Of course you're right about business and government, it's just that my daughter came up with a different way of looking at it that I had not previously considered.
The purpose of business is to make money, while the purpose of government is to protect people's rights, and among these rights is the right to make money. If the government showed a profit, people would say that it was competing unfairly with private enterprise, and they would be right. Most businesses make their money by providing goods and services to people that are willing to pay for them. In most cases, nobody is forcing those people to buy those goods and services, they are doing it of their own free will. A notable exception is the insurance business. By requiring people to buy insurance, the government is creating a captive market. Well, not exactly. If there was only one insurance company, then it would be a government sponsored monopoly but, since there are many insurance companies, and the government doesn't tell you which one you have to patronize, it's not exactly the same thing. Nevertheless, it still sucks.
Of course there are crooks in both government and business, but that's not the point my daughter was trying to make. She was disputing the assertion that corporations are, by their very nature, evil. My daughter pointed out that corporations make money for their employees and stockholders, which is more than government does. Actually, that argument is only half right because government also has employees, and they get paid too. While stockholders and citizens are not exactly the same thing, she was making a comparison between the two. Stockholders get a direct monetary return on their investment, while citizens only benefit indirectly from their association with government. The owners of common stock get the same dividend on every share they own, while some citizens get more benefit from government than others. The more I think about it, we are comparing apples to oranges here. Oh well, I didn't say it was a perfect idea, just that is caught my fancy. Especially since it came from my daughter, the liberal.
When you said that I hated a businessman who ran for president last election, I assume you were talking about Romney. I didn't exactly hate him, I just didn't vote for him in the primary because he was too liberal for my taste. I did vote for him in the general election because I certainly liked him better than Obama.
I don't think we will ever see Americans "come together" any time soon because they don't all want the same things. How can we agree on the means when we don't have the same end in mind? The last time that happened was World War II, which was the last war this country decisively won. Ah, they don't make wars like that anymore!
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