Run government like business and watch the dividends roll in

THIS IS IN response to a recent letter to the editor ( Rome News- Tribune, Sept. 18) titled, “Run America like a business? Check out record with HCA.” The writer is referring to Mitt Romney’s remark that, if elected, he would run the government like a business.

Well..... If our federal government is a business and we the citizens are the shareholders, I’d much rather have a highly successful profit making, job creating, problem solving, former chief executive officer of Bain Capital, than a lackluster former Chicago community leader, as president of that business.

The writer complained about huge profits that HCA ( parent company of Redmond Regional) made for wealthy stockholders of Bain Capital. If the writer owns shares in a mutual stock fund he could, himself, be one of those many “wealthy” share holders — and also a capitalist.

The writer doesn’t mention how much of that Bain Capotal profits and dividends was taken away by the federal government in the form of corporate tax, capital gains tax and income tax. If he doesn’t invest part of his earnings in profit-making businesses and industry, or in saving accounts, CDs or annuities, what will he do when he retires? Live off the taxpayers? Or on money he’s buried in the backyard?

He mentioned a New York Times report about “aggressive” billing of Medicare/Medicaid by HCA, but he didn’t specify whether or not those abuses occurred while Mitt Romney was CEO of Bain Capitol.

HCA is not the only health care provider, that, along with health care consumers, have taken (and still take) gross advantage of Medicare and Medicaid. That amount of abuse would not be possible in a competitive freemarket health care system where the providers bill only the patient or the patient’s private insurer.

Forcibly taxing working people to support the poor is not the same thing as people freely giving to the needy, either personally or by contributing to charitable organizations. And the latter is a lot more economical, and far less harmful. At one time, before welfare reform, the overhead (high salaries and benefits for government employee, and other bureaucracy expensess) of the government welfare system ate up 80 percent of the money appropriated for welfare — leav- ing only 20 percent for the needy clients. Compare that to the Red Cross’s overhead costs. According to the lady I talked to at the Calhoun Red Cross office, their overhead is only 15 percent.

If we had put our faith and our money in charitable organizations, and in the inherent compassion and generosity of our fellow human beings (instead of Big Nanny), and in the American free enterprise system, we definitely would not be $16 trillion in debt.

Several years ago the Rome News- Tribune reported that Redmond Regional Hospital treated more charity patients — voluntarily — than did Floyd Medical Center, a county supported facility that is required by law to treat the indigent.

If the sudden elimination of the above mentioned government programs were to occur, we might have to set up a few soup kitchens, etc, for some laid off government employees. But only for a short while — until they found a new job in a rapidly rebounding economy — an economy based on American free- enterprise and the competitive free-market capitalist system — an economic system that, conservatively speaking, really works for the general welfare and well-being of all our citizens. ROBERT RAKESTRAW

Rome