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Kim Shepherd wrote:
> > > > the problem is trying to achieve accountablility
> > > Elections? Official Information Act? Etc...?
The problem with elections is that decisions (by the voters) are made
categorically. When you vote for government you get a whole load of
polices at once. You do not get to compare one particular policy
against another like you would when you go shopping. For instance you
may want to buy a dozen beers and a car magazine but then you have to
weigh that against other needs such as diapers for your new-born etc.
With government all the incremental trade offs you can make as an
individual are heaped together as one big trade off. Rather than going
shopping and buying everything you need, you get to choose between two
shopping trolleys. One filled with 10 things you need and the other
with 8 things you need, but both with about 10 things you don't need.
> > > > private business can achieve accountability because it has a
profit
> > motive
> > > Accountability to no-one but the shareholders, but sure.. I guess
you
> can
> > > still call that 'accountability'...
> >
> > Ah come on. The shareholders have very little say. The only say is
whether
> > they
> > choose to buy or sell their shares.
> The major shareholders choose the board of directors, who have
absolute rule
> over the corporation. I'd call that a fairly big "say"... in any
case, it's
> not the "say" you were talking about, it was the accountability of
the
> company... you ask any economist or corporate lawyer, and I'm sure
they'll
> tell you the ONLY responsability a corporation has is to deliver as
much
> money to its shareholders as possible.
> Whether that's the best way of doing things or not is probably for
another
> debate, but you can't deny that Government's and SOEs etc. have a lot
of
> extra people they're accountable to, and in different ways than
'making
> profit'.
But what does "making a profit" mean? What are businesses doing when
they make a *profit*? They are selling products to consumers who walk
in and go "I want to buy that". When I purchase something from a
business I am enabling them to make a profit (perhaps) but more
importantly that business is giving me what I want. So ultimately
making profit means to give people what they want.
Currently I am running a business with my family. You are right, our
goal is quite simply to make a profit. But to do this we don't ask
ourselves what we would like our business to do. We ask ourselves what
the customers will want us to provide. If you don't listen to what
your customers demand then you will soon find yourself out of business.
With private business the power is with the consumer. If they don't
like what you're offering they don't have to buy it.
> > The primary stakeholders to big business, or any business is the
bloody
> > consumer!
> I don't agree... they are a major stakeholder but not the biggest.
The
> biggest is the majority shareholder. Consumers have no power at all.
They
> can shop around for the best deal (ie. the 'competition' argument),
but if
> all they can get is shit, that's what they'll have to settle for.
> -k.
"the best deal". The question is if that is the best deal, can
government provide better considering the innate problems of government
enterprises?
I would say not very often.
WD.
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