Legend has it, there once was a time when people were glad to do business in the USA. Coming up with an innovative idea or product, starting up a company, and selling your wares was good for your neighbors, your country, your ego and your wallet. It was win-win all around.
Those days, if they ever existed, are completely gone.
Day after day, there is another news story, about companies threatening municipalities, states and even the country, with removing their business and jobs. It is no longer satisfactory for these organizations to make a profit exploiting our trained labor force, our extensive court system, our elaborate infrastructure and enjoying the protection of our grotesquely expensive military, we must now pay what amounts to a ransom for them to stay.
Here are some recent examples:
In Illinois
Deals that expire next year include $34.7 million in tax breaks that JPMorgan Chase used after agreeing to keep 2,247 jobs at locations in Chicago, Elgin and Elk Grove Village, and $6.72 million in breaks provided to the Robert Bosch Tool Corp. after that company agreed not to move 444 jobs from a facility in Mount Prospect.
even Sears, almost synonymous with Illinois has its revolver to the temple of the state
Sears employs 6,200 people in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates. When the company said it was considering options elsewhere, Gov. Pat Quinn quickly said Illinois would work on a deal to keep Sears in place.
The state of California had the audacity to ask e-tailers to collect their sales tax like everyone else does
Online retailers reacted swiftly to the new law, which took effect immediately. Amazon.com and Overstocks.com immediately dropped all of their California-based affiliates, who earned commissions by referring so-called click-through customers, as the Los Angeles Times explains, to avoid having to collect sales tax in the state.
and in Massachusetts, the kidnapper takes the cash then kills the hostage
Massachusetts expects to recover about $13 million from the abrupt shutdown of a solar panel manufacturer that had received tens of millions in state aid, a top Patrick administration official said Tuesday.
Look I am sorry for my lackluster "research" in finding these examples of big businesses leveraging their jobs. Truth be told, I pulled these few examples off the internet in a few minutes. But that is just testimony to how many times business extort money from us. It's bad enough we don't make them pay their fair share of taxes, but states and municipalities pitting themselves against each other is nothing more than a toxic stew, designed to kill off those that provide the ingredients...you and me.
Fleecing tax payers is simply a new version of the company store. Until we make certain they damn well understand that it is corporations that need to pay for the privilege of doing business in OUR country, in OUR state, and OUR town, they will keep screwing us.
With all forms of government scrambling to make ends meet, and with our very quality of living in serious peril, the real discussion today needs to be about how corporations and their owners are going to show a little austerity and tighten their belts. No more ransom, no more graft...it's sink or swim baby. And once the Goliath-too big to fail are out of the way, we can simplify our system to encourage small businesses to grow and provide real jobs.
Hah...and they say lefties like me can't be optimistic.