“‘Mission Accomplished!’ Here’s your bonus.”
A worthy point, and I rise to expand, not to correct. It is even more insidious than that.
Many of these CEO’s have their pay pegged to the stock price: stock goes up, more goodies, stock goes down, merely an obscene amount of money. The stock market is a herd creature, it has certain buttons that are easily pushed. For years, one of those buttons was the notion of a hard-nosed, no-nonsense CEO who would “cut the fat”, go “lean and mean”. Give them a CEO who was devoted to that premise, and they would rush to buy in, as everyone knows the real problem is coddled and lazy workers. Why else do you imagine New Coke bombed? Lazy workers. Probably Teamsters. Cigar chewing labor bosses. You know the drill.
For example, the predatory asswad who gave us the Sunbeam handmixer which strips its own gears the very first time it’s used, to blend cake batter.
It simply amazes me when someone says they want our government to be run like a business. Do you know how many businesses fail within five years? Of those that don’t, do you know how many turn a profit within five years?
Well, there is Blackwater, who provides mercen…ah, professional security for the Bushiviks in Iraq. A fairly recent start up, and doing rather well by all accounts. One can do quite well, it would seem, if one provides a needed service.
Maybe our leaders are supposed to sell off as much of our country as possible and bank the profits in an offshore account, or fire all American government workers and outsource the jobs to North Korea?
No. Businesses with strong Washington lobbies are indiscernable from government itself. I mean businesses like Standard Industrial Supply, where the CEO sweats the board meetings and the stockholders are people who can read and comprehend the books.
You do know that the goals of a company and the goals of a government have absolutely nothing to do with each other, right?
And when today’s Molly Maguires get their necks stretched, how much do we dock Pinkerton’s pay?
Ah, the classics!
Yeah, it’s really saying something when you’ve got to hark back to the 19th century to find anybody else who thinks this is a good idea.
Not only that, but the line workers continue to draw paychecks until they separate from the company. Aside from the very lowest echelon of outside sales, there is no one in the private sector who is only paid when he succeeds.
Even more frightening is the thought that the government should be run with the goal of making money, rather than serving the populace.
See, here’s where I get Randian. If every public servant were only in it for the money, we’d have proper and effective public service.
Nonsense. Every tycoon worth a flip has a senator or two in his pocket. That’s what robber baron capitalism is all about — Rich Uncle Pennybags partnering with Senator Fatcat to enact legislation that will profit them both.
How would that work? If district-wide test scores go up, the Superintendent of Schools gets a bonus? Or what?
No, not at all. If we were to each be properly capitalized and in so doing omit any sense of altruism or other such nonsense, we would all work as hard as we can.
If said Superintendent earned $XXX,XXX plus benefits, would you not agree we might lure a rotation of the strongest managers in any given field to maintain our schools?
Baksheesh.
Even at ostensibly altruistic enterprises such as public education?
So, just pay top officials more? That’s how you capitalize government?
Not just top officials, pay each position competitively. Accordingly, school executives get executive fucking wages.
Think about an Intel bigwig taking a few years off to manage a Santa Clara school district. Would he run the thing like a business or would he keep cranking out a half-assed community outreach?
As for altruism? Professionally, that shit’s a bad trip.