One of the individuals following me on Facebook made the following comment in response to my post about words of wisdom from Dr. Thomas Sowell, an economist, social theorist, and great American patriot.
“With all do respect Rich there are a lot of people who are working really really really hard and their employers are keeping the profits all to themselves instead of reinvesting in the workers who are making those profits possible. Those same employers are somehow paying a much lower tax rate than those employees who again are doing the actual work.”
Here is my response:
“Yes, there are a lot of people who work really, really hard. I was one of those people for over 36 years. I remember living paycheck to paycheck when I first started out. My solution to the problem was to just work harder and spend less. Eventually, when I had enough experience to make myself marketable, I changed employers because I thought that my employer wasn’t treating me as well as I thought they should. Turned out that changing employers was the best thing ever and gave my career the boost it needed. But that’s the beauty of living in the USA where we have the freedom to seek out better opportunities; and, thanks to capitalism, there are plenty of them out there. We currently have over 6.7* million jobs available here in the USA. Perhaps some people should consider changing jobs or career paths. Perhaps they need to consider vocational training or an apprenticeship in the trades. There are great high paying jobs out there for computer technicians, instrument technicians, heavy equipment operators, electricians, welders, plumbers, etc. Sometimes we get locked into thinking that what we want to do (and maybe spent a lot of money on a college degree for) is the only acceptable solution.
However, I firmly believe that government should not dictate employment practices or profit sharing of private companies. As soon as government starts to dictate how much profit a corporation can make, there are unintended consequences, and we are heading down the path to socialism and communism. Communism is a disaster. Under communism, freedom and choice are lost. We’ve seen how higher corporate taxes result in companies moving their business to more tax friendly states or even overseas and/or just passing on the cost of the higher taxes to their customers (which ultimately becomes a tax on those who can least afford it). Lower taxes and less government regulation results in businesses thriving and more opportunities for people who are willing to work hard. That’s what made America great. In a free capitalist society, if we don’t like the way our current employer is treating us, we have the choice to find a different employer. Certainly, employees should not rely on their employer to plan their career path and “take care of them for life”. Every individual needs to take responsibility for their own life. They also need to take responsibility for their decisions on spending and lifestyle. Running up huge debts buying things that they don’t really need or can’t afford (e.g., expensive cell phones, big screen TVs, fancy cars, dining out regularly, expensive housing, college degrees in a field where there are no high paying jobs, etc.) is a huge mistake. As with government, the lack of personal financial responsibility can result in overwhelming debt. However, unlike government, individuals can’t just print more money or raise taxes on people who have been financially responsible.
In terms of changing unfair employer practices, rather than hoping that the government will intervene, we can all use the power of our pocketbook every time we decide whose products or services to buy. Freedom and choice allow us to support good employers and avoid those who have unfair employment practices. Thank God we still have that in America. Whenever our government “intervenes”, they make things far worse by causing employers to cancel projects and reduce their workforce to reduce costs, driving small companies out of business, increasing cost to consumers (inflation), and by driving manufacturing to countries like China where there are ZERO fair employment practices, and their citizens have NO choice in where they work or what they do. “Well intended” social programs are destroying our nation. Your children and grandchildren will bear an intolerable burden of debt that is currently being run up to unsustainable levels. All this free money and new social programs (that never go away) only take away incentives to work harder or smarter, which is the only way to truly succeed. The result of this government dependency: massive debt, inflation, poverty, higher crime, higher taxes, fewer people willing to work hard to support those who don’t, etc. It’s all unsustainable. If we don’t turn it around, we will go the way of Venezuela or Cuba, both of which had vibrant economies before they went the route of socialism. That’s why I am running for office. We must have fiscally responsible conservatives in office at the grass roots level as well as at the State and Federal levels.”
*Note: The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary posted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that “the number of job openings increased to 11.0 million on the last business day of October”.