Hostirad (hostirad) wrote,
Hostirad
hostirad
  • Mood: curious
  • Music: Into White - Cat Stevens

U.S. Government's business acumen

It's been said that the U.S. federal government makes poorer business decisions than private enterprise because the government is not as accountable to the bottom line. When a business contracts out a job, they want the contracted firm to produce results that lead to profit, given the cost of the contracting. If a private corporation makes poor contracting decisions, they eventually go out of business.

The government, on the other hand, will never go out of business. (Unless there's a revolution.) If a particular government program does not produce results, some individuals may not get re-elected, but the government will still be in business. It will never run out of money as long as it can tax citizens.

I considered this difference in accountability between private enterprise and the U.S. government when I read about the following Iraq contracting deal: http://www.stopwarcoalition.org/news/news_items.php?shownews=268 . I'm not saying the Pentagon necessarily made a bad decision. But it was certainly an interesting decision.
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