Of Trump, Business Profits And Government Deficits

Everyone who pays attention to politics has either overheard the expression, or had the thought, that if a business were run like the government operates, they’d be broke, out of business (and likely in jail) in a month.

Government doesn’t have to be efficient, it doesn’t have to pay taxes, it isn’t burdened with EPA regulations, it doesn’t have to be thrifty, it doesn’t have to pay rent, it doesn’t have to pay Obamacare premiums, it doesn’t have to operate within a budget, it has no competition and it doesn’t have to make a profit. The government can run at a deficit as long as it wants to. If government needs money it’s OK to just go in debt, simply print some more money, or raise taxes on “the rich”.

All of these things, and more, are imposed on businesses, and if a business can’t economize during hard times, or raise the price of its product to match its expenditures, it will go out of business.

Politicians aren’t able to comprehend the idea of doing without, or not spending money for things they can’t afford. Our legislators have grand offices and they are each given a million dollars a year to spend on their staff, so they have no way of identifying with someone trying to run a business from their home and having to first earn the money they spend for staff and equipment, before they can spend it.

The nature of business, and Donald Trump’s insistence on running his administration more like a business, is what’s frustrating and confusing establishment politicians and the liberals press, and I think Trump’s examples and his attitude are both frightening them and are a threat to them. But it’s all to the benefit of Americans if he runs his administration as though he were running a business and doesn’t give in to the group-think that he’s surrounded by in Washington.

Politicians fear that they are going to have to behave responsibly and that they will be expected to take responsibility for their actions, and I think they fear Trump for the example he’s setting.

But thinking Americans aren’t frightened by Trump’s example, they think it’s great.