The thing with government...

The thing with government is, is that government, need not know the exact details of any private sector initiative. However, a government, only need to know how to go about making the necessary decisions to make the private sector, more efficient.

Not that I'm saying that government need to not know, intimately, the needs and the dynamics of every industry either. However, the government need only know how and what to put in place, to make the situation more responsive to the market demands. A good observation on behaviour and activity, is better served than having a know it all expert on any issue. The expert may in turn use his or her expert position, to hoodwink you at every corner, or, stifle progress for personal gain at every turn. It is the free market, after all.

This admission of this most rational theory, is on the premise that the government, through laws and regulations, know exactly what is legal in the market place as a component of the market--at the very least. Government's should know what's right and what's wrong in a jurisdiction. Also, it is also based on the premise that no one politician, will have the power or position in democracies, to have the end all say in every single private market initiative.

This assumes too that in other forms of governments, dictatorships as well as communist states, that they have tried centralized economic decision making and, have fell short in harnessing the effects of a full, participatory market place. The evidence to believe this is a fair assumption, is clear on regimes that are dictatorial or very centralized with power in an elite few, who neglect many natural resources and comparative advantages, for the sake of their own interests. A recent and more relevant example comes to mind with the Iraqi oil fields, for years, under-developed by Saddam Hussein. Also, the lack of other, possible, alternatives in the market for other countries, with similar comparative advantages but little or no incentive to produce or invest in it--the entire Caribbean, with little or no alternative, other than tourism and administrative services; financial, legal and now, research and data storage.

At that base level I feel, it is not necessary that a government or a politician, be a hot shot expert on anything. However, they do need to see and have a vision for talent and best practice, considering the circumstances that are presented to them.

For example, it did not take a hot shot financier, to know that futures trading, was sending the market into inflationary sessions. But, it does not take a hot shot financier, to know that there should be a cap on that if we are to have equitable prices in the market and to make the necessary adjustment on that type of market activity.

Based on that function and the obvious nature of that example, there are very many differing degree's of latitude that one can and should take to adjust to circumstances and situations--not just for government, but in your professional and personal life as well!