Public Service Isn’t a Business
Governing for 350 Million Is Not About Increasing Income for a Few
Public services and private businesses exist for fundamentally different reasons. Businesses are designed to generate profit for their owners or shareholders. In contrast, public services exist to meet collective needs—like education, health, safety, and infrastructure—that cannot be addressed adequately by individuals or local groups alone. At its core, public service is about serving everyone, not generating income.
Business skills such as budgeting and efficiency can certainly help the public sector function more smoothly. Utilizing business values—like prioritizing profit, competition, or shareholder gain—undermines the very purpose of public service. The public sector’s guiding principles are fairness, access, and the common good. When we try to run government like a business, it often becomes less effective and, ironically, more expensive.
This corporate mindset can lead to harmful outcomes. When business values dominate government, the result is predictable: the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Flint, Michigan, offers a stark example. In an effort to “cut costs,” city officials privatized water management, projecting millions in savings. In reality, those savings never reached residents. Instead, public money shifted from essential services to a series of private contractors—each brought in to manage, assess, or attempt to fix the water system—while water rates for residents soared, at one point reaching up to eight times the national average. Some of these firms were hired to assess water safety issues, but failed to warn about lead contamination, and their recommendations arguably worsened the crisis. The result: contaminated drinking water, skyrocketing bills, and a public health emergency, all while contractors profited. Ultimately, the attempt to “save money” left residents paying more for unsafe water, with the financial and health burdens falling on the community rather than any real savings being achieved. Essentially, privatization is often another way to move money from the middle to the top.
When essential public programs are treated as financial burdens instead of vital investments, basic services become privileges for those who can afford them, rather than rights for all.
(For more on why a strong middle class is crucial, see the articles linked below.)
Under a corporate model, the public is no longer the customer. Instead, the true customers are the wealthy few who fund campaigns and influence policy behind closed doors. When government acts like a corporation, it prioritizes the interests of those who pay the politicians. This creates lucrative revenue streams for a select few—such as privatized prisons—that profit contractors while delivering worse services at higher costs. For instance, privately run prisons often cut corners to boost profits, resulting in overcrowding, underpaid staff, and higher rates of repeat offenses. Ultimately, taxpayers bear the cost.
When government trims “costs,” it often means cutting essential services that people rely on. A government run by business values concentrates wealth and power at the top, frays the social safety net, shrinks opportunity, and deepens inequality. The best public service would borrow business skills while upholding the core values of fairness and the common good.
Business is about return on investment for shareholders. Public service is about building a society where everyone has the tools to live, learn, and thrive.
Further Reading:
Explainer: Why a Strong, Healthy Middle Class Matters
The Collapse of the Middle Class Is a National Security Threat