Have you ever actually worked with a Fortune 500 company? I’m assuming not or you’d know “inefficient allocation of resources” isn’t a government issue, it’s a large organization issue that’s as bad if not worse in the private sector.

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wskinner 8 months ago | parent [-]

There is a natural garbage collection mechanism for corporations that become too inefficient. Inefficient government agencies can last much longer.

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linksnapzz 8 months ago | parent | next [-]

There was; now we have bailouts. "Too big to fail".

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FredPret 8 months ago | parent | next [-]

While true, you overstate the problem. Look up the companies in the S&P 500 today, 10 years ago, 20, 30, 50. There are dramatic changes with only a handful of long term survivors.

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Retric 8 months ago | parent | next [-]

That overstates the difference as mergers hardly destroy the old companies in their entirety.

Instead it’s the same kind of shakeups you regularly see in government agencies. Picking one small example, HERSA is a merger of the Health Services Administration (1973–1982) and Health Resources Administration (1973–1982). However currently one of its major functions is managing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program that showed up in 1990.

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Robotbeat 8 months ago | parent | next [-]

There is a LOT more personnel churn in private sector than federal government.

	▲	Retric 8 months ago \| parent [-]
		That really depends on what you mean by churn. Lower levels of government are less stable than major corporations. Walmart stores don’t regularly all randomly shut down for a few weeks due to someone being unable to decide on a budget etc. I’ll grant you it’s really different kinds of instability though.

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FredPret 8 months ago | parent | prev [-]

A merger frequently involves major shakeups in both the acquirer and the acquired. You don’t have to, and shouldn’t destroy the old companies. You just want their resources redirected to more efficient uses every so often.

	▲	8 months ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

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8 months ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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lenkite 8 months ago | parent | prev [-]

Yea, the "too big to fail" principle needs to just go. Corporations should be prevented from becoming so big in the first place. There must be a limit on the revenue generation - once you cross a number, you should be broken up.

Humongous companies just become national-level power brokers adversely affecting both the government and the free market.

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chewbacha 8 months ago | parent | prev [-]

Monopolies have a bone to pick with you. They aren’t generally garbage collected as their wealth becomes self-perpetuating even in the face of inefficiencies as they can continue to raise prices and push others out.

This was true during the gilded age and it’s become true again. It took systematic regulations, unions, welfare, and the Sherman antitrust act.

If it wasn’t for a democratic government the oligarchs would still have been in control. They are corrupting the current institutions thought the DOGE coup. You see this in the self dealing of the billionaires such as Musks contracts as well as the tariff exemption grift.

So please don’t flaunt a free market as a natural solution to inefficient systems, not even Adam Smith believed that.