“Bredesen Says Tennessee Must Be Run Like A Business”

This is the most tired, overused phrase to catch favor with politicians and I hate it. Government should be run like *government* — of the people, by the people, for the people. Running government like a “business” has lead us to the problems we see in Washington right now.

You know, it’s not like businesses don’t lose money and corporate CEOs aren’t corrupt.

It seems to be his theme song these days, So. Beale.
I agree.

Politicians have always said this sort of thing, but the reality is that government can not be run like a business, because government and business are different. That’s why colleges offer MPA, in addition to MBAs. Business is driven by profit, whereas government is not. Therefore, business will always be run more efficiently, with less bureaucracy. The sad thing is that in government, money allocated often must be spent, sometimes wasted, in order to secure those funds and more for the next year.

Maybe if he wasn’t spending $19m on a underground bunker for his wife, we would be able to “find” the money.

the reality is that government can not be run like a business, because government and business are different.

Dang, Glen, that’s twice in one week we’ve agreed. Someone check the horoscope!

Maybe if he wasn’t spending $19m on a underground bunker for his wife, we would be able to “find” the money.

But Josie, that’s a “business” decision! The bunker is for holding large events, so they don’t keep having to rent facilities downtown. The “run government like a business” people should love the bunker!

Therefore, business will always be run more efficiently, with less bureaucracy. The sad thing is that in government, money allocated often must be spent, sometimes wasted, in order to secure those funds and more for the next year.

That could only be said by someone involved sith small business. Large corporations are as completely bureaucratic as the government and no more efficient - and perhaps even less so - than governments. The bureaucracy in the company where I work is as adept at spending everything in the budget so we get at least that much next fiscal year as government ever could be.

If anything, government is more efficient than big business. And, sad to say, less political. The big difference is that government really only deals with ta handful of parties at the very most, while big bueiness has thousands - one for each manager or senior manager.

If anything, government is more efficient than big business.

We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one. A business can have boucou bureaucracy and parties-a-plenty — only if there are profits. No business can do that for too long with the bottom line being in the red. (Exhibits: too long to enumerate here, but Ernon, Aldelphia, WorldCom and Kodak are some examples.)

Government, however, can keep running programs, even if they’re complete failures, by simply funding those programs year after year. (Exhibits: too long to enumerate here, but Agriculture subsidies, No Child Left Behind and the War on Drugs are some examples.)

GM, Ford, Chrysler?

The real trick with businesses is profitability, but there is a huge amount of room to suport inefficiency and still leave 5% or more profit.

“Large corporations are as completely bureaucratic as the government and no more efficient - and perhaps even less so - than governments.”

I have always believed that really big corporations are nothing more than welfare states. George Will wrote a column a while back where he stated that General Motors was the first welfare state to fall.

“The real trick with businesses is profitability, but there is a huge amount of room to suport inefficiency and still leave 5% or more profit.”

I think we’re agreeing here. Sure, there is lots of waste in business (private jets, 4-star hotels, executive golden parachutes). But the business must ultimately be successful and make a profit. Lots of those perks (read waste) go away when the profit margin gets slimmer and slimmer. (Gannett is a good example of that right now. Publishers in the at company used to get their own cars. That perk has ended.)

The logical conclusion of no more profit means no more business. (And therefore no more waste.)

In the public sector though, just because a program/department/agency is not successful does not necessarily mean it will go out of business… it will continue and continue and continue.

In the public sector though, just because a program/department/agency is not successful does not necessarily mean it will go out of business… it will continue and continue and continue.

It may, or may not. Thing is, no reform of any dysfunctional program can occur when those in charge believe firmly that government is always the problem, and never a solution.
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“…government is always the problem, and never a solution.”

I think I may have said that a time or two.

“It may, or may not.”

I think we can agree, though, that the “may continues” outweigh the “may not continues.” Sure, the Freedman’s Bureau isn’t around anymore, and neither is the Civilian Conservation Corps. But mostly, government programs live on, even ones that aren’t useful or useful anymore, even ones that aren’t successful or successful anymore.

“…those in charge believe firmly that government is always the problem, and never a solution.”

We’ve haven’t had people in charge who believe that in decades — if we ever did.

If anything, government is more efficient than big business.

Halliburton and KBR have sucked off the government teet while completely failing to provide the services they were contracted to do. Just Sunday I read about U.S. soldiers being electrocuted because of faulty wiring thanks to KBR — some were killed while taking showers! Meanwhile, they’ve avoided paying $500 million in taxes with offshore tax shelters.

I guess this is “government being run by a business”–Enron and WorldComm come to mind.

Government can’t be run by a business because it’s NOT a business nor should it BE a business.

Government and business are as alike as horseshoes and hand grenades.

And our current pretendsident is as adept at running either of them–into the ground.

Excellent observation about big corporations being very much like welfare states — there’s some really interesting work being done on early welfare capitalism. The idea was that by providing the things that workers and lower-management wanted and creating a work culture where workers looked to the business as a cradle-to-grave concern, workers would work harder, skilled workers and scientists wouldn’t jump between employers in competitive industries, managers would have greater job security and the leisure that fuels innovation, profits would soar, the feds wouldn’t have to step in and regulate, and nobody would feel the need to unionize. For a while there, the most profitable corps in the US followed this model. Economic downturns (most notably in the 1970s, as the Cold War economic boom was running down) made this sort of corp model increasingly uncompetitive.

Honestly, though, I know a bunch of workers around Cleveland that miss the days of the GM company picnic and the school-groups touring Daddy and Mommy’s factory.