More value from state workers
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I DISAGREE with your June 28 Short Fuse editorial “Privatization: Just baby steps.’’ You seem to assume that privatization saves the state money. This is usually not the case. The reason is simple: Private companies make a profit; the state does not. State employees can often do the work as well as or better than private employees, and any profit would remain in the state treasury, rather than line the pockets of some politically well-connected company executives.
Another assumption that you appear to make is that public agencies are inherently less efficient than private companies. This is not the case. In my 20 years as an employee of the state, I can tell you that most of my co-workers were hard-working and did a good job.
Management, however, is another story. There are some good managers, some who are useless, and some who are worse than useless. I think the same is true in private companies. The big difference is that the managers in private companies are paid a lot more, and they are often not worth it.
Augustin H. Parker
Marblehead
