“He did it to try to save the business.”
Mitt Romney
In the above words, Mitt Romney mischaracterizes President Obama's goals for bailing out the auto industry and, more importantly, he illustrates his ignorance of the role of government in our society.
Paul Krugman, in his New York Times op-ed of today, writes about Mitt Romney and why a businessman a la Romney would be very bad for our nation. In his op-ed, Paul discusses when a country tries to operate like a business -- that is maximize profit via draconian cost controls -- it leads to disastrous results for the nation's citizens.
During times of intense woe -- as during a Great Recession or worse, a Great Depression -- functional, democratic governments usually operate as counterbalancing forces (i.e. counter-cyclical in economic jargon) to market forces. Conversely and in dictatorial style, companies cut costs -- mainly via employee layoffs -- during economic downturns or other company difficulties.
Krugman, Paul. "America Isn’t a Corporation." The New York Times 12 January, 2012: online edition.
Related information:
Sullivan, Andy and Greg Roumeliotis. "Special report: Romney's steel skeleton in the Bain closet." Reuters 6 January, 2012: online Edition US.
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