Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tiresome political ads

As noted earlier, on our trip to Illinois and Indiana this past week, we heard a lot of political ads on the radio--most for candidates and issues we knew nothing about. But here's a refrain I just don't understand, and it seems to sprout (excuse mixing my idioms) at all levels of government. Republicans ship jobs overseas. Really? I thought it was unions and over regulation from everything to emissions to pollution to green space to finances that did that. And if a business moves from Mt. Morris to Rockford or to Missouri or Florida, it might as well be overseas for all the good it does for your local economy. (You can get a good deal on the beautiful and historically significant "Old Sandstone" in Mt. Morris, former home of Watt Publishing which has moved down the road to Rockford.)

Until the White House began directly taking over various segments of the economy with czars and new laws since January 2009, the government had little to no say in whether a company went global. Business in a market economy is about profit--they need to pay back their investors and their stockholders. Period. The benefits to the government and society should stem from that, not from the government stealing from the owners.

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