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When pushing for the United States to be run more like a business, please keep in mind that framework naturally conflates the populace with labor and public servants with bosses. As it is, roughly half the country sees a workplace future of “struggling” or “suffering,” according to Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace” report. Yet this week, one of the “bosses” pushed again for “labor” to delay retirement.

“If we could just get the average American to feel so healthy, so with it, so vibrant, that they want to work one extra year, that’s worth $1 trillion to our GDP every year,” said Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He made those remarks standing next to his actual bosses: President Trump and the secretary of Health and Human Services. How the average American gets this healthy while the administration cuts healthcare is akin to your bosses adding extra work while refusing to fill a headcount.

When you run a business — and I have — you’re not responsible for people once they stop working for you. It’s up to them to figure it out. When you enter public office, it’s supposed to be with the understanding that being responsible for all the people, from cradle to grave, is the job. A business closes an office or moves a plant. But a country takes care of its people.

“We’re living in a world where there’s a lot of people that just don’t want to work,” billionaire John Morgan said recently on “The Iced Coffee Hour,” defending his company’s policy of surveilling remote workers. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You can work from home, but guess what? We’re going to put a camera on your computer. We’re going to put a camera up your a--.”

Morgan didn’t clarify if the camera was going to be a Flock or some other brand, but he did say more than 20 employees fled afterward. As a boss, he doesn’t have to care what happens to them next, so long as his company makes money. That’s the nature of capitalism.

However, anyone pushing for the United States to be run more like a business will be tempted to view the “profits” as the public coffers. But what’s good for actual businesses could be very bad for the government’s balance sheet. For example, from 2026 through 2035, Medicare’s prescription drug spending is projected to increase 34%, which will be a boon for countless drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers. However, adding a projected $731 billion to government spending is awful for the country. The war........

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