Should everything in the Government be about the Dollars? Should a government be about Profits and losses or Should it be about doing what is best for the people in all instances? Are these mutually Exclusive? I read all these indictments of the government and it seems that the government is sometimes seen as a big business in and of itself. To me .. their are somethings a government must do that are not exactly going to balance at the end of the year i.e. the explosion of the internet causes the postal service to fail. I personally do not feel complete privatization of the mail will be a good thing. I also don't think the Postal Service pushing to make profits its primary goal would be good either. [where the postal service charges like a private business would] I don't have a solution for the problem . . but neither of those alternatives seem like they would be helpful and would eventually . . .. weed out postal service as a luxury/privilege of those who can afford it. somethings should not be limited to 'Those who can afford it' [enter: Healthcare, Police, Fire departments, etc ] Should the Government be a Profit Driven bottom line type of establishment? Rocket River
The government should never profit from anything, but should be as efficient as possible. And as for the postal service, theres a lot of things they can do to put themselves in a better financial position, but they are limited since congress would have to legislate any major changes.
I am so SICK AND TIRED!!!! of people campaigning they will operate whatever office they are running for like a business that it automatically cancels any chance I have of voting for them. This is one of my peeves.
The only thing that should be run like a business is a business. Universities have suffered a great deal from hiring "fund raisers" to head them instead of genuine academics.
Very well stated. There is a good reason the two operate differently: they have different purposes and different constituencies.
I have a slightly different way of looking at this. My answer would be yes ... as long as the government understands that its citizens are both its shareholders and its employees. A corporation’s job is not just to maximise profits for its shareholders. Its job includes treating its shareholders with respect, and maximizing their satisfaction with the company in general. If shareholders aren’t happy they’ll vote the management out, and shareholder satisfaction is about more than just bottom line. It’s also about ethics, stability, long term growth, and a number of other metrics as well. A corporation’s job is also to maximize the potential and productivity of its employees. How does it do this? Good corporations provide good work environments. They provide their employees with all the essentials needed to maximize their productivity. In this case that would include law enforcement, fire protection, various other civic services, and it would include good basic health care and good education. Good companies understand that healthy, happy, and educated employees add more to the bottom line. Since the employees are also the shareholders in this case they know firsthand whether the management is wasting the human resources of the company/country, and they should hold the management accountable with their shareholder votes. The Bush administration was a terrible in large part because they were bad managers. They were just bad business people. They were like the corrupt managers who lie to their shareholders and steal from the company. They didn’t manage the country for the good of the country. They managed it for the good of themselves and their cronies. Don’t be fooled by the business talk of the Republicans. The better administration by far from a business perspective is the Obama administration.
