If MBAs Ruled The World...Or, If One Won The Next Presidential Election

Believe it or not, there was a time not so long ago (for me, anyway!) when grown men and women actually believed MBAs could run this country, and even the world.

That was in the "Greed Is Good" generation of Gordon Gekko.  When they appeared on talk shows, gave press conferences or ran for office, one of their favorite words was "privatize."  They argued that if the so-called free market was left to do its work, there would be prosperity and nobody would be poor or hungry unless he or she chose to be.

Today, even some who call themselves libertarians are saying that a completely "free" market won't cure us of what ails us, at least economically.  The events of the Fall of 2008 have changed a lot of minds.  However, there are still some who insist that venture capitalists and investment bankers should be left to acquire, sell, slash and burn as they see fit.  Such folks argue that, in the long run, everyone will benefit.

Now, I've been around long enough to know that when people say "everyone," they usually mean people in their social, economic, racial, ethnic, gender and sexual circles.  So, when members of the so-called one percent say that "everyone" will benefit from whatever will benefit them, and you're not one of them, watch out!

An example of such a person is Mitt Romney.  One thing he shares with others who tout similar notions is an absolutely stunning (even in this day and age) level of hypocrisy.  He wants the rigors of the free market for everyone else.  Yet he has never bought one of the companies he ran into the ground with his own money.  Perhaps worst of all, he and his merry band of MBAs at Bain Capital profited when they fired workers, made them re-apply for their jobs, paid them a fraction of their former wages and eliminated their health benefits and stopped maintaining the facilities of the companies they raided. 

And, to top everything off, they would charge consulting and management fees to run businesses they knew nothing about.  They were focused entirely on the next earnings statement, so maintenance and replacement of old equipment was simply a drain on their profits. 

Whether or not the company survived didn't matter to Romney and his gang:  Because they never invested their own money, they couldn't lose any.  The only losers were the ones who had jobs when Bain took over their companies, and the ones who managed those places and, in some cases, guided their companies to record-breaking production and profits before Bain bought them out.

I am guessing that some of those who lost their jobs went to college.  Some may have had savings; even they, I'm sure, had to borrow money.  And, of course, if they don't get a job, and their situations become dire enough that they file for bankruptcy, they're still on the hook for those loans they took out for school.  Though they've lost less (in absolute terms) than those companies that were run into the ground, they lost more in real terms.  And they risked more than Romney ever did, and will pay back more than he ever will.

By the way...If Romney were to win the Presidency, he wouldn't be the first MBA to occupy the White House: George W. Bush holds that distinction.  We see how well that turned out.  But it could be worse:  Romney also has a JD.