Government is not a business

[SmileyRose]

Granted Rob Portman and his fellow robber barons have used the federal treasury like their own private slush fund but really government is not a business.

Business is profits for the few. That's it.

Government has to be the last refuge of the many against the few. Out of necessity government and business have to be at least partly adversarial in order for government to do its job.

[northoftheborder]

1. Government is a non-profit service organization.

[annabanana]

3. Made up of what SHOULD BE

community organizers!

[Lucy Goosey]

2. Exactly.

There's a reason we call government employees "public servants" - they serve the people, not a small group of shareholders.

[annabanana]

4. +1000..

WE are the government.



The whole "Government IS the problem" should have been stabbed in the cradle, before it could have done so much damage to the body politic.

[reformist2]

5. This is one of the main arguments Obama should use against Romney...

It will blunt Mitt's main reason for running, that he's some sort of Mr. Fix-It Businessman.

[AnnieBW]

6. I work for the Federal Government

and have a Masters in IT Management. My management classes were geared towards private industry practices, so I got a second-hand view of how private industry works. While the government has adopted some best practices from private industry, the basic concept is totally different. In business, the idea is to have a profit left over at the end of the fiscal year. In government (at least the Fed), if you have money left over at the end of the FY, you will lose it for the next year. Besides, private industry doesn't have to go to Congress to justify every dollar of their budget.

No wonder Rmoney was a one-term governor. He may have been a successful businessman, but he didn't know squat about effective government.