Money Follows a Path of Least Resistance

Water follows a path of least resistance.  So does money.

NBC Finally Reports on Obamacare's Assault on Poor and Middle Class

Where in the hell have these guys been for the past couple of years.  I guess better late than never.

North Carolina Ranks as One of the Worst in Tax Climate

Why do states offer taxpayer subsidized packages to companies so they will relocate to their cities? According to the Carolina Journal, it’s to mask their woeful business tax climate. And North Carolina is one of the worst offenders. A month doesn’t go by without Gov. Beverly Perdue throwing herself at a group of executives. I wouldn’t be surprised if she reeked of beer and cheap perfume.

How bad is North Carolina? You have to look at the Tax Foundation to see just how chaotic and hostile the Tar Heel state is to businesses. Currently, North Carolina ranks #44 just above: Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, California, New York, and New Jersey.

How can a southern state rank amongst these liberal ****holes? I’ll tell you, decades upon decades of democratic rule. But more importantly, we have a form of double taxation that ranks us amongst the likes of California:

That’s because it allows localities to levy their own sales taxes on top of the statewide 4.75 percent. Local governments charge on average a little more than 2 percent, making the overall burden nearly 7 percent.

North Carolina also gets penalized for allowing local jurisdictions to define their own sales-tax base, meaning they get to decide what is and is not taxable.

“This creates two sales tax systems,” Robyn said. “You’ve got a state system with its own rate and its own list of things that are taxable, and you’ve got local tax systems — which can be different all around the state — each with their own rate and list of things that are taxable.”

“That adds a lot of complexity,” he said. “It’s a big compliance issue not only for brick-and-mortar stores, but especially for online stores.”

A state’s sales tax can hurt the business climate because as the rate climbs, customers make fewer purchases or seek out low-tax alternatives, Robyn writes in the report.

The effect of a higher sales tax rate is apparent when a traveler crosses city or state lines to go shopping, he continued. “Typically, a vast expanse of shopping malls spring up along the border in the low-tax jurisdiction.”

And if you pull up to a gas station in South Carolina, you’ll be sure to see lines of cars with “First in Flight” license plates.

Source: http://taxfoundation.org/research/show/22658.html

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8706

Obama Exhorts Businesses to Boost Economy

Barack Obama’s rhetoric and approach to America’s economy is reminiscent of FDR. The New Deal was a disaster, and prolonged the depression. Here is an excerpt from Jim Powell’s book, “FDR’s Folly”:


Some economists claimed the economy declined because the federal government had cut government spending in 1937, after having splurged the previous year to help assure that FDR would win the election. This line of thinking implicitly suggested that the economy had become dependent on government spending and that FDR hadn’t prepared a transition toward private investment and private employment.


The bottom line was a chronic low level of business investment. The National Industrial Conference Board reported that the amount of investment capital per employee was much lower in the 1930s than it had been during the 1920s. Less capital meant fewer people could be employed. Economist Roose added that low working capital was an issue during the 1937-1938 recession, as evidenced by a dramatic increase in corporate accounts payable (unpaid bills).


A substantial portion of business investment was short term, as had been the case throughout the New Deal period. Economist H. Gregg Lewis observed, “The situation was dominated by the short-run outlook, and was for that reason vulnerable. All the elements of a short run boom were there, but the requirement for a sustained recovery – recovery in outlays made on the basis of a long term outlook – was lacking. Reasonable certainty as to the future was absent.


Employers were wary of long-term risks, one of which was a president and Congress threatening those with “idle”capital to invest. Many economists then and now recognized how bashing employers can destroy jobs. Joseph Schumpeter wrote in his 1939 book Business Cycles that employers felt threatened: “They realize that they are on trial before judges who have the verdict in their pocket beforehand, that an increasing part of public opinion is impervious to their point of view, and that any particular indictment will, if successfully met, at once be replaced by another. Again, we may differ in our estimates of the importance of both of this factor and the functions it tends to paralyze, but it should not be overlooked.



Here we have Obama telling businesses it is their “obligation” to provide jobs.



(Reuters) - President Barack Obama called on U.S. businesses on Saturday to do more to boost the economy by hiring more workers and making investments.


The government has an obligation to make the United States the best place to do business, by providing the best schools, incentives to innovate and the best infrastructure, he said, but added that businesses also have to do their part.


"If we make America the best place to do business, businesses should make their mark in America," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "They should set up shop here, and hire our workers, and pay decent wages and invest in the future of this nation. That's their obligation



Barack Obama is about as clueless as FDR. History can guide us away from the pitfalls of the past. Unfortunately, today’s intellectual elites skipped that class.

