I was recently in Portland, OR, on business, and the problem of the government putting up needless statutory barriers to business was made clear in three examples. But before I get to those a little background.
The government’s job is supposed to be the protection of property rights and to insure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. America is the Land of Opportunity. It’s a place
where hard work and good ideas are rewarded. America was not supposed to be the Land of Equal Outcomes. Do you know why? Because all men were not created equal. Some people are smarter. Some people are harder working. Some people drink like a fish. Some people like to skydive. The result of all of these, and millions more differences, is that equal outcomes are impossible.
Even to strive, by setting a minimum level of prosperity is dangerous. To do that you must take something away from those who have succeeded (produced wealth) and give to those who have not. When that is done, those who succeed are chastised, and those who do not succeed are rewarded. This is the equivalent of praising your son who brings home a report card laden with failing grades and grounding his honor student sibling. There will always be people who succeed and people who don’t. What is forgotten in all of class warfare rhetoric of late, is there are about a million levels in between.
We do not have a situation where the 1% are taking from the 99%. The 1% (and their Adjusted Gross Income is less $350,000 per year) are for the most part successful businessmen. They either own or manage a company. Those companies create the jobs and pay the wages of virtually everyone else in the country. To demonize, stigmatize, and then tax them to point of extinction is stupidity on steroids. These people are the engine of this country, and in order to create wealth they need fewer obstacles not more.
When a business owner wants to expand his company he has to either have saved or more likely borrow a sum of money for a larger building, new equipment, supplies, and likely the start up wages for new employees. Every dollar that he has to waste complying with some unneeded government regulation is less money to be used to create a job. He will be forced to settle for a smaller building, cheaper equipment, fewer supplies, and less employees. There; I’m done with background and I feel better.
Now, back to Oregon. Example number one was the Driver’s Break Room Telephone. In the new building that I helped to move our Portland division into, we have a break room/lounge where truck drivers making deliveries could sit down, eat, and make a phone call using a phone that our company would provide them, free of charge. This particular phone was set at approximately four feet off the ground; shoulder level to someone of average height. But, our company was forced to spend money to move it both lower, AND to insure that the numbers were also in Braille to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Money has to be spent to make a phone for truck drivers to be in Braille, and to be moved down for someone in a wheelchair. I’ve been in the distribution business for 27 years, I have never, repeat never, seen a blind or wheelchair bound truck driver.
The government’s job is supposed to be the protection of property rights and to insure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. America is the Land of Opportunity. It’s a place
where hard work and good ideas are rewarded. America was not supposed to be the Land of Equal Outcomes. Do you know why? Because all men were not created equal. Some people are smarter. Some people are harder working. Some people drink like a fish. Some people like to skydive. The result of all of these, and millions more differences, is that equal outcomes are impossible.
Even to strive, by setting a minimum level of prosperity is dangerous. To do that you must take something away from those who have succeeded (produced wealth) and give to those who have not. When that is done, those who succeed are chastised, and those who do not succeed are rewarded. This is the equivalent of praising your son who brings home a report card laden with failing grades and grounding his honor student sibling. There will always be people who succeed and people who don’t. What is forgotten in all of class warfare rhetoric of late, is there are about a million levels in between.
We do not have a situation where the 1% are taking from the 99%. The 1% (and their Adjusted Gross Income is less $350,000 per year) are for the most part successful businessmen. They either own or manage a company. Those companies create the jobs and pay the wages of virtually everyone else in the country. To demonize, stigmatize, and then tax them to point of extinction is stupidity on steroids. These people are the engine of this country, and in order to create wealth they need fewer obstacles not more.
When a business owner wants to expand his company he has to either have saved or more likely borrow a sum of money for a larger building, new equipment, supplies, and likely the start up wages for new employees. Every dollar that he has to waste complying with some unneeded government regulation is less money to be used to create a job. He will be forced to settle for a smaller building, cheaper equipment, fewer supplies, and less employees. There; I’m done with background and I feel better.
Now, back to Oregon. Example number one was the Driver’s Break Room Telephone. In the new building that I helped to move our Portland division into, we have a break room/lounge where truck drivers making deliveries could sit down, eat, and make a phone call using a phone that our company would provide them, free of charge. This particular phone was set at approximately four feet off the ground; shoulder level to someone of average height. But, our company was forced to spend money to move it both lower, AND to insure that the numbers were also in Braille to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Money has to be spent to make a phone for truck drivers to be in Braille, and to be moved down for someone in a wheelchair. I’ve been in the distribution business for 27 years, I have never, repeat never, seen a blind or wheelchair bound truck driver.
Example number two. Our new building had to include a special room for nursing mothers. I have no beef with mothers, nursing or otherwise. My own mother was a mother. But, really? First, how many women actually bring their children in with them to work, or arrange for them to be brought in, to nurse. At the point of design, thought would have been put into how to accommodate this, and at the point of construction, extra materials used, and on a practical level, valuable space wasted to accommodate a situation that will very rarely come up, and has other less costly solutions. Capital wasted.
