CEOs ruin USA

            The United States is in the middle of a devastating epidemic of “Obsessive CEO Syndrome” (OCS), a debilitating condition in which victims’ are deluded into thinking that the chosen people at the top of organization charts have the best minds, [all ITAL] the answers to [all of our problems, and, should they choose to abandon the rarefied air of their boardrooms, make the best public servants/elected officials.

            In other words, OCS is borderline insanity. So, in order to return the nation to mental health as early as possible, [all ITAL] of us need to be able to recognize the bizarre logic and assumptions of people who may suffer from OCS and know the best protocols to save them—and us, from them. Here are examples of some of their most twisted thinking:

            1. Government can do no good: Most victims of OCS fell under the noxious spell of actor-turn-presidential-impersonator Ronald Reagan—or others who did. For eight years, the best gig of his career—no matinees!—he repeated the mantra that his corporate cronies gave him. But the last time I checked, NASA, the U.S. military, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Hurricane Center were government agencies, among others. Would anyone say they are “no good”?

            2. Business can do no evil: Eve is the patron saint of business. It’s not just a few bad apples; season after season, business reaps harvests of illegalities that are the stuff of daily newspaper headlines: Medicare and Medicaid fraud; securities, investment, and banking crimes; consumer rip-offs; ponzi schemes. Remember Enron?

            3. The Founding Fathers were capitalists who framed the Constitution to promote corporate interests: Contrary to the Sarah-Palin-made-up-classic-comic-book version of America history, our FF’s were largely former British royalist-loyalists, land-and-slave-holding aristocrats who [never ITAL] envisioned this country serving business interests on a scale they could [never ITAL] have imagined.

            4. The government should be run like a business by businesspeople and for the benefit of businesses: Calvin Coolidge observed, “the chief business of the American people is business.” But that doesn’t mean that the government should be taken over by business interests. The [proper ITAL] role of government is to provide a supportive environment in which business can thrive—but not at the expense of the public interest. No matter what they think, the Koch brothers don’t own America.

            5. The private sector creates job, but the public section doesn’t: Hogwash! Most major businesses “create” jobs through government contracts (taxpayer money). Historically, the public sector creates jobs—police, fire, and fire rescue personnel; teachers; members of the armed forces. Believing the unproven claim that for-profit businesses can provide better services more cheaply than government, proponents of privatization want to give them guaranteed revenue streams. More hogwash!

            6. Markets should be self-policed and free of regulation: 1929 & 2008: Nothing need be said!

            7. CEO’s make the best public servants/elected officials: Former CEO-governor Rick Scott has not created the jobs he promised and has violated his oath of office by routinely putting business interests above those of “the people.” When CEO-governor Mitt Romney left office, Massachusetts was 47^th in job-growth, burdened with a $1 billion deficit, and had seen an increase in state and local taxes.

            The cure for OCS is facing reality: Businesspeople know nothing about running government. CEO’s should stick to business, succeed or fail, and stop messing with “the people’s” bottom line.#