Frank Stronach, right-wing dilettante tycoon.
BY PATRICE GREANVILLE
Guess what: The spurious notion, popularized in American mythology, that “businessmen” have a superior understanding of how to run an economy, and therefore society, is also making inroads in Europe. Recently, an article in presseurop.com, AUSTRIA: Old dog teaching new political tricks, caused a small tempest of commentary. The article discussed the plunge into politics by yet another billionaire:
“Austrian billionaire octogenarian Frank Stronach made a sensational debut into politics nine months ago by founding his own party. In the March 3 regional elections, the conservative Eurosceptic is counting on reaping the benefits of the corruption scandals shaking traditional parties.”
This is certainly nothing new to American readers, well acquainted with the naked power of money in politics and the scandalous fetishization of the term “economy” by media and politicians, a mysterious entity treated by leading opinionshapers as a powerful God outside and beyond human powers. This is complete bunk, highhanded claptrap, of course, but such unexamined notions help to explain why when people lose their jobs or social benefits are cut the Dow Jones Index goes up to the jubilation of Wall Street (echoed again by its servants in the media), with little visible response from the masses.
We have picked one comment to reflect our own position, filed by “spanishengineer“. Unfotunately, it’s in Spanish, so here’s my translation:
As this article makes clear, there is a popular idea, disseminated by the right, which unfortunately has penetrated society, and which says that “the skills that work in the [capitalist] economy work also in politics”, implying that the best politician has to be a successful businessman. This [quite] conveniently forgets that private management and public management pursue different ends.
Private management seeks maximum business benefit, and as such it is not concerned with either the distribution of wealth, the equality of rights, or the welfare of society at large. Whatever is deemed inefficient is directly suppressed. But to run a country requires a different set of parameters where there are things that cannot be suppressed. We cannot eliminate older people, culture, or health care services simply because they may not be “efficient”.
Sadly this “economicist” vision has gained enormous traction in politics and is now destroying the people themselves. We no longer worry about people but only about the “economy”, forgetting that the economy should be in the service of society and not society in the service of the “economy”.
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Original comment in Spanish below:
spanishengineer923114 01.03.2013
Como recoge este artículo, hay una idea muy difundida por la derecha, que desgraciadamente ha calado en la sociedad, que dice qué “lo que funciona en la economía funciona también en la política”, por eso se piensa que el mejor político tiene que ser un empresario de éxito. Pero a veces se olvida que la gestión privada y la gestión pública persiguen fines diferentes.
La gestión privada busca el máximo beneficio empresarial, no le interesa ni la distribución de la riqueza, ni la igualdad de derechos, ni el bienestar de la sociedad y lo que no es eficiente directamente lo suprime. Pero gestionar un país requiere de otros parámetros distintos donde hay cosas que no se pueden suprimir. No podemos “suprimir” a los ancianos, la cultura o la sanidad simplemente porque no sean eficientes.
Tristemente se ha impuesto una visión economicista en la política que es la que está destruyendo a las personas. Ya no se piensa en las personas sino en la economía, olvidando que la economía debe estar al servicio de la sociedad y no la sociedad al servicio de la economía.