My final example is that Oregonis one of only two states in the union (New Jersey) that require, I said require, that an attendant pump your gas. There is no self service gasoline in Oregon. Why? That would be so these people are not put out of a job. The state of Oregonhas mandated that these jobs be created, and that you as a gasoline purchaser pay a higher price to pay their wages. The business owner also has to deal with various additional overhead costs of any
employee; benefits, overtime, payroll, government regulation compliance, and on and on. Their time and money is wasted and the business is less productive. A less productive business has less chance or growing than a more productive one.
But, what about all those poor people who would be out of work, you cold hearted Republican bastard? What about them? I’m sorry, but they are all big boys and girls and can take care of themselves. It is not the job of government to create jobs. It is the job of government to get out of the way and let the businesses create jobs. With the business being more productive and
offering their product at a cheaper cost, they and their customers (which include other businesses) become more productive and stand a greater chance of expanding and creating more jobs. Is this all sunshine and bunnies? No.This is real life, where actions have consequences. If the only job you are qualified for is pumping gas, then you have work to do. It’s your job to make your self attractive to a business owner to be hired. It is not the job of the
government to tell a business owner, find a job for that guy over there. That’s New York mafia
stuff.
“Hey youse guys. You hire my brother-in-law, Rocky here. He’s kinda delicate. I don’t care if you don’t need’m. He needs a job, and youse are gonna give him one. Or else.”
While we are on the subject of job creation; our economically confused leader, Barack Hussein Obama, recently rejected TransCanada Corps application to build a pipeline to carry their petroleum products south, across the Great Plains, to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Even the liberal Washington Post thinks this is a terrible decision. They do a good job of listing the reasons why.
Why are all of you labor union Democrats not in uproar about this? Isn’t this exactly why you guys voted for this guy; to create more union jobs? After the government required what amounted to seven years of research, which Obama first looked at and then said they were good enough for his approval, he now all of a sudden rejects it. Why? Politics. He thinks you union guys will vote for him no matter what, (I think he's right) and the enviros might vote for whoever the Green Party guy is, if he allows Keystone.
Which side is driving all of these job killing rules and regulations I mentioned above and this Keystone decision? The Democrats. Do you want a suggestion on how to improve our economy? Stop voting for the people who are making it tougher for businesses to grow. Your chance to make a difference is in 9 months.
My final example is that Oregonis one of only two states in the union (New Jersey) that require, I said require, that an attendant pump your gas. There is no self service gasoline in Oregon. Why? That would be so these people are not put out of a job. The state of Oregonhas mandated that these jobs be created, and that you as a gasoline purchaser pay a higher price to pay their wages. The business owner also has to deal with various additional overhead costs of any
employee; benefits, overtime, payroll, government regulation compliance, and on and on. Their time and money is wasted and the business is less productive. A less productive business has less chance or growing than a more productive one.
But, what about all those poor people who would be out of work, you cold hearted Republican bastard? What about them? I’m sorry, but they are all big boys and girls and can take care of themselves. It is not the job of government to create jobs. It is the job of government to get out of the way and let the businesses create jobs. With the business being more productive and
offering their product at a cheaper cost, they and their customers (which include other businesses) become more productive and stand a greater chance of expanding and creating more jobs. Is this all sunshine and bunnies? No.This is real life, where actions have consequences. If the only job you are qualified for is pumping gas, then you have work to do. It’s your job to make your self attractive to a business owner to be hired. It is not the job of the
government to tell a business owner, find a job for that guy over there. That’s New York mafia
stuff.
“Hey youse guys. You hire my brother-in-law, Rocky here. He’s kinda delicate. I don’t care if you don’t need’m. He needs a job, and youse are gonna give him one. Or else.”
While we are on the subject of job creation; our economically confused leader, Barack Hussein Obama, recently rejected TransCanada Corps application to build a pipeline to carry their petroleum products south, across the Great Plains, to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Even the liberal Washington Post thinks this is a terrible decision. They do a good job of listing the reasons why.
Why are all of you labor union Democrats not in uproar about this? Isn’t this exactly why you guys voted for this guy; to create more union jobs? After the government required what amounted to seven years of research, which Obama first looked at and then said they were good enough for his approval, he now all of a sudden rejects it. Why? Politics. He thinks you union guys will vote for him no matter what, (I think he's right) and the enviros might vote for whoever the Green Party guy is, if he allows Keystone.
Which side is driving all of these job killing rules and regulations I mentioned above and this Keystone decision? The Democrats. Do you want a suggestion on how to improve our economy? Stop voting for the people who are making it tougher for businesses to grow. Your chance to make a difference is in 9 months.
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