People or Profit?

What is the role of the chief executive in a private sector business? Is that job a responsibility of creating profit or creating jobs? Most would say that role is one of creating profits. Jobs are only created out of necessity when there are not enough people employed to service the needs of present and future customers. In many cases, the job of the chief executive is to determine the need to eliminate jobs since jobs add to a business expenses and take from profit. Contrary to the assertion of Mitt Romney, the job of a chief executive is not job creation and in the case of a business like Bain Capital, the job of the chief executive is to create wealth for the investors in Bain Capital. The creation of jobs is the last thing on the “to-do” list of a venture capital business CEO. Why, then does Mitt Romney continue to cite his experience at Bain Capital as a prerequisite to be President of the United States? Has he already forgotten that the 43rd President, George W. Bush, claimed his business experience is what qualified him for that job? He apparently has also forgotten the economic troubles a “businessman-president” caused. That President, Bush 43, also claimed to be a job creator and insisted that his tax cuts and deregulation would also create jobs. Unfortunately for about 4 million people, the Bush/Businessman economic policies did just the opposite. Now, along comes Willard Mitt Romney who also claims his businessman background better prepares him to be President than President Obama. He fails to mention that President Obama has over three years experience in the job as President or that President Obama has begun to reverse the economic morass created by businessman Bush. Romney also fails to mention that since the start of the Obama Presidency over 4 million jobs, almost twice the jobs over eight years of Bush 43, have been added to the private sector. Romney also fails to consider even more private sector jobs would have been created but for filibusters in the Senate that blocked job-creation legislation proposed by President Obama. Finally, Romney also fails to note that some of today’s greatest job losses are occurring in state and local government jobs that are being cut by states with Republican controlled legislators and Republican governors. There will be a point at which time the chief executive of a government enterprise will have a need to reduce expenses and that will entail cutting jobs. However, that time is not when there is high unemployment and when the country is not yet out of the recession created by the economic policies of the previous businessman president.