This had to be said....

[WCGreen]

In a business, the CEO is interested in turning a profit for the shareholders. Period.

In government, the elected leader is to make sure that the essential social covenant between voters and the general public is full filled.

These two are not the same.

The skills to run a business are not at all related to the skills needed to oversee a governmental entity.

That is all,

[MiniMe]

1. And your post is incorrect, you say an elected leader is to make sure...

Unless you are an R, then your job as an elected leader is to send whatever money you can to the rich

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Exactly right.

This is one of the arguments that we used against Meg Whitman when she ran for Governor of CA.

Just one of them.

But it is a very valid point.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

3. And it needs to be repeated...

"Government needs to be run like a Business" is just as idiotic as saying "A Daycare Center should be run like a Major League Sports Franchise."

They're two totally different things.

[DrewFlorida]

7. Great analogy.

Spot on!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. What you say about elected leaders is true, provided that they value traditional Democratic values.

Harry Truman was one of the best examples of this.

However, if the elected leaders do not really value traditional Democratic values, then they are auditioning for their next gig with the super-rich.

[kentuck]

5. Totally different.

It cannot be said enough.

[DrewFlorida]

6. Well said!

Not only are they not the same, they are diametrically opposed.
The whole point of government is to govern, or regulate, both society and the economy.
The role of government is laid out in the preamble of the United States Constitution.

"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."


I'm guessing a common corporate mission statement reads, "To make as much profit as possible for our shareholders, screw everyone else including the country we reside in."

[Paka]

8. This needs to be repeated again and again and again!

After all, if a lie can gain respectability through repetition, what might it do for the truth.

[ErikJ]

9. Government is to business as the football field, rules and referee are to the football teams.

[Beartracks]

10. Yep, because business and government don't exist for the same purpose.

For Romney and all the GOP to claim that "being a successful businessman" means you know more about "running the economy" than would a "community organizer" is bogus. For voters to believe that knowing how to turn a profit in the private sector means you know how to increase cashflow in a national economy and grow Federal budget surpluses,, is... well, it's just unfortunate that people fall for that kind of stuff.

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