Not really sure how much of a difference that makes. Most CEO and corporate boards are just as willing to rip off the shareholders as the customers if they can profit from it and get away with it.
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Just like a great American company, with the bossâs idiot son in law in charge.
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Good points. I was thinking more of the âconventional wisdomâ response, led by the stenography contingent.
Yâknow, the one that just canât abide that condescending eye-rolling when a Republican says something stupid.
Oh, and brown suits, those are really bad.
Or to tamp down coverage of the treason from colluding with hostile foreign powers to get elected scandal.
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While itâs a certainty that Trumpâs efforts here will be executed with his usual spectacular incompetence and avaricious bungling, the whole âmaking government more efficientâ mantra is standard Republican orthodoxy since at least 1980.
All of us here know what âmaking government more efficientâ really means to Republicans anyhow: âmaking business easier.â I.E., getting rid of every tax, guideline, regulation, rule, law, ordinance, statute, and standard that constrains the ability of corporations to extract, extort, pillage, steal, purloin, rape, plunder, and deplete everything in their path, without the slightest regard for the public interest.
This is the real goal of glibertarian oligarchs like Mercer, the Kochs, and of course the wannabe oligarch Trump: the regulatory environment of 1860.
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O, GOODY, well RUSSIA be at the wheel.
Who can stop this MAD MAN?
He only know how to DESTROY.
What will be first OVERHAUL??/ To eliminate elections?
He is a FASCIST NAZI.
Heâs lost his mind.
The little toff who canât even get his garbage out on the street on the right day in Kalorama is going to fix the United States? Right.
The career government types are going to go for him with knives. Excellent.
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Given that these people are in control of an atomic arsenal, we might want to put some limits on how spectacularly to let 'em crash and burn.
I mean, Iâm not so sure itâs better if the spectacle of crash and burn ends in a nuclear holocaust - particularly since the city I live in would be one of the likely targets.
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Thank you. A government serves its people â not rip them off. Assholes. Unqualified assholes.
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âThe government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.â
When you start with a faulty premise regarding government, it can only mean one of a few thingsâŚyou really donât know what government does, or what it represents to its citizens beyond your limited scope, and are doomed to fail from the beginningâŚPossibly all three.
Government should not be run like a business. America is not a trademark. It is not an American company labeled âThe U.S.Aâ 
. Government is not in the business of making profit, revenues yes, but not personal or private profit. If that was the case, the military would be the first thing weâd be forced to cut, as it contributes a huge drain on our financial bottom line as a countryâŚeven though we keep adding to it without any serious accounting by the Pentagon.
Also, the government serves those with limited capacity or no capacity to contribute in ways any business would demand, but are in need of services nevertheless, that only government can provide its citizens. These people are not customers, but they are made up of our neighbors, our family and our communities. Disaster relief is just one of many services the government performs as necessary, that has nothing to do with business or the fucking marketplace. Government should strive to set up its policies in ways that are equitable to all, not those that can afford the most. To add, government contracts are bid on, and if I were on an oversight committee or at a good government site like ProPublica, I would be watching this administration like a hawk on how those contracts will be doled out and assigned because I suspect those contracts will have a lot of non-bidding involved, which would be against the law.
We already have government that wants to skew the tax code as well as other policies towards the rich and powerful, but thatâs where Republicans make their biggest mistake, making government like a marketplace for private businesses. Combining or conflating the two is a disaster for the country. Government is not a marketplace for business to sell products. Obamacare for example was never a government program of health insurance like Republicans tried to pretend it was. Private insurance companies willingly joined a marketplace set up by the government as a clearinghouse if they wanted widespread exposure to the citizenry. They werenât forced to join, nor were those companies taken over by the governmentâŚbut like all businesses they had to follow basic regulations if they wanted to be part of that, otherwise they could choose to stay out of the marketplace and set their own outrageous premiums, which is what a lot of folks are now complaining about.
Letâs also not forget that privatization (which is just another way of taking government services and turning them over to a business model) by these Thugs, has been the bane of their warped thinking for years now. Its bad enough we have the private prison system, where they can monetize how many people they can lock up to keep that business going and stay profitable. All they need is a fresh supply of bodies to keep them in business, right? And we all know where that system is first to look for those folks. So really, how good is that for society? As a business, probably not bad. For society, its stinks. It is also inequitable and corrupt as hell. So whatâs next that they are willing to take over from government and hand to someone willing to get rich off of it?
