Here I offer you yet another one of my pet peeves. I seem to have a very full treasure trove of them but this ranks high on the list.
Government should be run as a business, so they say. One of the problems is that they are so ignorant of government, and possibly of business as well, that they actually believe it. Business seems always to get lots of undeservedly good press.
Don’t try to count the number of times you’ve heard it today. I’m not lending you my fingers and toes.
Back in the Dark Ages when I first attended college, I don’t recall there being any majors in recreation or underwater basket weaving. The jocks were, for the most part, directed to the crip courses that already existed. They were to be found in the Business Department.
Business is not rocket science. Those who consider it so likely find themselves challenged by a body of work that seldom requires more than a double-digit IQ. To say that mastery of it requires intelligence is to define more the person making the statement than the subject itself.
“Oh,” someone says, “what does he know about business?” Just to mark the playing field, I have engaged in a number of types of business. At one point I had a business selling vegetables on the side of the road; not exactly a Wall Street takeover target. There was the business selling objets d’art to high-end gift shops and department stores. Then there was the computer store back in the early and mid- 80s.
Later I had a company that manufactured automation systems. There was also a publishing company I owned. Presently, I am winding down a consulting firm. Does any of that matter? Does any of that count?
Okay, why not apply business techniques to government? What does a business do with a building it just bought or built? Right. It puts it on the books as an asset.
Now, the government. What does it do with a building, a bridge, a sewer system? It counts it as an expense. Have you ever heard of a sizable corporation that didn’t have an established valuation? Yes, I know, there are various ways of evaluating a business. That means there is likely more than one valuation applicable to a particular business.
That sewer system, that bridge, those roads make it possible for businesses to function. However, when speaking of government, one is more apt to mention size. How many employees? How big is the budget. How big is the debt load? How big was its profit? Whoops.
A business is supposed to make a profit. A government is not. A business may pay its employees minimum wage with no benefits. The government cannot get away with that. Well, they can but not openly.
Have you heard of the Corrections Corporation of America? CCA is the oldest and largest private company that operates prisons and jails. Its first, or one of its first contracts was to operate the Hamilton County (Chattanooga) jail, called Silverdale. That began while I was living there and a close friend was on the county commission. He was the sole objector on that panel. He kept me up-to-date on it for a few years.
They said a private company could operate the jail more efficiently and cheaper. Absolutely cheaper but absolutely not more efficiently.
The first action they took was to fire all of the county personnel assigned to the operation of the jail. They offered them the same jobs back. Well, not exactly the same jobs. These new jobs paid minimum wage without benefits. That was less than half what their county salary had been. Those accepting the jobs became eligible for food stamps. That didn’t show up as a cost of the contract. Does a businessman need to be a genius to show a savings there?
Most of these people (remember that they are real people) had 12, 15, 20 or more years invested in a good-paying jobs that allowed them to provide for their families. At that time the situation was probably similar to today. Minimum wage today puts one far below the official poverty level, even though you are working full-time. It provides an income that equals about one-third of the average family income. Those benefits were pretty nice to have, too.
I said earlier that the goal of business is to make a profit. When it comes to jails and prisons, the primary purpose is usually agreed to be punishment. Is it possible that those two could conflict?
The county had, and continues to have, a policy of letting prisoners earn 3 days credit for each day that they work. The work may be picking up litter, growing food for the facility or some other activity that benefits the community and the government.
CCA is paid per prisoner, per day. That means that the more days they remain in custody, the more income for CCA. CCA simply quit sending people out on work details. The food from the farm wasn’t available to supplement the diets. Trash around the community began to pile up. Extra manpower needs that the county might temporarily experience went unmet. But, CCA made more money.
Are you familiar with an ectopic pregnancy? That is where the embryo is outside the womb, commonly in one of the woman’s tubes. The embryo cannot survive. However, it must be removed or the woman will die. A prisoner at Silverdale became ill, seriously ill. She required hospital care. The problem was that this happened on a weekend. CCA had cut staff so much on weekends that no one was available to transport her to the hospital. She died. She died but CCA made extra money by cutting the staff.
This is not CCA’s jail. It belongs to the citizens of Hamilton County. However, the operation of that facility represents the citizens. Also, they are paying for it. They pay for the litter. They pay for the food stamps. They pay for the negligent homicide, though no one was so charged. The county considered it too embarrassing to bring charges against anyone at CCA.
Here in Tennessee, we are particularly lucky. There are two men running for governor who brag of their business acumen. They both claim to have what it takes to create jobs. The Democrat runs the family-owned beer distributorship his father once ran. The Republican used to run his family business also. It is admittedly quite a large privately-owned corporation. It owns the Pilot Truckstops. I still wonder why, if he was so good at running the business, three states have charged them with price gouging. Is that good business? Is that smart?
You may have read about the contract employees we pay for in Afghanistan. I haven’t kept up with the numbers but they may still outnumber our actual troops. They have caused a great deal of harm to our military and diplomatic policies. They have been responsible for what can only be described as pleasure, or perhaps psychotic, killings. It turns out that they are immune to prosecution. You are paying these contractees six figures. They represent America. They represent you.
The possible examples of how government differs from business are endless. The responsibilities differ. The accountability differs. One could as easily, and justifiably, say that government needs to be run by musicians, artists, nurses, garbage collectors, high scorers on video games or embalmers. Businessmen may on occasion provide a useful insight but that cannot be extrapolated to running government as a business.
Business operated at its most efficient levels during WWII, when the government exercised the most control it ever has. I am not saying we should go on a wartime footing. I am saying that government is not the same as business and businessmen are a long way from having all of the answers.
If one wishes to pay our Congressmen at the minimum wage level, I couldn’t honestly object but very few of our government’s employees are that useless.
One might think that moving jobs from Akron to Bangladesh where the pay is 13 cents an hour would ensure a profit. It does and doesn’t. There are businesses that have made such moves and still are going under. How stupid are those businessmen? Don’t fret. They will be alright. They will find the money to pay themselves the bonuses their brilliance is worth.
If you believe that our businessmen know how to create jobs for a state or our nation, you are terminally naive. If you believe that businessmen, as a class, are especially gifted, you are terminally gullible.
Anyone who seriously believes that government should be run as a business and that simply being a businessman is a sufficient qualification has proven himself so ignorant of government as to deserve eternal disbarment from public office.
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