We Get Letters!

KPC friend Mark P writes....

Water Taxi Fiasco
Here’s a great example of how our government works:
This weekend, I visited family on the North Carolina coast near the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Cape Lookout is among several barrier islands that are uninhabited and accessible only by boat. The area is a popular recreational destination for locals and tourists. There is a thriving cottage industry here that provides water taxi service to the islands. About ten different businesses run small water taxis that carry patrons to the lighthouse and the nearby islands. Each has their own docking facilities on the mainland, scattered over a broad area. The destinations are virtually anywhere on the islands. Their schedules are flexible and fees reasonable. All of them are family owned and operated. Many have grown to multiple boat operations that employ local citizens.

Well, the National Park Service has discovered that private enterprise has found a profitable niche. The Park Service is now preparing to explore a single source provider to replace the small operators. The plan appears to be to contract with one firm to use larger ferries that have only one or two departure points, thus accessibility will be reduced. Landing will also be limited to only two islands, one dock on each. The schedules would of necessity have to be rigid and the fees will be regulated. As with many other national park services the bidding process is likely to result in a contract with a large corporation rather than the smaller businesses currently providing services as well as employment to local citizens. Adding insult to injury the consolidated operation will result in greater congestion at the departure and arrival sites and severely reduce the flexibility of services that are currently available to those wishing to visit the park areas. This action will effectively shut down all the local water taxi services that are currently available year-round.

The results will be less access, less flexibility, no competition, local families out of business and numerous unemployed local workers. Such is the wisdom of our federal government.

My question for Mark, and for all, is: Why is this so hard to understand? Mark's description pretty much contains all the essential elements of an economic explanation of government failure. Anyone reading this, it seems to me, should be persuaded. (An example of an existing "water taxi"/ferry service)

And yet we are going to do the wrong thing. Now, these boats operate at a profit. The "new" service is going to require a subsidy, at least in the form of building dock facilities. Ooooooh, I could just SPIT.