Lets start by looking at some major service programs government provides to the people, its customers.
- Medicare - yes people do get health care albeit not without delay, massive red tape, and a level of fraud that would make any mafia boss cry with pride.
- Social Security - there is a reason it is referred to as social insecurity. It is on the verge of bankruptcy and our progeny most likely will not receive any benefit for their fiscal support of the program.
- Welfare - beside the fact that the welfare state has destroyed the nuclear family and relegated almost an entire population of minority citizens to government subsistence, it has been yet again another example of massive fraud. Not to mention that welfare was to end poverty as we know it. We have spent more than a $9 Trillion since its inception and poverty still runs rampant.
- Education - in the last 10 years, the education budget has increased almost 300% over the previous 2 decades combined. This has resulted in little to no improvement in America’s level of education position compared to other democracies of the world. You have to ask what are we getting for our money?
Example after example exist that shows government is incapable of productive business functions. But yet we are more than happy for them to interfere repeatedly, on our behalf, in the day to day workings of our new investments. However, the short sighted sound bite of electability portrays to the mind of the naive, that big business is bad and the actions of their management are “shameful”. Two examples have flared in the press lately, accompanied by the indignation of our meaningful representatives.
The first is the case of the new private plane purchase by Citigroup. For those of us that do not get the pleasure of flying in a private plane, we are inclined to think of this luxury as frivolous. But, private planes are the staple of big business and has been shown repeatedly that it is a worthwhile investment for the transportation needs of upper management. When it can cost a company more then $1,000 per hour to have a person sit at an airport instead of working, it adds up. Not to mention, the purchase of that plane employes people that build the plane. No plane, no employment. The argument is that the plane is French and has nothing to do with America. Except for the fact that final assembly and delivery of the planes occur in Little Rock, Arkansas. But the real story behind this political theater is that Citigroup was getting rid of two very costly older planes that have high maintenance expenses and wasteful fuel consumption that “harms the environment.” In exchange, Citigroup was to sell the two older planes, buy a new plane and decrease their overall costs of operation, thus saving us, the new investor money. But that story line does not meld with the socialist tendencies of our current administration.
The second is even worse, since it has a direct effect on many people’s lives. President Obama just yesterday called the distribution of billions in bonuses to Wall Street fat cats despicable. On the surface, this seems a fair comment since those companies are being horribly mismanaged and are a good portion of the reason we are in the financial hell we current endure. BUT! The people who receive these bonuses, and have received them for years, live, work and purchase in New York. If they do not have the bonuses, they do not continue their lifestyle. I know a lot of people think that is a good thing for them since they deserve it, but wait and look at the unintended consequences. Those bonuses are taxed and those tax dollars go to New York City to the tune of $1 to $2 Billion per year. New York has announced that they are more than $1 Billion short on tax revenue and the outcome will be the elimination of 20,000 jobs. Those bonuses and salaries of the ultra rich represent the vast majority of the collected taxes for the city. You take that away and the city goes broke. 20,000 jobs will just be the start as taxes are not collected on those incomes as well. As they say, when a snow ball starts rolling down hill...
Another adage says, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Just because these and other actions on the part of big business seems reprehensible, there is a connected reality of cause and effect that impacts us all. We see that first hand when they fail to perform their fiduciary responsibility to the company. But we also see the benefit of jobs, personal advancement, money to invest, and money to purchase. The left is fond of saying trickle down economics don’t work. Well the bonuses of New York are a prime example of what happens when you dam the stream.
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