ABSTRACT
The local and small size of most businesses has significance for the quality and extent of polity leadership in the local community. Polity leadership is successful only when it is informed by a strong understanding of the role and function of the various sectors of the American political economy. From the government perspective, businesses create jobs, generate large amounts of individual and corporate taxes and more generally are responsible for the "wealth of the nation." From a business point of view, government has often been viewed as the taxing and regulatory bad wolf that increases the transaction costs of doing business, thus undercutting the private sector's capacity to provide goods and services as cheaply and effectively as possible. Government and business continue to believe that a healthy private economy creates the jobs and profits that provide the foundational base for government taxation.
