"The man who wears the shoe knows best where it pinches, even if the expert shoemaker is the best judge of how the trouble is to be remedied." So said the American philosopher John Dewey, defining something of an ideal relationship between government and citizen- or for that matter, company and consumer. The ideal? Listen carefully to what people want, and then expertly fashion policies (and products) to service those appetites well. The grandees of state and the CEOs of corporate life think they have been "smart" in that way for at least a century. The historical record of both can, at the very least, somewhat dent their professional confidence.
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