DC talk

"We're supposed to be fighting this war and paying for the troops -- making sure they have what they need,'' he said. "We're not supposed to be paying for avocado growers.''

That quote is from a March 6 Bloomberg article and is a follow up to my March 5 post. What's happening with the Democrats and the war also correllates with my August 2 post.

This goes to show that we should always have a healthy skepticism about politicians, right or left. Sure, there were be those public servants who do well and understand the limited role government is meant to have under the Constitution. But they are the exception to the rule, and it's better to error on the side of caution than begin with a romantic view of government. Let them earn your trust.

The lack of understanding about what actually occurs in Washington is an important issue. Many who have "normal" jobs are either indifferent to politics or feel that DC politicians have everyone's best interests in mind, and these are understandable feelings.

But the truth is that politicians, like most of our society, are self-interested. And by self-interested, I don't mean that they're looking for what's necessarily best for their constituents in the long-run. Self-interest instead means asking "What do I have to do to get re-elected?"

For me, the most frustrating aspect of this is that I was so naive to the whole process until after my first year of law school. It does not upset me that high school civics courses were taught with a romantic perspective of government. What bothers me is that I spent four and half years at a decent business school and the influence that DC has on business and vice versa was rarely discussed.

Economics was awesome--I learned that there's no such thing as a free lunch, the importance of scarcity and economies of scale, etc. International business was a waste. Basically, the only thing taught with that major is that people in other countries have different perspectives and you should learn to deal with those perspectives. Common sense if you ask me.

For all the coverage on multinational firms and their rise to power, class discussion centered on efficiency, inputs, productivity, supply, demand, and other economic and business concepts. Rightly so, but no one ever mentioned the importance of having the right people on K Street. Any Fortune 500 CEO would be lying if they said what happened in Washington wasn't important. This aspect of business should be reflected in a business school's curriculum.