The Government and Non-Profits

[Mao]

It appears that over the past few years there's been a "revolution" of sorts in which the government is more and more relinquishing its responsibility for social services to non-profit agencies. What are some of the advantages of this change? Some drawbacks?

I mean, the issue seems to not be discussed much, but since there's so much argument about social services on this board, I wonder what people actually think.

I always thought that social services should be the realm of the government, since they're steady/reliable/etc. but that just might be my own personal bias. What do others think?

Oh, and this question refers specifically to the US, I'm frankly not sure what's going on with NPOs in other countries...

[DRoseDARs]

This "outsourcing" and "privatization" of social services runs contrary to the vary notion of having a government, at least one based on mutual contract (fear-based governments are a whole other beast). We reliquish some of our natural rights to a government who in turn operates to protect us from dangers and harm. They enforce laws, standardize policies, and work to ensure general societal harmony (re:avoid social upheavals/mass rioting). Social services are a big part of that last part. Without Welfare and Social Security, millions of US citizens would be in far worse conditions, and in any society having so many in such poor conditions tends to be a major distablizing influence. Hell, as it is there's tension between the wealth classes. I don't envision a French Revolution of sorts occuring here anytime soon, but certainly Hurricane Katrina focused a noticable spotlight on the matter.

All that said, I'm not oppossed to the notion of non-profits footing the bill for providing social services (Lord knows this country needs whatever debt relief it can get at this point), but there absolutely has to be across-the-board oversight and standardization, and that has to be done by a elected civilian government whom can hold abusers of such a system accountable for their misdeeds. Otherwise, you're going to get spotty, inconsistent services and almost certainly a great deal of general corruption and little in the way of justice, not to mention all the people they're screwing out of vitally-needed social services when all is said and done.

[OzzyKP]

I think more should be done to switch services to the non-profit sector. Things are done more efficently and frankly much better by non-profits than by government.

Government programs are bureaucracy choked messes.

The non-profit sector also attracts people with genuine concern and passion for their jobs, much more so than the government.

The problem is we hear all the time about government budget figures for programs like social security, but we never hear about how much money, time, and effort are being put in by churches, non-profits, charities and such. Its a massive effort and shouldn't be discounted.

[chequita guevara]

Trying to get help from NPOs is damned difficult, if not impossible. For example, if you need rent assistence, and you're eligible, you go to the government, fill out some forms, wait a little bit, and get help.

With an NPO, you have to have an eviction notice in your hand, with an iminent threat of being tossed on the street, to get a one-time payment of rent.

Private charity doesn't even suck. It just bites.

People who say private charity is better than the government haven't worked with either. These are also the same idiots who think that private corporations are also more efficient, without having worked for either.

[Sandman]

Private charity doesn't work very well.

In a libertarian society, it would work appallingly badly. With no regulation, the door is open for all manner of corruption and waste. The only oversight would be private watchdogs, who themselves could (and would) become corrupt. All this while the demand on charities is increased enormously.

[Dinner]

Currently charities only have to spend 1% of all donations on the actual cause itself while up to 99% can go to the pay of staff & the covering of expenses. The reality is there are a number of "charities" which do virtually no charity and instead just revolve around a few opportunitists who pay themselves huge salaries with the charity money and only give away the required 1%.

This should be reformed to get rid of the abuse.

[Sava]

Government works when we elect good people to run it.

Non-profits.... ehhh... I'm not sure about those. I've seen data that suggests non-profits are more efficient than corporations (such as in the health care industry), but as chegitz said, they can often times be hard to deal with.

Private charity is the bottom of the barrel.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
People who say private charity is better than the government haven't worked with either. These are also the same idiots who think that private corporations are also more efficient, without having worked for either.

I work for a private charity, and two of my housemates work for government (plus one of my former housemates). They bring home stories all the time of how messed up government is.

So yes, I speak from experience.

[chequita guevara]

Getting kids the right to vote is not a charity.

[Sava]

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Getting kids the right to vote is not a charity.

According to the IRS it is.

[chequita guevara]

I support your cause, dude, but being a tax deductable npo doesn't make you a charity in the sense about which the OP was asking, namely, social services.

[Odin]

Originally posted by OzzyKP

Government programs are bureaucracy choked messes.

ALL large organizations are "bureaucracy-choked messes." The "evil, evil bureaucracy" crap is rightwing propaganda designed to deceive people to give up their social programs.

[OzzyKP]

One complaint I hear from my housemates over and over is how incredibly difficult it is to fire anyone in government jobs. Some of their co-workers are just really doing poor jobs and don't care because they never get fired, and unless they do something seriously wrong, they never will.

You wouldn't see something like that in a private charity or corporation.

[Provost Harrison]

You'd be amazed OzzyKP, there are idle f**kers who get away with it in the private sector too...they are quite hard to get rid of you know