If there is a theme that is plainly evident concerning the nexus of governance and business, it is that government involvement in business is either the result of poor business practices or, more traditionally, poor business practices are the result of government involvement.
If GM and Chrysler had been sound would government have so easily and so heavily gotten involved with them? Ford's example lays bare the obvious answer to that question. Ford successfully navigated the market downturn of late 2008 without a government bailout as a result of proper business practices .
If the US Postal Service were not run by government would the business of shuffling mail be unprofitable? FedEx and UPS lay bare the obvious answer to this question as well. FedEx and UPS are profitable while the USPS is currently losing billions.
Not to be forgotten, though, is government involvement in starting up businesses that private sources of funding reject as unprofitable. On a national level the corn-gas debacle comes to mind as an obvious example of this due to the recent revelations by Al Gore that his support for the debacle was political rather than scientific.
A more local example is Brad Miller's proposal to help round up government funding in lieu of a private investment group's failure to find private funding for a 180-room hotel in Greensboro North Carolina on the site of Elm Street Center. The search for funding was based on market research dating from 2008 (pre great recession) that concluded that the Greensboro market could support such a hotel. Funding from private resources has proven difficult.
Via News-Record:
Kaplan has been interested in building a hotel on the site of Elm Street Center, a convention and ballroom space, since 2008, when he got the results of a study saying this market would support a luxury hotel downtown.
Rep. Brad Miller, though, chooses to overlook the dated market study:
[emphasis added]“We’re still working diligently as if (the deal) could close, but realistically we don’t think we’ll get it all put together,” Randall Kaplan said Monday.
That is, unless the deadline for the federal program can be extended into 2011.
There’s a chance that could happen. Late Monday, U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat whose district covers parts of Greensboro, agreed to co-sponsor a bill that would extend parts of the federal stimulus bill, including the bond financing, into 2011.
The mixing of government in a business is a sign that that business or its idea should be buried. Period.
A good socialist would disagree and Rep. Brad Miller does in the following.
In another local example of government involvement in what should be a private venture, Rep. Brad Miller lavishes praise on the project. According to The News of Orange County:
Debra Markley, project coordinator for Piedmont Health Services, which oversees the Prospect Hill center, said the two-story building will likely be completed in about nine months.
...
The facility, which is largely being paid for with federal stimulus money, will be more efficient that Prospect Hill’s current 20-year-old building.
So, a twenty year old building was not good enough, not efficient enough - likely due to government regulation?- and just absolutely had to be replaced. And "Jim Yong, manager of facilities and planning, said the new office will be designed in a circular fashion, making it easier to navigate for patients."
According to Rep. Brad Miller the current facility functions just fine:
Rep. Brad Miller said Prospect Hill Community Health Center, which offers medical and dental services, along with an in-house pharmacy, should serve as an example to other communities.
But despite this praise, government funding (federal stimulus money) was rounded up by Brad Miller to replace the currently fully functioning facility. The total cost of this is absent in the article, however the amount can be found here:
...$1.1 million, will go toward building a new facility in Prospect Hill, which is immediately north of the Orange County line in southernmost Caswell County, said Brian Toomey, the executive director of Piedmont Health Services.
What did Brad Miller have to say of his boondoggle?
“It saves us a lot of money. This is how health care should work in this country. Period,” Miller said.
In other words -- government and business in cahoots is the way to go, or more accurately, socialism is the way to go. Period.
This the sad state of Brad Miller's immoral governance.
out
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