Business and politics

[nancylebov]

Is there anyone who's good at business who's gone into politics?

For a first whack at a definition, "good at business" means having been in a position to make major decisions (possibly limited to CEO, but I'm not sure about this), made money most years, never went bankrupt. Doing something useful is a bonus.

If any such people went into politics and got elected, did their business background seem to have done any good?

One of my friends mentioned Truman as someone who was bad at business who was a good enough president, but that's not the category I'm looking for.

For those of you who think not wanting to be president should be a qualification for the job, what do you think of conscripting Warren Buffett? Anyone else you'd want to try? (I think consent matters, so I don't recommend this.)

This post has been inspired by Donald Trump and GWB.

Comments

[nwhyte]

Hmm, loses marks for inheriting the business rather than building it up himself - and did it really prosper with him in charge?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It did OK. It's still one of the major cargo carriers on the Great Lakes.