Business Leaders Make Lousy Political Leaders.

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Fnord
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Joined: 6 May 2008
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09 Aug 2019, 8:27 am

[opinion=political]

Business acumen not not translate to government. Business people see everything through the lens of profit-and-loss, without the human cost of things. Government's goal should be to improve the lives of all the people (not just the lives of those at the top), and to leave their districts, states and the entire country a better place than before they were elected to run it.

When revenue falls and expenses rise, what do leaders of business usually do? They cut costs and increase revenue to maintain profit margins for the shareholders, usually by reducing benefits, and re-negotiating labor contracts and pension plans. Then there is the "Final Solution" practiced by business leaders -- closing facilities and laying off large swaths of the population merely to save on costs and present a large "Bottom Line" to its investors. Thus, in business, leaders are evaluated by how they treats those at the top, not at the bottom, of the corporate structure.

But in government, leaders are judged by how they treat the most vulnerable -- children, the disabled, the disadvantaged, the elderly, immigrants, minorities, the poor, and wage-earners. Reducing benefits to these people may help to balance the budget, but it is a betrayal of the responsibility that government leaders have toward the people who elected them.

We need to elect more "grass-roots" people to political leadership, and force the "business as usual" leaders out of office.


[/opinion]