Almost 80 percent of lawmakers have no academic background in business or economics, even as Congress grapples with deficits, unemployment and other economic issues of tremendous complexity, according to an independent analysis released Tuesday.
The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) found that only 8.4 percent of lawmakers majored in economics or a related field, while just 13.7 percent studied topics related to business or accounting.
Another argument for term limits. Too many lawyers, too many time servers.
I would be more interested in knowing how many of them have had any actual experience running a business.
I am not certain why you would want a Congress that all had MBA’s. A range of experience is more important. I am more concerned that there are so few veterans in Congress. Being in the military changes your world view and your whole perspective on life.
Every time the majority of congresspersons open their mouths, they reveal they have no education at all, and worse give every evidence that education would do them no good at all.
Yes, but, if they had the right education and/or life experience, then it would be less likely they’d spout off their incoherent worldviews on a regular basis–what fun would that be?!!
Business is different than economics in the same way that driving a car is different than being a mechanic. Individual businesses may make good rational decisions (say, holding wealth until demand increases) that end up harming the economy (refraining from spending).
Government is fundamentally different than either. An economist doesn’t insist on any values, arguing that desire is desire. Public officials have to negotiate between different power institutions that have particular interests. A good public executive balances different competing interests for the sake of the common good. A businessman, on the other hand, is interested in personal profit, which may run counter to the common good. Most would argue that government officials interested in personal profit make poor public servants.
And entrepreneurs generally have different characteristics than administrators. The set of skills of someone who governs and legislates is not identical one who runs a business.
I think that term limits actually create perverse incentives. Someone elected may be MORE likely to sell their influence to a patron for whom they can work for at a later date. I may promise to work in congress for only 8 years, but I’ll have built up contacts with the oil industry, thus ensuring a more lucrative job down the road.
Further, like business, governing is learned. It requires an ability to negotiate interests, work with a wide assortment of people, and plan for the long term – beyond the election cycle.
Well, the people with the stupidest ideas I have ever met have MBA’s. Just because you have a piece of vellum on the wall saying you know something about something doesn’t mean you do.
Case in point: Many in Congress have law degrees, and the laws these clowns pass are abyssmal, most having not even read the legislation they are voting on.
This all points to the fact that you get what you voted for……and what you [i]didn’t[/i] vote for. There is nothing in the Constitution which specifies that one must be a trained economist or banker……or even a lawyer or a military veteran, for that matter.
No. 8, or even a Christian for that matter.
There’s also nothing which says that one must possess [i]common sense,[/i] either…..unfortunately.