>> i'm very capable of changing to anything wants to change to. down* i'm sick of both these people and sick of thege of the. most of what they will do will be bad. the best comes from the private sector. but people look to government. they think it's sharing. so when people propose better, private solutions, they get

booed. america, don't boo. private is better. that's our show tonight. private's better? that doesn't sound right to people. private seems selfish, secretive. by contrast, public or government-run sounds like sharing. we are all in this together. i have this phone because it was invented without government. first they had to give the developers permission.

government was barely aware people were working on this thing. permissionless innovation is a beautiful thing. to the author of this book, this permissionless innovation that brought us google, facebook, the phone, is threatened now? >> it is, john. there are a lot of efforts to impose permission-based. john: drones, they are inventing all kinds of things but the government says you can't do it news get an faa license. >> there are hypothetical worst cases that could occur, and they end up basing policies off the worst case scenarios. if you base it off worst case scenarios, you will never get

the best case scenarios. john: they weigh less than asea guls -- than sea gulls which planes hit all the time. john: so drone makers are going overseas? >> a lot of them are basing their testing in canada and australia. a lot of driverless car companies are going there as well. think about 20 years ago if mark zuckerberg of facebook or 1250e6 jobs or anybody from google had to come to the federal communications commission and get their blessing to operate. you have to wonder how many of them would exist today. john: how come all these things were invented in the united states rather than europe?

>> america got it right with our public policy towards deck tall technology the first time around congress and the clinton administration put in place policies that per permissionless based. they gave them the green light. but that is already change. we have forgotten the lessons of the past where america went out and conquered the world. our companies are household names. conquered the globe. john: at the beginning of the computer revolution, france said we are going to control this. they created a computer company. they gave people computers. throw out your yellow pages and use these. they have them in five different colors. they were going to be the leader according to the media i read.

>> france took an industrial policy approach to the internet. but that's not the way innovation happens. you have to create the right environment and let the innovators invite. john: now europe threatening google. the right to be forgotten. >> this is a threat to history and journalism. they will scrub issue away with the so-called right to be forgotten. john: there are some mistakes out there, my reputation can be smeared. somebody googles me. let me start with a clean slate. the courts in europe said right you deserve that. >> if we have a global internet censorship regime, that will be a disaster. the whole internet will look like china or soviet russia.

there will always be a way to find information. but europe wants to impose its censorship regime on the rest of the world. our fda, the food and drug administration, very heavy handed doesn't want to allow for that sort of thing and they are driving innovators offshore. we have three printers that can manufacture amazing thing. including what you saw today. prosthetic hand for children with limb deficiencies. volunteers were making on the spot these prosthetic hand for kids. but technically what they are doing is illegal. even though it's being done free very cheap for parents who need these things for kids that usually cost thousands of dollars. john: they probably got away with it because they were volunteering their effort.

>> basically everything changes when you charge even a penny for something. whether it's drones or virtual reality. you do it in the sharing sense. as soon as you want to charge a penny, you are going to be regulated. john: think about the tsa. americans assume airport security is something that must be run by government. tsa screeners are slow, sometimes rude, and random tests show most of the type they fail to find forbidden items. i think tsa stand for thousands standing around. now airlines warn security lines will get even worse this summer. so many airports want to switch from the tsa to private airport screeners. >> the tsa chief is in washington to meet with airport officials after wait lines got so bad they may replace the tsa

with private screeners. viewn * a few big cities did get permission to try something different. the lines are short at france airport. they move quickly and passengers say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> they are a little more understanding. >> ebb is a lot more friendly than dallas. reporter: dallas and the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco was allowed to hire screeners from a private company. they were twice as good at finding contraband. why would private screeners be nicer and better. here is a reason. they practice. the fastest screen letter win $2,000. there is even dramatic music.

the tsa trains its screeners, too, but not like this. in this competition screeners race to search bags and identify forbidden items. here is a pipe bomb, and they rush to recheck the bag. they look at slide of people and try to remember details. how many buttons are on her sleeve. watch it. >> four. john: the private company makes these screeners specialists. >> usually it's did you go? yes. you tell a person your score, they will try to beat you and you want to be the winner. it's kind of like bragging rights. john: they get better with these contests? >> yes, they have to. privatized seems so selfish. i'll better making money. that's money coming out of my pocket. >> it's the american way.

