Stephen Downes

Chris Corrigan makes the case here that government is not, and should not be treated like, a business. I mean, after all, if government were a business, then business probably could not afford all the services governments currently provide them mostly for free. For example (from Corrigan): society "provides them with educated talent, and serviced environments in which they can establish their operations." And "companies largely don't have to worry about how their employees get to work." Further, "when economies change or companies go bankrupt, governments are the one that care for the aftermath." The people who conflate government and business, says Corrigan, are "charlatans." And he warns, "the same nonsense may be coming to Canada again too. The metaphors of managing government like a business or, God forbid, a household budget, are not only unhelpful, but they are fundamentally dangerous."