One of the most frequently used turns of phrase used by Republicans and conservatives today is that the problem with government is that there isn't enough business sense or executive experience within the modern governmental hierarchy. We keep hearing that the government needs 'experienced job creators', those who have 'run a business' and 'those who know how the economy works' if we are to turn things around. We need these types of people in charge if we are to have government run efficiently and only they have the proven leadership skills needed to bring the government's horrendous debt under control.
This is absurd on the face of it, but not for the most commonly cited reason that I have seen; government leadership doesn't need a money maker because the government isn't supposed to make money. Sure that argument makes a whole lot of sense and is as simple as simple can get. I find a much more vital but less obvious reason for disputing the traditional claims to business leaders' superior management prowess and it was inspired by personal experience.
In college, my professor for a number of classes was a former banker and a former state senator. He was a nice, conversational, and intelligent guy and we spoke from time to time before and after classes. One time, I asked him how much the national debt was and I received an answer that made me think. His answer, "How much is Old Faithful worth?"
He proceeded to talk about America's national wonders, it's resources, it's people, and it's earning potential. He asked how much those things were worth and when you add all that up together, it is entirely possible that America doesn't really any debt or deficit problems; we may owe some people some money, but we have more than enough assets to cover it.
Go to a stock-trading website that offers free balance sheets sometime and take a careful look at balances between total assets and total liabilities. I did a while ago and put it into a spreadsheet. I picked 25 random publicly traded companies that popped into my head. 25 different companies from numerous different industries and across the spectrum. Of those companies, 3 (Apple-Macintosh, Halliburton, and Starbucks) had less than 50 percent of their assets leveraged by debt. 8 of the companies had debt valued at over 90% of their asset value, including 2 (DirecTV and American Airlines) that had more debt than assets!
Too make a long story short (too late I suppose) business owners and operators shouldn't be defaulted and given ultimate trust to run the government and keep debt down because big business traditionally doesn't do that. They carry as much debt as they feel like they can get away with. America is still the richest, most powerful, and influential nation on earth? How much debt can you get away with carrying when your 'company' has wonders that are priceless and earning potential that at times seems limitless?