Like a Business?

One factor you hear is how the Government would be so much better if it was just run like a business.

Of course you assume they mean a successful business, but ignoring that they want the Government to be efficient and in some sense profitable.

Now, the rub is that business succeeds when they give customers what they want.  Producing those products and selling them at a profit is pretty straightforward and provides some pretty clear goals.

Now the issue becomes more complex when the product is services, and the customer has to be convinced that the services being provided is in fact worth what they pay for it.

So how would that work in Government.  Take defense, to some extent everybody in the country is a customer.  However, we don't each get to decide how much defense to buy, we rely on leadership to determine the appropriate amount.  Pretty much everyone understands that and the idea that defense could turn a profit is not a real issue. 

It gets a bit murkier when we look at most other Government services.  Take social security. It isn't designed to make money.  Ideally it would break even, but because of demographics that isn't going to happen, especially in the near future.  Now to run like a business means you either reduce the amounts paid or increase the amount collected.

Since both of those things are difficult politically, we are watching it become insolvent.  The answer of course is to get out of that business and that is basically the republican solution, let everyone fend for themselves more or less.  Of course giving wealthy people control of this money will work out very well for them, but for those who actually need Social Security, not so much.

This story repeats itself for service after service the government provides.  You can't determine how to make it profitable so the republican answer is to eliminate it. 

Service after service except ones that they find politically useful, like border patrol.

The profit in Government isn't monetary, its in the quality of life.  So having clean air and water results in healthier people.  Is that profitable, well not in the business sense.

Similarly, providing a safety net, helps people who suffer temporary setbacks.  No monetary profit there so not something a business would do.

Might not to run it like Scrooge did though.