Chris Giles is quite right when he says “treat them mean, keep them keen” is bad advice for both relationships and economic policy (Opinion, October 15).
I am not sure how many marriages would last very long with either, or both partners taking such an approach. It is definitely not the way smart businesses treat their customers, suppliers or employees.
Sir Bill English, then finance minister of New Zealand, best explained the proper role of government in 2014: “Governments need to create an environment of stability and good incentives for [businesses] to grow the economy. Businesses need confidence the rules will not shift and the government is not one of the risks they have to manage.”
Instead of “treat them mean, keep them keen”, good policy is a matter of providing proper incentives and setting rules that can be relied on. Because government should not be “a risk” that business, or anybody “has to manage”.
Patrick J Allen
River Forest, IL, US
Letter: Businesses want to know government is not a risk
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