Government can be a marketplace of ideas, policies and proposals and even a clearinghouse in which to find those things listed, but thatâs it. It can give seed money and encourage important research to begin and take off, that no one else is willing to invest in, that is for the good of society. It can work with public/private initiatives in partnershipâŚbut beyond that, it should never be in business to manipulate or control business, unless those businesses harm or take advantage of the American people and need regulatory consideration.
Finally, Jared Kushner should be investigated for conflict-of-interest and nepotismâŚso all this is really a sideshow and really another distraction. It just feels like more manipulation by this administration to keep him close to that Orange Fuck in the WH. I wonder, when President Pence takes over if heâll be letting all these assholes go or will Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon still be in cabinet as his righthand guys as well. Should be interesting when this House of Cards really begins to crash. Its already beginning to go into free-fall.
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ITâS. NOT. A. BUSINESS.
Donald Trumpâs most heartfelt goal is to be able to say to the American citizenryâespecially those who oppose himâthese two words:
âYouâre fired!â
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âRun the government like a businessâ Soooo think short term, maximize profit, abandon scruples serve the stakeholders in the following manner and order (Corporate posiiton - govât equivalent):
- Shareholders/investors - Donor Class
Most important, anything done to enhance their position is paramount - Employees - government workers
Pay them the least you can and squeeze them for the most work - live off their labor - Customers - Voters
Provide the least for the most - distract them with bs while taking away as much as possible to give to group 1. (see above) Alternate view, âThereâs a sucker born every minuteâ.
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whirled peas
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So Kushner is going to go to the pentagon and start fixing up all those programs that are delayed and over budget. How about he start with the F-35 jet program, and when he is done with that he can move onto another thing.
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Now there is a bad idea if ever there was one.
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Iâve been watching TrumpNetDaily AKA CNBC for fifteeen years (wasnât always TND, natch)and I have never seen such an idiotic idea. There used to be a Service Corps of Retired Executives, and Iâll bet it was very helpful to some companies. But over the past fifteen years the arrogance of Business Leaders, stroked by a fawning BJâs,( that is Business Journnalists) and GOP grifters has swollen as quickly as the ethical standards have shrunk. Whatâs more, present company of course excepted, as people get older they tend to become more set in their ways, and furthermore theyâre less likely to be in touch with what todayâs world.Finally, if an exec today is good they beg him or her to work until he or she drops. Assuming he has kept out of the Company Inkwell, a former executive is probably former because he ainât cuttinâ it no more. What company needs a Business Leader with the sound policies of a Rick Snyder or Skeletor? Unless you expect to see BSchools piut in courses and case studies in Development of Felony Efficiency Metrics. Maybe a really lucky company will get to Lucent-size their stock their stock price by either utilizing or using a Face to Face with Sorry Carly. Which as an executive, she sure is.Sooo⌠ruh-roh. Faberâs on the screen. The Guys Worth Listening to have shown up. --30â
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This exhibits such grandiosity and says as much about Jaredâs ego/mental state as it does about Trumpâs judgment.
Someone a little smarter and more sound might say, âhold onâŚIâd like to be a part of this but I donât have the tools in my toolbox to be in chargeâ.
This reminds me of various wealthy kids who dabble in being entrepreneurs with little or no knowledgeâŚfirst in one business, then another, then anotherâŚwith little consequence (except to their employees and vendors) as each fails and folds. Hobbies.
The Trump/Kushner âkidsâ all seem like dabblers.
In this case, it would be one thing if they surrounded themselves with experienced, knowledgeable, professional people instead of toadies and lapdogs. But they really seem to be people with the âwe know bestâ mindset. This is a mistake that outsiders frequently make when they come to WashingtonâŚand this is not going to end well for anyone.
The Kushner/Trump clan are like gangsters from NJ/LI (not a âcoolâ version, if there even is one) who are just out to steal and cheat and pillage. There is a crudeness to them. Ivankaâs postings on her social media accounts have such a thin veneer of humanity to themâŚI think she is making an effort to try and pose as a human but she doesnât even seem to know what that meansâŚshe has created a paper doll version of grown up but there is no whole heartedness to itâŚitâs like an 11 year old from an abusive family who plays make believe. And maybe she is what happens when this 11 year old gets older. It would simply be sad if the rest of us didnât have to pay for the consequences of their baggage.
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Having worked 40 years for great American corporations, I was always happy that the government didnât work like a corporation. In a corporation, you have no control over who your boss is and what assignments you are given. There is a word for governments that run that way, and it isnât democracy.
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I wouldnât mind hearing the Republicans say, âItâs just business, Donnie.â
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Clearly the first step is to disband CongressâŚ
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