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In These Times of Budget Shortfalls, We Won’t Improve Our Situation By Beating Up On Capitalists

By Pat Pending

Like many other states, Kentucky is experiencing a serious budget shortfall.  This is a good opportunity to take a look at how we normally conduct business and think about what changes should be made to put us on a better footing.  For example:

1.                The Louisville Airport Authority recently announced that it plans to build a taxpayer subsidized airport hotel.  In a world of scarcity, there are two glaring problems with this arrangement.  First, tax money should not be spent to subsidize the construction of a hotel.  Hotels should be private businesses built and operated at private risk and expense, and tax money should be handled with greater care.  Second, if we want private businesses to make investments in our community and our state, we should not create government-subsidized businesses to compete with them. 

 How would you like to be a business owner who has invested his own money and taken all the risks to build a hotel near the airport only to have the government come in and build its own hotel to compete with you?  Do we want to have an environment in which private businesses are given a fair chance to produce and earn a profit, or do we want an arrangement in which the productive people are fleeced in order that government insiders can subsidize their friends?  Especially in tight economic times, the answer should be clear.

2.                Angela Davis has spent this semester at the University of Louisville, supported by our tax dollars, preaching communism and the hatred of capitalists.  While we cannot post the Ten Commandments in public places, because it might offend some taxpayers who are forced to support those public places, why are the productive capitalists forced to support people like Angela Davis, who actively work toward their destruction? 

3.                Louisville is considering passing a “living wage” law, requiring the city to pay at least $10.50 an hour to anyone who works for the city.  So, for example, if the city hires someone to do a job that would pay $6.00 an hour in the open market, the city would force the taxpayers to pay almost double the going rate for that work.  Perhaps, especially in these tight economic times, the aldermen might stop trying to play Santa Claus with other people's money and instead have some pity on the poor taxpayer.  The aldermen should be doing their best to get good value for the tax dollars they spend, rather than looking for another way to blow workers’ hard-earned money. 

Perhaps, we might take advantage of these tight economic times to stop punishing the people who invest money, take risks, and produce profits and instead create an environment in which people will be more productive.  Capitalists are the people who serve consumers and create the jobs and the profits that generate the tax revenue the politicians love so much.  However, even in tight economic times, the politicians continue to bite the hands that feed them, because it is so popular with voters.  Voters want to rip off the capitalists in a form of legalized theft, or they are jealous of those who achieve greater financial success and so consider them evil and happily join the politicians in beating up on them.  The trouble is, not only is this beating up the producers immoral; it also violates the laws of nature and therefore carries a heavy cost, dragging down the economy and preventing the creation of many jobs and much abundance that would otherwise have been created. 

Let’s hope that at least some of our elected officials understand the difference between right and wrong and have respect for productive people.  The smart ones know that, if they continue killing the geese that lay the golden eggs, soon their own goose will be cooked as well.    

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