Either the political hacks in Washington, D.C., just aren’t very bright, or they take us for idiots. Or maybe both.
As The Obama-Pelosi-Reid shredder continues to decimate the U.S. economy, businesses large and small across the land are bracing themselves for new mandates on employee health insurance, cap-and-trade carbon legislation, and possibly higher income taxes that would be levied unjustly against gross rather than net revenues.
Businesses have several solutions to these nettlesome government policies, none of which are good for the average Joe the Democrats purport to care so much about: 1) Lay off employees; 2) Don’t hire new employees; 3) Cut current staff members' hours to fewer than 40 per week so as to avoid paying benefits including health insurance; and 4) Outsource work to freelancers and independent contractors.
Industrial and manufacturing concerns may do all of the above to reduce costs, plus move their operations offshore. India, China, and many other countries will not have strict laws against carbon emissions. So, just as water flows downhill, industries will take their manufacturing operations overseas.
Utility companies, on the other hand, don’t have that option. So those that burn coal to generate electricity will simply pass along the higher cost to their customers in the form of higher rates. Thanks a lot, Democrats!
The Law of Unintended Consequences applies to so much of liberal Democrat policies, and circumvention is always the immediate — and easy — consequence.
Another example that comes to mind is the harebrained “luxury tax” adopted by Congress and signed into law by “Poppy” in 1991. The 10 percent tax applied to jewelry, cars worth at least $30,000, and yachts worth at least $100,000. At the time, I was working as an editor for a consumer boating magazine and was in charge of the trade supplement that went out to dealers, manufacturers, and distributors. I could see firsthand how this ill-advised policy devastated an entire industry.
The marine industry was already hurting from a recession. But the luxury tax really quashed sales of large boats. Buyers delayed purchase of yachts, purchased used yachts, or bought from foreign manufacturers to avoid paying the tax. Boat builders estimated about 25,000 layoffs resulted from the depressed sales.
Furthermore, the luxury levies took in $97 million less in their first year than had been projected. (SHOCKING!) Two years later, following massive lobbying by the National Marine Manufacturers Association and Marine Retailers Association of America, Congress repealed the luxury tax for everything but automobiles.
But were there any excoriating exposes on this miserably failed policy by the Time/Newsweek/60 Minutes/New York Times/Washington Post/Vanity Fair/PBS/New Yorker elites?
Any report on how this misguided legislation hurt the “little man”?
Hell no.
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