>> profit make you try harder. >> we have to do well. if they don't do it well, they can get fired. but government rarely fires itself. private screeners have proven themselves so much better, 2 airports have persuaded the department of homeland security to use the private screeners. what else might speed air travel. privatizing air traffic control. so how would that work? and has it been tried? >> it's been tried in canada. there is nav-canada which isn't more efficient and less expensive than the air traffic controllers here. john: years ago they switched and everybody screamed the planes are going to crash and there will be lots of problems. >> no planes crashed and the number of flights are up 50%.

it costs about 44 per % less per traffic controller than it does now. it's liketronnic equipment we don't use. >> why do they do it when your government can't or doesn't? >> part of it is because this next gen technology requires fewer workers so there would have to be cutbacks. we have powerful unions here and they don't want any cuts in the w force. in the house bill that privatized the air traffic control, there is a bill in the house because the faa has to be reauthorized by the end of july. in the house there is a bill that includes privatization. john: you call it so-called privatization. >> it's so-called because it doesn't get rid of the union and the union would have to approve any transfer of personnel and

services between the faa and the so-called private air traffic control group. john: the air traffic controllers' union claims privatization would make air travel less safe. >> the problem is that the contractors in an effort to cut costs cut the number of controllers that are responsible for the safety of flights. john: sound logical. fewer people, more crashes. >> with the new technology, we don't need as many people as we used to. these driverless cars, for example. they communicate by text instead of voice commands. they think it's funny that we communicate with voice command. john: to show how cozy the politics are. congressman bill shoeser has pro

poised a partial privatization. >> the airlines for america, vice president of global affairs, an got $118,000 in campaign contributions for unions. and there is a cozy relationship between them. john: to join this argument please follow me on twitter. use the hashtag stossel like my facebook page so you can post on my wall. next, better private alternatives to government mass transit. a better way to go into space. launching an successfully landing its falcon nine rocket. it's the first time it's ever been done. even better money.

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>> i can't afford a car right now, and i don't want one, so i

make metro. that's public transportation in los angeles. and taxpayers pay for the ad. people love the idea of public transportation. get people out of cars. reduce congestion. >> i figured out a way to make public transit part of my daily commute. that's how you do l.a. john: that's not how they do l.a. despite politicians forcing taxpayers to spend more on public transit. fewer people are taking it. now the department of public transportation. are you an extraordinary innovator? >> i try my best to be extraordinary every day. john: what are you going to do? >> the basic idea what we are trying to do is bring private sector innovation to l.a. metro

by opening the door to private sector innovators to come to us with ideas about new technology and ways to accelerate the buildout of our infrastructure. john: why can't lax just do it? why do you need the private sector? >> they are very nimble so they can adjust to changing technology more rapidly than the public sector can. and they bring competition. they are able to compete against each other and say here is a way we would do it that creates more benefits for taxpayers. >> why can't government be nimble? >> government can be nimble, it's just more challenging. i worked in large public and private bureaucracies. they have lots of policies in place and take longer to make decisions. the advantage of the private sector in this case. when they are able to work with the public sector on trying to come up with new technologies

and innovations. you get a public policy that's oriented toward what people want. and you get innovations that are what the market demands. john: los angeles has a long procurement process. >> any organization has a long procurement process. a series of policies have been put in place over the years, most of which were well-intentioned and trying to prevent corruption. but over the years have built up into a very large set of policies that make it difficult to procure things swiftly. john: if your county wanted to procure pencils, they couldn't just bow to the store and buy them? >> buying anything is more complicated when you have got a public entity. we want to buy pencils we want to make sure we are buying the pencils that provide the taxpayers with the greatest

pencil quality at the lowest cost and provide competition between the pencil distributors. john: that could take a year? >> we are hoping it will take a lot less time than that. john: what would help commuters is if they had the option to take the bus. as people move, bus routes can move. but buses aren't sexy. expensive trains are sexy. so california has hit up taxpayers for a bullet train. reporter: once governor brown set his sights on high-speed rail. it was cool. john: people found out what it would cost. $89 billion.

