I spend the first 30 minutes of almost every weekday the same way: I watch CNN, CNBC and Fox. What usually happens on a morning after a stock market meltdown or debt-ceiling failure or other crisis, some politician or know it all will trot out this chestnut:
“we need some leadership like the private sector has. We need….like a Steve Jobs to come to Washington and help fix the country – it’s his duty.”
What happens next is that I’ll usually laugh until I cry. It isn’t that Jobs couldn’t do it. Oh No Doubt, he could. However, the congress critter or columnist that suggests such a thing is usually a little soft-headed. Makes me want to drive over to the studio and pat them on the head – “there, there, it’s ok”. What these soft-heads don’t get is that Jobs success was born in the competitive inferno that is Silicon Valley. A place that is a ruthless meritocracy. In such a culture, most of our “leaders” in Washington (and many state houses) would be replaced – if they were ever hired in the first place.
If Washington were run with private sector principles, it would look drastically different in the wake of the recent debt train wreck. That was an abject failure. If Jobs were running the country (or anything related to it), he would fire everyone involved. Indeed, the story of Mobile Me is instructive: Mobile Me is a cloud-based service that Apple launched about 3 years ago and was plagued by problems. Servers crashing, logins failing and an overall lack of usability. Jobs called a meeting with the MM team and asked them (and I’ll clean this up): “What is MM supposed to do?” One of his executives actually attempted an answer and then Jobs asked him “so why doesn’t it do that?” And with that, he replaced the lot of them. Think that could happen at the Federal level?
The total of the reaper’s tale isn’t in yet but the market fell 600 points yesterday. 1,000 points in the last two days. Our leaders in Washington needn’t look any farther than the mirror to find the solution. I say this to them: Don’t ask the private sector to come fix your problems: you won’t like the solutions. In fact, you’re seeing the private sector’s solution. Industry will move its resources to where those are productive. It isn’t industry’s fault that those in Washington have elected not to govern but to play politics with the ship of state.
In addition, the state houses are next. Many states (including ours) have been playing games with pension funds and that cannot continue either. Those games will have consequences but we’re likely to have more time to deal with them.
The message is simple: for all of you public policy types out there, the solutions offered by the private sector are tough medicine: if your business doesn’t make money it fails. Never confuse public policy with business and if you do invite business-style solutions through direct action – or inaction – into your public policy debates, be prepared for solutions that are ruthless….
August 9, 2011 at 7:26 pm
A- As usual I tend to agree with you. Your points are true. The difficulty is “getting there.” The bottom line is that successful politicians are elected, which significantly distinguishes them from successful business people. Perhaps an argument can be made that successful politicians have succeeded in the business of politics but I don’t like the implications of
that. Question: Do we have a political free market? Is it more or less open than the market for business?
(Having trouble doing this on my blackberry; apologies for typos.)
August 10, 2011 at 9:47 pm
The honorable thing would be for every single one of them to resign. President, Vice president, and every member of Congress. They are each and every one an abject failure at the “job” we the people pay them to do.
August 12, 2011 at 10:36 am
Where’s the “Like” button on this post? We’ve got to have a “Like” Button. We also need more Cowbell.