Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sort of like apples and oranges
Michael Hiltzik takes some time and space in the LA Times today to explain why running a business does not really prepare you for government. The main difference is that business exists to create profits and government exists to provide services.
It would be obvious to any business person who had spent a day in public administration that government and business are antithetical. That's not a flaw in the system. Government exists to take on precisely those tasks the private sector can't or won't do.The public many times shows more awareness of this difference than people with bank accounts and egos of equal size. Imagine what might result if these richers spent all that money for the public good? We could tax them and find out.
These include caring for the penniless; maintaining common amenities such as parks, schools, and universities; and creating infrastructure with broad value but unspecific beneficiaries, such as freeways and the Internet (which in coming days undoubtedly will be used by many readers to inform me by e-mail that they don't see how government serves any purpose).
Most of these functions can't be made to "pay" in the sense that a business strategy does. But they can be neglected or privatized only at great cost to society.
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