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> If the people deciding where the money should go had any ability at all, they would be working in private investment. Just curious: do you think that econom

> If the people deciding where the money should go had any ability at all, they would be working in private investment. Just curious: do you think that economic development agencies would be improved if governments were willing to pay salaries equivalent to private investment firms, thus attracting better talent?

masterleep 14y ago
No. The problem is lack of accountability, not talent-for-hire.
debacle 14y ago
See masterleep's comment. Governments will always be bad with money because they never are dealing with their own money.
- jbooth 14y ago
  Private organization stakeholders aren't usually dealing with their own money either, with similar results depending on the org. You know how much multi-million dollar business gets done over a few grand worth of Yankees tickets? This was a case of garden variety corruption, where the gov wasn't even getting kickbacks, he just liked the Red Sox, Schilling's a hero in New England, and he saw him as a fellow traveler conservative. If Schilling was going to George Clooney's fundraisers, this deal doesn't happen.
  - debacle 14y ago
    Private investment management is usually performance based.
    - jbooth 14y ago
      If you're going to restrict it to specifically the investment business, then yeah, typically. But pretty much anyone who purchases for a living is awash in kickbacks, the kind of stuff you'd be fired from a government for. FWIW I agree that the government shouldn't be in the investment game except for strategic investments by the federal government (ball bearings, green tech, DARPA, stuff like that). Certainly not video game companies. There is still a role for development agencies, doing stuff like helping streamline paperwork, advocating for sewer hookups, stuff like that. They shouldn't be investors.
- koeselitz 14y ago
  If the people who govern and the people who give the government money are two different sets of people, something ought to change.

masterleep 14y ago

No. The problem is lack of accountability, not talent-for-hire.

debacle 14y ago

See masterleep's comment. Governments will always be bad with money because they never are dealing with their own money.

jbooth 14y ago
Private organization stakeholders aren't usually dealing with their own money either, with similar results depending on the org. You know how much multi-million dollar business gets done over a few grand worth of Yankees tickets? This was a case of garden variety corruption, where the gov wasn't even getting kickbacks, he just liked the Red Sox, Schilling's a hero in New England, and he saw him as a fellow traveler conservative. If Schilling was going to George Clooney's fundraisers, this deal doesn't happen.
- debacle 14y ago
  Private investment management is usually performance based.
  - jbooth 14y ago
    If you're going to restrict it to specifically the investment business, then yeah, typically. But pretty much anyone who purchases for a living is awash in kickbacks, the kind of stuff you'd be fired from a government for. FWIW I agree that the government shouldn't be in the investment game except for strategic investments by the federal government (ball bearings, green tech, DARPA, stuff like that). Certainly not video game companies. There is still a role for development agencies, doing stuff like helping streamline paperwork, advocating for sewer hookups, stuff like that. They shouldn't be investors.
koeselitz 14y ago
If the people who govern and the people who give the government money are two different sets of people, something ought to change.