Sunday 10 November 2024

Who has the Biz Cred?

Kamala camp. Those who have Zero days of experience in the business world: Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Tim Walz. And many others (Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib....).

Trump camp. Those that have founded, owned and run substantial companies: Donald Trump, J D Vance, Usha Vance, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Bergum…. And dozens of others. 

I had many scrappy jobs before I became an Australian diplomat, then an Asian business consultant, then a senior-ish corporate guy. Finally founded and ran a business. It was only doing the business that I learned about meeting a monthly salary bill. In my case for 300 staff, each month. 

That’s key. It’s bracing. It teaches you the realities of life. 

I firmly believe that lack of that business experience is a severe lack in any senior job. Let alone the presidency. 

Elon Musk has called a nation "a corporation at the extreme, with a monopoly on violence'. That is, you have to understand how a corporation works to understand how a country works. Even then, it's only part of the story because of the way in which bad incentives infect a country vs a corporation. 

But still, it's a minimum requirement, I reckon. A sine qua non. And the Kamala Kamp had none of it. Good riddance.