@johnzajac Efficiency can be good, but all too often it's a cover for an unsavory strategy.

Efficiency that's worth doing is exactly the stuff that local councils were invented for: a way to invest in central resource and specialization, to do the best job for the most people, on a service-focused not-for-profit basis.

Its also worth automating repetitive stuff, so people can do more.

But "the free market makes it cost-effective" is a lobbyist lie.