Ulrich- I am not well informed on kings and starving peasants, though I am very familiar with the tragedy of the commons and your affinity for soap boxes.
My comments were very specific to Mr. Warren's incredibly low opinion of club members, who though able to somehow put together enough nickels to join and support a private course, don't possess the necessities to understand how they operate. My contention is that running a golf club is not rocket science and that with accurate figures and a good accounting system, it is well within the wheelhouse of the average member.
As I see it, the financial problems plaguing many clubs in the U.S. are more on the demand side- not enough people willing and/or able to play. This, in my opinion, is primarily a function of economic policies enacted to further a collectivist political agenda which have yielded very little growth, high unemployment, and great uncertainty. Without the creation of wealth and disposable income, golf will not flourish. It is that simple or complicated.
My reference to golf as a microcosm of life is based on my experience playing widely throughout the U.S. and listening to golfers, superintendents, managers, and owners. Members often place great demands on their clubs while resisting dues and price increases. At my club which, reportedly, is bleeding cash, when I suggested that perhaps we didn't need to have an attendant deliver a cart to each arriving car in the parking lot, the then acting-GM responded that the members would not accept anything less. The four or five outside operations guys and the two to three assistants in the pro shop to serve some 250 members doing 25k rounds in a 12-month year apparently are the right numbers. So long as the owner is willing to subsidize the members, things are great.
In the U.S. today we have governments which consume over 40% of GDP while taking in through taxes and fees some 35%. Of course, the spending doesn't include accruals for known mind-blowing deficits written into entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, ObamaCare, public employee pensions, etc.) which every private sector business would have to account for in its financial reporting. The deficit is sustainable until we run out of other people's money, the rest of the world comes to its senses and refuses to fund our overspending, and the Fed's printing press finally tanks the value of the dollar. I suspect that those who constantly demand more government freebies probably won't accept these as an excuse.
At my club, the gravy train stops when the owner, who is near finishing the site work on the last tract of land for some 94 lots, sells the course to someone who will run it for cash flow. Our demanding members will then have to decide whether a 50% dues increase is in order, or a substantial staff reduction, a more austere maintenance budget, and greatly reduced clubhouse services might do the trick. Fortunately, unlike American society today, the members preferring a more substantial operation can't compel those who don't to fund it- the latter will leave short of assessments or large dues increases.