>> my beef is the cost overrun for starters. >> too expensive. we are taking on a huge debt load for an uncertain outcome. john: florida is building a train, too. but a private company is building it. >> a smarter way, an alternative to our state's crowded roads. >> that's how miami is getting connected. john: the private florida train will cost $3 billion. the first leg of california's bullet train will cost $30 billion. it gets a little further, but not much. why is it so expensive. >> the florida route was already in existence. they are not building a new right of way. john: isn't it bert they are not forcibly taking money from taxpayers? if they lose money, it's their own money. >> well, there are two sides to that coin.

one, when you are talking about transportation being provided by: a for-profit entity. what that means is it won't be accessible to everyone. one of the things we do as public transit providers is to make sure our system is accessible to everybody at all income levels. john: the california bullet train is $89 a ticket. how is that accessible to everybody? >> $89 a ticket is significantly cheaper than flying in many cases between those two cities. john: though you work for government, you acknowledge there are advantages to privatizing some things. many americans are mindlessly biased against privatization. east of here a long island official proposed privatizing bus lines. he got booed.

joshua, why do you think people are so hostile to this? >> there is this misconception this is taking tax dollars and giving them away to a for-profit entity. that's not the case when you are talking about transportation. even if the private sector gets involved, they are bringing greater cost certainty, they are bringing project delivery in a faster time, potentially cheaper and better because they are able to innovate in a way the public sector isn't. they are saving the taxpayers money because they finds a way to do it more ficialtdly. more -- efficiently. john: next, private money. bit coins. this woman will explain. ♪ use bit coin whenever you pay ♪

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♪ don't give up your money, you bit coin whenever you pay ♪ ♪ use bit coin whenever you pay ♪ jacques * bit coin, a digital currency, money not controlled by any government. and for many people better than this paper money. so why? the woman who composed and sang that song will explain. >> i'm a singer songwriter and the coin inspired me to write something. when i learned about bit coins at first i thought it was pretty boring. but then once i got it i got inspired. i think there is a lot of uses for bit coin. there are over 2 billion people

in the world that don't have access to banking. now because of bit coin they have a bank account on their sms phone. i have a friend with a charity called code to inspire. they teach the girls how to code and pay them with bit coin. these are girls in afghanistan. how that was different from before is they would have to pay them with afghani money and they would have to height under their mattress and hope nobody in their family would find it. now they can have control and live their lives freely without worrying about somebody coming and taking their money. the's enough to empower billions of people arounded the world. john: your website says artist and crip to currency>> it's mony cripping to a i -- bycryptograp.

each currency can offer different value propositions. john: the reason i bought some is because i don't trust the people who print these things. with bit coin there is a limit to how many are out there. >> there is nobody in charge it that can print it whenever they like. john: when i bought them for $112, people mocked me. but compared to these, it has gown four times that. >> it was the best performing currency and it's gone up by 8%. john: because the fed makes these out of thin air. >> they do. john: there is criticism saying

bit coin causes crime and terrorism. guns, drugs. >> it's not good for illicit activity. if you want to launder money you don't want to use bit coins. most people i know are using bit coins for legal services. you can use it to get discounts at amazon and starbucks. there are all sorts of ways to use bit coins legal are you. next how private companies are more likely than government to fly us to mars. private companies are picking up where the government left off in the race for space.

