According to Mitt Romney, “Corporations are people, my friend.” I really do understand what he was getting at. He was postulating that corporations are made up of people, and those people benefit from the corporation. I agree…to a point. However, when you break decisions down to a spreadsheet, and your goal is for the profit of the corporation, and not for the benefit of it’s customers and employees, then your argument loses all its foundation.
Mitt himself is a perfect example of corporate irresponsibility. He served over a company whose prime goal was to cut costs, and eliminate overhead. That overhead, always, was the people hired to do the work. There is very little consideration of the human element when determining how to streamline the business process. I can think of few instances where the reorganization of the corporation ended with increased benefit to the customer, and even fewer which benefitted the employee.
Mitt is definitely the spreadsheet politician. The problem with the spreadsheet, is that no matter how much data you put together, you’re still not getting the whole picture. Also, contrary to popular opinion, numbers lie. More to the point, numbers can prove your already incorrect preconceived notions. You most likely need an example.
If you ask 100 American’s whether they are against flag burning, at least 99 of them will say yes. By that answer you can assume that American’s believe in limits on free speech. Now, if you ask that same group of people “Do you think there should be a limit on freedom of speech?” That same group of people would give you an emphatic “No.” Depending on your agenda, you can ask the question, and get the numbers you want to forward your own goals.
Corporations and politicians do this all the time. They spend millions on research to get proof for the outcome they already support. There is very little interest in understanding what the best way is to do something. The only real goal seems to be to support whatever prejudices one already has. I’m no less guilty. However, more than once, I have been proven wrong, and changed my preconceived view. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a politician do that, and I’m not sure a corporation is capable.
I will admit that you can make a business very successful by looking primarily at the numbers. However, government is not a business. It is not a for-profit enterprise. Government, at least our government, is For The People, and By The People. Therefore if our government is for the people it is not for corporations. Government needs a human element to be successful. And let’s face it. While corporations might be people, they are definitely inhuman, and no matter how you look at it, they are nobody’s friend.