Only the Consumer Can Save the Economy

Only Government can continue to take more and more money out of the pockets of working people and then sponsors a study, using taxpayer dollars, to study why people aren't spending.

We see this across the globe. In Japan the government has raised the sales tax on consumer goods from 5% to 8% and are now shocked, shocked I say, that the economy is doing worse!

Here in the United States the government’s fingers are in every pie and taking a buck here, $.50 there from every corner of the economy. Your gasoline, your phone bill, your cable bill, gas and electric bill, if you eat out at a restaurant, buy beer, well, everything you spend money on is that much higher because government siphons off a piece of the action.

They just never stop nickel and diming you to death.

There are other costs too. Like the cost of permits, the cost of a driver’s license, a fishing permit in Massachusetts for fresh water is $27.50. Sport fishing is $45.00. To fish in the OCEAN off of Massachusetts is $10.00. 

Hunting with a gun: $27.50. With a bow: $27.50. Trapping: $35.00. These have all gone up recently. The Ocean fishing license doubled from last year. The line of defense is always: The state needs the money to manage wildlife areas. Are they managing the Ocean now too? I can’t tell the difference by looking. What was free 4 years ago is not $10.00. That’s just $10.00 less to put towards something else.

There isn’t enough space on this blog to list all the fees associated with starting and running a small business. And this is combined with taxes and insurance costs. Without small business, the country does not run. Without the ability to start a small business, a nation has three choices: Big business, which, contrary to what some people believe, are not the nation’s largest employer and cannot employ nearly enough people that need jobs. Government: Many people want the government jobs because they have great hours, great taxpayer funded benefits, oftentimes a pension plan and a lot of times pay better now than their private sector equivalent. This is especially the case for public school teachers who make crazy money in comparison to the private sector. And the third choice: Government dependency. This could also be confused with the second choice but in this case there is no return whatsoever for the money spent. This is the public assistance or welfare program.  People collecting relief.

Right now in the U.S. we have working people who qualify for and are receiving food stamps. It is estimated that 44 million people receive this assistance in this country. And it’s all coming out of the pockets of the consumer.

Oh, but spending this money is good, right?

Well, no it isn't really. Spending government money, or money taken or transferred from the taxpayer does not result in a net gain for the economy. You see, the people who transfer this money also draw a paycheck. This is called Overhead and the increased overhead that government adds to the cost of the transfer, reduces the amount of money distributed. As I have mentioned before, government does not produce wealth, it takes wealth for its projects and spending schemes. Only the private sector can produce wealth which comes to them as Profit and the best way for that to take place is to let the private citizen keep more of the money they earn so that they can make that money work for them. It is this Profit Motive that makes the world go around. Why work hard if you don't get to keep the fruits of your labor. Why transfer funds when a consumer to transact person-to-person thus reducing the overhead and saving money that can be used for other things? Why should government decide where that money can be better spent and thus defying market forces and basically just wasting it on wrong decisions? Let the consumer decide what to do with the money they earned.

Places that have done this have thrived. Like the United States itself has done…in the past.

Only the growing, grasping hands of government has interfered with the marketplace and disrupted the marketplace to a point where, after taking so much money from working people in the form of taxes, permits and licenses, they now are compelled to give some of it back in the form of public assistance programs like Food Stamps. This is insane.

Only the consumer can save the economy. Without putting the money back into the pockets of the consumer, the economies of Japan and the United States as well as Greece, Britain and Italy will continue to founder.

This isn't anything new.