In the midst of the hustle and bustle and of your busy morning, take a minute to reflect each day on the bigger picture.
Ohio's Governor, "Johnny the K", continues his efforts to sell out the state to his "big shot" friends and Wall Street-type buds.
He has essentially privatized the Department of Development. Will now "lease" the Ohio Turnpike to private interests. Will privatize 5 state prisons. And wants to turn the Ohio Lottery over to big busines, too.
And maybe higher ed gets turned to big biz as well:
The budget bill also calls for the state's higher education chief, Chancellor Jim Petro, to come up with a system for public colleges and universities to be chartered, or converted to semi-private status, and it also orders a study on the consolidation of state agencies. (AP 6/28/11)
Government and business serve two different masters and have two wildly different goals.
Business has a single goal:make money. That's what it's supposed to do, so all energy focuses on the bottom line.
But government has a greater responsibility: to do the People's business. It's goal is not the bottom line but providing services. To build bridges and roads, keep us safe, make sure our homes don't burn down, guarantee food and water are safe, maintain the social safety net.
Sure, government needs to pay attention to costs, look for efficiencies, live within its means. And using business PRINCIPLES as a guide is a good thing. And there may, indeed be certain functions a government should farm out to business rather than doing it themselves.
But turning government responsibilities over to the private sector is not just a bad idea....it's an abdication of the responsibility office holders were elected to do.
