Over the weekend, John Seavey at Mightygodking put up a post about how weird it is that Americans seem to think having a president who could run America like a business would be a good idea. He offers seven ideas that could help Obama run America like a business:
4) Expand your revenue base through mergers and acquisitions. Right now, one of the most contentious issues in American politics is immigration. People want to defend the borders, people want to make sure that Mexicans have a path to citizenship, people want to make sure that Mexicans can continue to provide a labor base to the agricultural industry. In addition, people want to make sure that the Mexican drug trade doesn’t cause problems for America. The obvious solution? Annex Mexico. You have a much smaller southern border to defend, the Mexicans become citizens and don’t have to worry about hostile borders, and the drug trade becomes legal (see point number 3.)
It’s a great takedown of an incredibly dumb idea. And does anyone remember the last time we voted in someone who said he wanted to America like a business? It almost destroyed America. For a refresher course on how business-happy W was, you should read this inadvertently hilarious Industry Week article from February 12, 2001:
Washington with a bottom line?
Less than a month into his administration, President George W. Bush is unmistakably emerging as its CEO, Vice President Richard B. Cheney as its COO, and cabinet members such as Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld as the empowered presidents of major results-focused divisions.It looks stronger than Ronald Reagan’s presidential management model of recruiting the best people, leaving them alone, and holding them accountable. With Bush there’s an assured command right from the top that’s remindful of the determined leadership style of John F. (Jack) Welch Jr., General Electric Co.’s chairman and CEO — although Bush so far appears kinder and gentler.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
The first thing a real CEO would do is downsize the unprofitable lines of business in Iraq and Afghanistan and pocket the money in bonuses.
You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie.
Link isn’t working for me
Already works like a company, when people are losing their jobs, House and Senate reps will vote themselves a pay raise. I think Clinton veto’d this once late in his term, citing the rise in unemployement claims. A rare moment for a president. Almost all of them will vote in favor of a pay raise, no matter how messed up things are.
And just like any CEO worth his salt, W made sure he his Board had their golden parachutes well in place and their bonuses deftly pocketed by the time the company started its downward crash into bankruptcy.
I agree with Paul on this one, but probably not for the same reasons. Government cannot be run like a business because there is an important difference between government and business. Business transactions are voluntary exchanges between people, whereas government only has force and coercion in it’s tool belt. So yeah, you can’t run a violent organization like a business, that is, unless you consider organized crime a “business”.
Run it like a business? You mean, for profit? It would be far easier to run the government like a business. Raise taxes and reduce services until you’re profitable.
That article is kind of amazing. I hope it spreads more than the racist teaparty video lower down on SLOG.
Rather it’s run like a piggy bank for Goldman Sachs and foreign central banks.
@6 Well I’m proud to be part of this country and to work and pay taxes to support it, proud at least of the good things it does. That you think that feeling is obtained by force or coercion is your issue.
Whenever I hear that canard about running government like a business, some questions immediately come to mind. Which Business? Boeing of the last ten years? Washington Mutual? etc etc.
And, I have to wonder what businesses the person spouting it has worked for. Business I’ve worked for have often been as spectacularly dysfunctional, when they’re not actually going out of business, as government can bet. Why? It’s a human activity.
If there’s anything to learn from W’s example, it’s never elect a president who has absolutely no business sense. He ran the country like he ran his oil business – straight into the ground.