MY NEW SERIAL Q: Should govt be run "like a business"?

[DrPepper12]

Should we hire, as needed, the cheapest mercenaries or fund a standing, domestic army which will turn a loss and not generate profits?

Same question for military kit & hardware. It's a revenue drain & not profitable.

Yes

No

[RavVid]

We have a Productivity Commission that reviews major gov't expenditure in terms of benefit to GDP of say a freeway. That is somewhat like a business doing a profit projection.

Our Public Service is given efficiency targets. That is also a good thing but it can reward inefficiency and punish efficiency if care isn't taken.

I will argue strongly in favor of cost reduction within public or private.

i think gov't should be run like businesses in this respect. Some areas like defense forces are must haves but you can still put performance measures around them.

[Anonymous]

The US is currently funding huge armies of mercenaries around the globe to fight wars the us government and corporations have special interests in. It works out much cheaper as yiu can get very cheap personal often having basic training from African countries. Then next level up you have south & central American ex soldiers which cost more than Africans but less than western ex military. Then there's east European troops that cost more than south or Central Americans. Then there's ex NATO trained troops which cost less than US army or marines. Fielding mercenaries cost less than the us military and have less red tape.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

The way I'd like to see govt has little to do with what govt is in reality. We have this pact, constantly renewed, that organizing a society is a mission for either a small group of leaders, a single leader, or a God going by many names.

It looks like, as an ensemble, we take great pleasure in sub/dom political dynamics. However my libido doesn't go in that direction, I'm excited by godless sex instead.

I must be a pervert.

[exitseven]

No, but there are policies that are ingrained in the government that enables waste and corruption. The policies concerning budgets are suspect. Today the rule is that if you are in charge of a department you have to spend your entire budget or else you will automatically get less the next year.

[seeyounexttuesday]

Government contracts are already given to the lowest bidder. So yeah. But to answer the question it should be run by a business and work towards the benefit of the owners (taxpayers). So spending billions on foreign wars is not in my interest. Spending millions to illegally research coronaviruses in shoddy labs in China is not in our interest.

[AviatorTom]

Yes and No. Government shouldn't be out to make a profit, but using business practices, especially when making decisions, is a good idea.

[RedInnocent69]

Um, no. Government services are inherently utilities. That doesn’t mean they should be prone to bureaucracy and waste, but most people who bitch about public spending have zero clue about the challenges of actual public administration

[Dongie]

Yes.