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john: a satellite being launched into space by a private company, spacex. they found a better and cheaper way to smooth things into space. when government, nasa, sent their rockets up, them just taxed you and built new ones for every mission. the private company found a way to bring that same rocket back to earth. the private company did what government couldn't do, and did it with much less money. it happens all the time, though people at nasa wouldn't want to hear that. my next guest worked at nasa. but the number one guy doesn't agree with you. you think privatization is a good thing. >> of course. the country was built on it, and the space program is a high

technology, leading evening program, and it should be advancing our capability so the private sector can take over. john: you say of course within i say of course, why don't they get it? >> they are a government bureaucracy, and their incentives are not to do things efficiently. if you are all about the job, you just like building new ones. john: you are a democrat. you were an adviser to hillary's presidential campaign. the democrats don't want to privatize. president obama proposed privatizing much of this, and the bipartisan congressional response was extremely negative. when president obama came in and he was the head of his transition team. our focus was on technology.

and we got shut down on the hill the first year. they demanded we build this big rocket that will cost $50 million. john: congress wanted to send money to their district. if you are competing you can't say what district it will be in. elon is using his own money, and so is jeff bezos. john: what congress is doing disgusting. do people call them on it? >> i think our space program gets a pass. nasa has a wonderful history and people just assume it will be on the cutting edge doing the right thing. they don't note journey to mars was built on old technology. when i went to jeff bezos' facility they were building the

same rocket for $30 million. john: nasa did once do thing that were never done before. after russia launched a satellite our president said this. >> our nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. >> we are carrying that infrastructure with us today. nasa spend $18 billion of taxpayer money per year. half of that goes for the infrastructure that was built for apollo. they only have a third of the buying power so they can't do as much with the rest of it. john: most of the rockets going up now are private companies. >> space has been privatized.

john: they are planning to go to mars. >> probably $50 billion by the time it's built. we have no money to do anything beyond that. the soonest we would go to mars would be the mid 20s and 3. i just don't think that that's going to be the way we get there. elon musk announced he's going to mars in 2018. not with people. but should he do that near the range with the heavy-lift vehicle. it will be obvious we don't need to spend taxpayer money on this. john: you have been there nine years. it's not just congress' fault. nasa want to protect every job. >> it's a bureaucracy. people at nasa are wonderful. but the leadership, they are all in tight with the industry. everybody likes to manage a contract. and so it's pretty nice system.

at this point you have got $18 billion of the public's money that i think the space program could do better with. john: it could be so much better used, and so many americans say privatization. on msnbc they do get excited about space travel. but then the host has to say this. >> i also worry a great deal this is going to private industry. i keep thinking the competition of private companies in this on the planet has not necessarily led to equitable outcomes. john: the outcomes won't be equitable. >> i can't understand that. now i work for the airlines pilot union. we all fly in airplanes safely 700 million people a year. that's the technology that is

completely run by the private sector and goes very well. i know people believe safety is with the government. but we don't have a perfect record at nasa, either. john: private parking ticket. cleaner water. what were the workers doing when they worked for the government? were you goofing off? >>

john: people in flint, michigan got angry when they discovered their drinking water was toxic. >> the public officials were assuring the public the water was safe when they knew it wasn't true. john: michigan's governor tried to assure the people. you didn't create the problem, government failed you. john: governments often fail. but providing drinking water, doesn't it have to be a job for

government? no. a thousand american cities have switched to private water companies. >> city water departments have let the pipes rust. in jersey city, new jersey, the water didn't taste good. city workers told the mayor there wasn't much they could do. they couldn't even slow the price increase. >> i said can't you get costs down so we don't have to increase rates? and they said no. so the water contract was put out for bid and a for-profit water company fixed the pipes the government couldn't fix. john: how can you trust the drinking water to taken outside company. john: privatizing public services isn't easy. atlanta turned it parking meters

