenever there was a problem. The local carrier blamed the long distance carrier. The long distance carrier blamed the ISP. The ISP blamed the local carrier. "That's not our part of the line," they said blythely before putting you on hold for the umpteenth time.

Faithful followers of Reaganomics would have you believe that competition is always good. Our own Bibi, who probably has autographed photos of Thatcher and Reagan in his office, did much to privatize the phone system here. Ergo my sad experiences of the past few weeks.

So here's a question: Do you think that there are certain fundamental services that should never be privatized, and if so, which services?

All that glitters: Northern LS sends me this invite to a gallery/coffee shop in Bat Shlomo. Local jeweler Devora Evgi uses a mixture of materials in her Five Elements Collection (Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Spirit). "The Five Elements Collection was mostly designed while I was sitting alone in a Moshav Avivim bomb shelter during the last war. When Life throws you lemons, make lemon vodka, pucker up, and kiss Life back!" says Evgi. She must have been truly inspired, because each piece is a work of art.


False advertising: Fellow norther blogger Bracha sends me this great shot of some Syrian soldiers. All I can say is that those are really ugly broads.


BTW, check out Bracha's journal from her recent trip to Petra.