Economic perfection

 If I was reincarnated, I would vote for being in retailing. If heaven is a full plate every night,   16% will get you there . Roger Corbett , Former chairman of Woolworths appeared on the ABC brim full of the sort of confidence that shakes those of who struggle with trying to keep order in the real world .

The scary part was that both Mr Corbett and the interviewer were talking as though this market means was  God's gift to the world.( it maybe in part)  The temptation to think so narrowly about success is  strong because the road is straight and clear- a comfort zone; there is god and there is no other .
  In the big picture there are always constraints .

The confidence with which retailers retain economic stability is attractive to modellers and big picture eco people . The trouble is that politicains and wannabes seem to want to adopt trading as some sort of perfect model.   Grocers may know about intersecting J curves ( eg agricultural supply and demand) but they certainly don't need to worry about them ; 16% on everything is easy 

When politicians start thinking they can run the country like traders , they forget that we pay the bills . Woolworths works well because their key focus is on keeping the margin low and because the people only support them if they do. (The model for them is OK and infact very helpful for efficiency and effectiveness in some parts of business- its limits work as limits , make sense and keep good ( not perfect) order )
Governments who think they can buy the information they need, need to think again . What is the price of invisible cloth? . From the retailers point of  view , the customer is always right  and..  Why answer all your questions in one when you will pay me individually for each one in order ?  Believe me its much easier to subdivide a problem than to put it together again . Beside there is that 16% for each question The more questions the better for us.     The margin model doesn't fit  good governance cause margins in ecomia are all over the place in terms of reflecting value for money 

All around us , from the problems in the Eurozone to USA,  we have governments who have overspent on trading in information sources and simple efficiency seeking( very easy) . Goverenmnets must know the answers to soem of the questions they are asking . To some extent a government is only as good as the advice it's capable of giving itself .