Government doing business

Sure -- let the Government run our health care program. They are our elites and know how it should be run. Here is one example of a County government failing miserably at running a ferry service. From Washington Policy Blog

King County's takeover of West Seattle Ferry has failed
King County officials have had a rough first year since they took over the West Seattle Ferry from a private operator; ridership is down 40 percent, costs have tripled, and they crashed the boat.

Now, despite Argosy operating the West Seattle Ferry with their own crew and their own boat, King County's union crew is still being paid. In fact, in a new investigative report, KIRO 7 caught a few of them riding Argosy�s boat back and forth and doing nothing more than collecting fares.

Mike Ennis is transportation director for the Washington Policy Center, a public policy think-tank. He says given the county�s budget crunch, it�s long past time to stop propping up unnecessary union jobs. Ennis told Halsne, �This is a charade to taxpayers. They're essentially having to pay double. Having to pay for the union contracts and pay Argosy to manage the route when the county is unable to do so. Who is the county working for? Are they working for the taxpayers? Is this a ferry service trying to move people for the least cost or is this a jobs program for the union?�

Using Argosy is ironic because before King County took over Argosy Cruises operated the West Seattle Ferry for more than a dozen years (since 1997) and never had an accident.

In April, we released a study that showed King County's takeover of the West Seattle Ferry tripled costs to taxpayers. In fact, King County's labor costs alone are higher than the entire annual operating budget of the Argosy model.

During my research King County officials within the Maritime Division told me they terminated the route from Argosy Cruises simply because policymakers wanted "professional mariners." This means King County Executive Dow Constantine and the Council wanted a union crew to operate the West Seattle Ferry.

Another perfect example of Government and Labor Union collusion to benefit each other but to screw over the customer. It never fails...