South Carolina Businesses Lose License Over Illegal Alien Hire

Two South Carolina businesses were fined and lost licenses after they failed an illegal alien audit. The Post and Courier reports:


MYRTLE BEACH -- South Carolina labor officials have issued about $1,500 in fines and suspended the licenses of two businesses in the six months since the state's new immigration law went into effect for small businesses.


The state did more than 1,800 audits during that time, focusing on industries that typically employ immigrants, such as landscaping, construction and hospitality, Jim Knight, the head of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's Office of Immigrant Worker Compliance, told The Sun News of Myrtle Beach.


About 90 percent have had no violations, and most of those with problems corrected them within three days and didn't have to pay fines, Knight said.

We need to have one of those audits in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. I know damn well that 90% of businesses around here couldn’t make that boast. Anyone who has been on a construction site could clearly see the rampant disregard for the nation’s immigration laws; and for that fact the value of citizenship.

The Employment Security Commission reported this past Monday that N.C. unemployment jumped up to 9.8% as reported by the Associated Press:

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina's unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 percent in December, ending a year that saw virtually no improvement in the number of workers drawing a paycheck, the Employment Security Commission reported Monday.


The number of people employed in North Carolina fell by 2,121 in December while the number of people on the job or looking for work rose by about the same amount, the agency said. That caused North Carolina's unemployment rate to inch up from 9.7 percent in November.

Take a look at the loss in the construction industry. This doesn’t account for all of the jobs that illegal aliens have taken from U.S. citizens:

The construction industry dropped nearly 4,000 jobs in December after adjusting for seasonal differences, the Employment Security Commission said. Professional and business services were the big gainer during the month, adding 3,600 jobs, the agency said

If one of those audits ever took place in the Piedmont area, there would be a lot of businesses quaking in their boots.



Source: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/25/immigration-audits-net-2/

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110124/APN/1101240568?p=1&tc=pg

Biden Calls Business Owner a Smart Ass

Joe Biden the walking gaffe machine strikes again. This time he berated a business owner for asking for a tax cut, and that was after he got a free custard.

Biden called the owner a "Smart Ass". I'm surprised Biden didn't call him a F***ing Smart Ass.

How dare the "little people" stand up for themselves. The impudence of this man! Doesn't he know that he exist to perpetuate and expand the federal government? You'd better expect a visit from the I.R.S. "little man".

FDR and Obama: Two Peas In A Pod

There are parallels between FDR and the Obama administration that are frighteningly similar.


The financial crisis of the 30’s in many respects is similar to today's, and the actions of both presidents mirror the other; if not their predecessors. Herbert Hoover in response to the financial crisis started the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to help the failing banks and industries that were under duress. George W. Bush did the same with TARP.


Barack Obama didn't have the luxury of time to criticize Bush for the dispensation of TARP money; yet he did vote for it. But his rhetoric was similar to FDR’s in the condemnation of big business, Wall Street and government spending by the existing administration.


FDR attacked Hoover for the, “most reckless spending and extravagant past that I have been able to discover in the statistical record of any peacetime government anywhere, any time.” Obama did the same with Bush and by extension his opponent John McCain; particularly on the amount of money that was spent on the war effort.


Once FDR was sworn in, he established the Emergency Banking Act which gave considerable discretion to the treasury without congressional oversight. This happened under Bush and continues under Obama.


FDR promised to balance the budget. Obama promised to cut the deficit. The former never met that pledge, and the later is exploding the deficit.


Roosevelt used the Reconstruction and Finance Corporation for political purposes. The RFC was used to fund newspapers, businesses, and causes that were favorable to the New Deal. Today’s democrats are talking about bailing out certain newspapers, and they used the stimulus bill to fund their personal pet projects and causes.


The policies of Roosevelt exasperated and prolonged the depression. His hostility towards businesses created a sense of uncertainty that stymied investment, expansion and the hiring of employees. He didn’t change his attitude until the outbreak of WWII when he realized he needed them. Many debate when the depression ended. A compelling case has been made that it didn’t end until after the war.


Obama seems to emulate the demagoguery of FDR. His demonization of businesses, industries, and the past administration has propelled him to the presidency. It seems he has more in common with FDR than we thought, right down to the radicals and communist sympathizers that infest their respective administrations.


If history has taught us anything, we are in for a wild ride. I guess we can expect the IRS and other federal agencies to harass political opponents. After all, that is what FDR did.