In the present climate of our public discourse about regulation and government involvement or control of certain elements of the financial sector, it is important to have a broader perspective of the situation and be honest with our assumptions. Government and business are not at odds with each other as many of the Republican talking heads are postulating. In fact they have similar approaches and purposes. Their missions may ultimately differ but the way they achieve them are the same.
The same fear that many Republicans have of "big government" should also apply to "big business." The collapse of businesses like Enron and others have proven that corruption, red tape and bad customer service exists in large corporations as much if not more than in government. At least in government there is the operating assumption of the government's purpose to bring order, stability and peace to its citizens. Of course this purpose is rarely fulfilled in our current world climate but there are some examples of this aim being fulfilled in history. The main operating principle of business is profit. The "bottom line" is the important principle in business and the only thing you can count on is that a business is out to make money. Trust in the business to function ethically is questionable at best. You also don't necessarily receive good service, more choices, and quality products with big businesses. The larger they get the less accountability you have.
It seems that in any organization (which is what each entity is) you will always have the tug-of-war between personal gain and public service. What is ultimately important is that the leaders of any organization whether it is governmental, business or charitable, act with a commitment to ethics and also commit to carrying out faithfully the mission of the organization.
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