Two articles I read this morning really hit home for me on the failures of the public sector.  One on Facebook creating drones for internet access in remote countries  and one about private education in Africa stepping in where government is failing.

The private sector senses opportunity here, and lacks the mandate to have to offer citizens choice and resources as their rights of citizenship.  So citizens may have to give up privacy, data and choice of educational services to get what they should already have access to as a right.  But you can also say that it is good that Zuckerberg and Gates are taking their success and reinvesting to help others.

So why does government fail to do what private sector companies find so easy to accomplish? If education and access to utilities (such as electricity, internet and water) should be basic resources for a citizen in a developed country, why not reinvent the government as a competitor to the private sector? This is instead of having third parties running the show, as The Economist article suggests at the end.  For example, making teaching a decent paid job, yet competitive to get the decent pay.

Can governments be competitors to the private sector?  Might be worthwhile thinking about this…..