Saturday 4 October 2008

Paying ourselves compensation

The inquest into the shooting of the Brazilian electrician reminds me that any compensation that may eventually be paid, nominally be the police, will actually not be paid by the police at all, but by we unfortunate tax payers. That is generally the case when a public enterprise lets us down. I often wonder how we might target the penalty more justly.

Perhaps policing could be put out to tender, with different security firms stating the level of service they would provide and the charges they would make, and the electorate then voting to decide which tender to accept. The danger then would be that dishonest groups would promise what they could not deliver. Trusting the choice to civil servants would risk perpetuating the present system.

If tendering is too radical, one might at least impose a financial penalty on senior administrators in organisations that incurs a penalty, restricted perhaps to that part of their salaries that exceeds the pay of a member of Parliament.

It seems yet another reason for restricting government activity to the bare minimum.

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