Politicians as Actors

Don Boudreaux (picking on all politicians, but using Obama as an example):

And what of Pres. Obama?  Even if he wins a second term in the White House, he’ll be only 55 years old when he leaves office.  Will he found and run a health-insurance company?  How about a ‘green’ energy firm?  Or will he, perhaps, found and run a firm specializing in offering middle- and low-income Americans better and more fully disclosed access to consumer credit?  Will he create a successful automobile firm?

I’ll bet (seriously) a good deal of money that he’ll do none of these things.  He’ll not even try.  And for good reason: not only does he know nothing about these matters, he knows nothing about finding investors willing to stake their own funds, or about finding skilled workers and managers willing to cooperate together in such upstart enterprises, so that such enterprises become realities with real prospects for success.

He knows no more about the economic matters upon which he pronounces than does a soap-opera actor portraying a physician know about cardiology or obstetrics. [emphasis added]

Why do people listen to these bozos? I’ll tell you why: because we voted to give them the “national car keys”.

Technorati Tags: career,after,office

Comments

[mike shupp]

Hardly fair criticism, since we tend to treat ex-presidents as quasi-clerical figures. Suppose Jimmy Carter bought a car insurance agency in Atlanta -- would any other insurance agency in Georgia be scrutinized quite so seriously by the state tax people? And would it be a scandal if he paid taxes at a conspicuously high or low level? We don't know, we'll never know, because Jimmy Carter hasn't gone down that route. Instead, he's a World Figure. He Travels and Says Important Things and Works for Good Causes, just like your last minister did after retiring.

And the other guys? Taft went to the Supreme Court; Richard Nixon had to make it as an author; Lyndon Johnson seems to have built up a fortune with TV stations during his senate career; Hoover was in the mining business and (even more profitably) the mining stocks business; other wealthy Presidents seem to have inherited their money. What politicians do on their way up for money doesn't get much scrutiny, but they hit the top... Vestel Virgin-dom awaits, established religion in this country or no.

[Dave Tufte]

Omigosh ... doesn't this prove the point?

Neil Armstrong got out of being a "world figure" and became an engineering professor.

Muhammad Ali became a "world figure", but almost no other boxer chose that route (George Foreman became a ... I don't know ... what the heck is he?).

In economics, we call this revealed preference: what you actually do says something about who you are and what you want.

And presidents ... really don't want to be people who use their experience to run a business. I'd settle for a viable non-profit.

I think your points are well-taken :) But I'm still waiting for one of them to struggle a little bit when they're pigeon-holed into Vestal Virgin status.

[mike shupp]

George Foreman has been a Baptist minister since 1977; he also has that grill, so he qualifies as a businessman.

I wouldn't be surprised to see former Presidents wind up at the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, or university presidency someday, especially a youngish one like Bill Clinton. If lifespans keep growing, they'll likely grow bored with secular sainthood.

[Dave Tufte]

Interesting possibilities there ...

Hilary supposedly wants the World Bank. Since Bill is such a citizen of the world, maybe he could snag the IMF from the Europeans, and the two of them could have an NGO cage fight.