over to a private company called park atlanta. >> people have been highly critical of park atlanta. >> just say the name park atlanta and the citizens are united they don't like it. john: people in atlanta are mad, and jim beard has to deal with that. he's atlanta's chief financial officer. is the anger justified. >> the collection rate for tickets written was fairly low. 30-40 percent. the new contractor was able to get the collection rates into the 70% range. john: people are mad because they have to pay for parking violations? >> people are used to getting something for free. you bring in a private company that says this is no longer free, and you can't escape in the payment in this case, parking tickets. there is a little bit of angst

in the community. in atlanta the history was that parking was relatively cheap or free. atlanta didn't fully privatize our parking. we turned it over to a private management company. the city has 2,400 privately managed parking spaces. but those spaces belong to the city. the consider came in, fixed broken meters and put in new technology, but all that came at a price. now people who were used to having something for free or parking at meters that didn't work. now the meter worked and they were expected to pay, and when they didn't pay, there was collection and enforcement. john: progressives are very hostile to privatization. >> this crisis in flint as you know was created by the government. your policies are about expanding government.

why should people from flint trust that more government is the answer? >> that's a good point. maybe we should let wall street come in and run the city of flynt. john: this villification of money making. you worked in the financial sector. you are a democrat. >> if that parking contractor can do a better job, we friep resources. john: why can the contractor do a better job. >> they apply technology. john: why can't the city apply technology. >> the city was in financial distress. john: private companies go out of business if they don't do a good job. i'll let the jersey city mayor answer that. what if they screw up? >> they are toast. we'll give the contract to somebody else. there is nothing like the prospect of a hanging.

>> these men worked for jersey city water when the department said it couldn't be done. now they do what couldn't be done. >> are you working harder? yes, you are always on the go, every date many something different. john: were you goofing off before? >> occasionally. >> government workers, many of them are hard workers, but you can't fire the bad ones. it creates a culture where people don't work that hard. >> there are certain challenges involved with dealing with a government work force. and those challenges have to be managed by strong leadership. government is a big aircraft carrier, it takes time and energy to moist but we are moving its. john: next i'll try to educate people who are convinced that parks mist be run by government. when they come back i'll show

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john: most americans assume some things can't be privatized because, well, therefore, everyone public parks, for example, people say maintaining parks, keeping them accessible to the public is a job for government. the public sector has to do

that. people like that word public. once i went to a park near here and asked people which is better, public or private. >> if it were private they would charge you a fee for looking. >> wound say public otherwise we wouldn't be here. >> they were standing in a privately run park but didn't know that. although people love the idea of public, what comes to your minds if i say public toilet. >> that's gross. john: this is the image i have of public toilets. and my town's public parks used to look much like that. garbage everywhere. buildings covered with graffiti, fields bare of grass. when parks are well maintained, it's often because a private group took over. but park users rarely know that.

john: this is a privately managed park. >> they have awesome toilets. >> they client very nicely. john: but what about our national parks? privatize those? some business might do this. but what's the alternative? park managers say we don't have money for maintenance. in california alone, 150 state parks closed. they have a billion dollars in deferred maintenance. projects they need but don't have money to fund. john: it's not just state parks. yosemite streams were filled with raw sewage from a leaky sewer. the grand can yonls only source of drinking water is even 80-year-old park that breaks several times a year. but national parks can't be run by private interests, can they? >> many private parks are run

successfully by private sector operators. >> we run 150 parks. our biggest client is the u.s. forest service. they are taking a financial loser and by having us run it it should change from a money drain to a financial benefit because they are being paid rent. john: people worry that they will cut corners to make more profit. but they have an incentive not to cut corners. it makes more money if it does a good job. my revenues are entirely dependent on people showing up every day. john: these private businesses depend on pleasing customers. if they don't please you, the government can fire them. but government never fires itself. it's why private management is almost always better. bert and cheaper. that's our show.

see you next week. goodnight from new york. >> i am here at freedom fest the world's biggest gathering of people and tonight's topic is the american dream still achievable? the founder of whole foods the head of the restaurant chain carl's, jr.. and the man who helped to build modern lowe's vegas and made a couple billion dollars to read it. our topic, what happened to the american dream? that is our show.