ACP45 Loc: Rhode Island

And you want the government to run Health Care????????


Authored by John Stossel via Townhall.com

Did you see the $2 million dollar bathroom? That's what New York City government spent to build a "comfort station" in a park.

I went to look at it.

There were no gold-plated fixtures. It's just a little building with four toilets and four sinks.

I asked park users, "What do you think that new bathroom cost?"

A few said $70,000. One said $100,000. One said, "I could build it for $10,000."

They were shocked when I told them what the city spent.

No park bathroom needs to cost $2 million. An entire six-bedroom house nearby was for sale for $539,000.

Everything costs more when government builds it.

"Government always pays above-average prices for below-average work," says my friend who makes a living privatizing government activities.

--Obamacare's website was supposed to cost $464 million. It cost $834 million and still crashed.

--Washington, D.C.'s Visitor Center rose in cost from $265 million to $621 million.

--The Veterans Affairs medical center being built near Denver was projected to cost $590 million. Now they estimate $1.7 billion.
Government spends more because every decision is tied up in endless rules. Rigid specs. Affirmative action. Minority outreach. Wheelchair access. "The process is designed to prevent any human from using judgment, or adapting to unforeseen circumstances," says Philip Howard of the government reform group Common Good, adding, "The idea of a commercial relationship, based on norms of reasonableness and reciprocity, is anathema."

But New York City's bureaucrats are unapologetic about their $2 million toilet. The Parks Department even put out a statement saying, "Our current estimate to build a new comfort station with minimal site work is $3 million."

"$3 million?!" I said to New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, incredulously.

"New York City is the most expensive place to build," he replied. As a result, "$2 million was a good deal."

I pointed out that entire homes sell for less. He said, "We built these comfort stations to last. ... (L)ook at the material we use compared to that of a home. These are very, very durable materials."

They have to be, he says, because the bathroom gets so much use. "We're going to expect thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of visitors. ... So we have to build it to last."

Yet not far away, Bryant Park has a bathroom that gets much more use. That bathroom cost just $300,000. Why the difference?

Bryant Park is privately managed.

New York politicians also order contractors to pay "prevailing" wages. That usually means union wages, and that adds 13-25 percent to all bills.

When I asked Commissioner Silver about that, he said, "This is a city that does believe strongly in labor."

New York Democrats act as if "labor" means union labor. It's an insult to laborers. Most don't belong to unions. Unions, however, fund Democrats' campaigns.

Since government spends other people's money, they don't care that much about cost and they certainly don't care much about speed. Many Parks Department projects are years behind schedule.

Commissioner Silver says he's made improvements. "We've now saved five months out of what used to be four years."

"That's still terrible!" I said.

"We believe strongly in engaging the public," he replied. "We have a process that includes design, procurement and construction."

But so does the private sector, which gets the job done faster.

Silver added: "[Privately managed] Bryant Park did a renovation. ... (W)e do it from the ground up!"

But no one forced the city to build from the ground up. Anyway, renovation can cost as much as new construction. Governments just spend more.

Sometimes, people get so fed up that they take matters into their own hands.

Toronto's government estimated that a tiny staircase for a park would cost $65,000-$150,000.

So a local citizen installed a staircase himself.

Cost? $550.

Did the bureaucrats thank him? No. They say they will tear his staircase down. Can't have private citizens doing things for themselves.

Because private builders save so much money on staircases and bathrooms, imagine what we could save if government turned construction of government housing, airports and roads over to the private sector.

Big dog

Private building is less expensive because politicians don't get all the bribes and kick backs. It's that simple.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

And government run healthcare is supposed to be cheaper?

flagit001

Now you are getting to the root of the problem all those career politicians who have just
had government salaries are millionaires multi like Hairless Reid Nancy I want to kill baby's pellose, the list goes on and on, these people didn't have a pot too piss in and now they are filthy rich telling all of us we need to give our money to the poor guy who doesn't want too work???

cold iron Loc: White House

One must remember, they the government people that ordered the bathroom are not the paying ones. They care not what it cost. This is why your dollar is next to worthless in buying power.
In 1913 our dollar was worth $1.13, then the government created the FED, today the dollar is worth $0.02 in buying power. proof, in 1913 one ounce of gold cost $20.00, today that same ounce
cost $1500.00 more or less. To make matters worst, the bathroom action is what feed's inflation.
APC45, you are right, government run healthcare will break America. For folks living near the south boarder can go to Mexico for pay your way healthcare, it cheap and good. Drugs are next to free as well. I lived
in Mexico on a sail boat for years. Only down side was everytime i moved to a new port I had to go to the government immigration office and show them my visa, passport and clearance papers from the last port. And it was never near the port, I did a lot of walking. I see American's live in a bubble, most know little of the world.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

I wonder, in typical liberal fashion if someone says the bathroom isn't nice enough if they'll just throw more money at it?

badbob85037

I'm a plumber and have remodeled homes on a military base. The way the government builds everything is over kill the copper piping has to be a grade higher than any where else. As the copper we ripped out to replace that would have lasted at least another 75 years. It's more criminal corruption than government and the only place there is more of it than New York is Chicago. From there just list the rest of these cities in ruin ran by democrats and full of stupid people that elect them over and over again who give genocide a good name. Those lavies and toilets could have been gold and not cost that much. Being a park it already had sewer and water lines ran through it. I could do the job for 10 thousand making 8500 profit and the guy who told it was of higher quality needs to be the first one jailed.

Here the garbage men gets a $50 reward for turning in someone for building without a permit. The code book is the same size as a paperback book only it cost over $100 and I don't care if you pick up dog shit you better have a professional journeyman dog shit card that will also cost you. And if somebody tells you shit flows down hill call them a liar. Most are to stupid to know up from down and some can't even tell you that.

Big dog

You got that right