From this week's The Week.
CEOs govern better than bureaucrats
Most of President Obama's Cabinet members have spent their careers as “academics, government staffers, or elected officials,” said John E. Sununu at The Boston Globe.
posted on July 22, 2011, at 9:29 AM
John E. SununuThe Boston Globe
Nobody on President Obama’s team has ever “had to make a business work,” said John E. Sununu. Most of his Cabinet members—including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, his key economic policymaker—have spent their careers as “academics, government staffers, or elected officials.” That doesn’t “make them bad people,” but it’s a real problem as we try to get the economy back on its feet.
Previous administrations included successful CEOs who had already made their fortunes. They tend to dive into public service with an eye to improving government efficiency and keeping “their reputation intact.” Bureaucrats, on the other hand, have to “worry about their next job.” That makes them too apt to devise needless regulations so it looks like they are achieving something, no matter how “removed from common sense.”
President Obama constantly touts his enthusiasm for more-effective government. But unfortunately, few of his officials “can distinguish a well-crafted and necessary rule from a waste of time and money.” We may never get rid of bureaucracies, but let’s not put bureaucrats in charge.
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