Who is spending your money?

Washington versus Business

Before the 2008 elections I was visiting my home state of Pennsylvania.

The Pa governor was attempting to obtain $10,000, 0000 (for Penn State Grads, that’s ten million dollars) from the Pa treasury to donate to RINO turned Demo Senator Arlen Specter so the Senator could build a library bearing his name.

The governor, who would be gone after the coming election due to term limits, was acutely aware that the state was bankrupt. In spite of that he wanted the State to donate the ten mil before he left office. When critics complained the governor said they could just raise taxes to fund the project.

The governor’s attitude seems to be common to people who work for government. I have been on the board of directors for two different home or condo owners associations. The board members who had been in government or school systems had the same attitude as the governor; Raise fees! The thought to save or reduce spending was not in their thought process.

If there weren’t enough business people on the board, fees were raised.

Business people understand that to spend more money they had to increase sales. They understand that overhead costs can kill a business. Using the governors desire to “donate” ten million dollars for example, a business man operating at 10% profit would have to generate one hundred million dollars in new sales.

I’ve been saying for years that a politician should not be allowed to run for office unless he/she has run a business and had to rely on making a profit to feed their family.

I would accept an alternate requirement that aspiring politicians be required to take an exam to prove that they understand a Profit/Loss statement.