The cost of doing business!

Friday – August 26, 2011

The cost of doing business!

I know you all have heard the term, the “cost of doing business”. Some of you have probably used it. When I have, it usually has been said after great deliberation. However, some just say it, because they think they have nothing to lose, because things will work out in the end. Some who spend other people’s money might say it, because they are not paying the bills.

When the attitude of those who work in government say it’s the” cost of doing business”, then it becomes an issue, because it becomes our problem. This week, I have been talking about the cost of what happens when government through its agencies enacts regulations. I wrote about the seeds of freedom and about finding the common ground.

I started the week with discussing what the liberal plan is going forward. It is no surprise that the liberal plan is to demonize and practice the politics of personal destruction. Congresswoman (D – CA) Maxine Waters started it when she said, "As far as I'm concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell." These words are the worst kind of words that an elected official can use. I guess its okay when someone who isn’t an elected official uses them, but when they do, the real picture of what we should be looking at becomes clouded. This is also part of the plan.

The president is vacationing this week on Martha’s Vineyard. This is a special place, because it is a resort town on the East Coast. It’s actually an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Many in the town who live there year round depend on the seasonal tourist trade. This year hasn’t been so good. Main Street on the island now has empty store fronts and the towns folk have found themselves out of work and in some cases out of business.

I do not fault the President to take some family time. This is part of the President’s job, too. Sometimes going on vacation is just the “cost of doing business”. Many in business find a way to write off vacations and many in business use a place like the Martha’s Vineyards as a way of doing business.

This was the choice the President made when a budget of about 10 million dollars was created for the presidential vacation. My only comment is: Martha’s Vineyards is the home to many liberals. The Vineyards usually will welcome a fellow liberal, some did this week and some were cool towards their visitor. The real issue here is how could that10 million dollars have been better used? Could it have been used to pay down the National debt? Could it have been used to invest in education? Could it have been used to help the poor people on the island to open up the empty store fronts that were closed? Could it have been used to help prop up more social welfare? The answer to this and many more questions is yes!

The “cost of doing business” was on full display this week. The President had some downtime on the golf course, the president went shopping and the president worked. He visited the CEO of Comcast. He met with advisors to draft up another jobs bill and came up with another idea of how to save the housing industry, by encouraging yet more low interest government backed loans to homeowners who are still in trouble with their mortgages. The “cost of doing business” was put on display this week when Warren Buffet bought 5 billion dollars of Bank of Americas stock; 50,000 shares to be exact. The bank has been hard hit by its holdings of tainted mortgages. The problem with housing is that when these stock sales occur and the government artificially props up the housing market instead of letting it hit bottom by itself and rebound by itself the cost of doing business becomes far more expensive.

417,000 jobs were lost last week. The economy hit a dead spot in mid July and the unemployment rate is now stuck at 9%. Couple that with the governments own forecasts this week which indicated a new era for America. It seems that the New Era in America is headed for continued low growth and high unemployment for the foreseeable future. Last month the country experienced 1 % in economic growth. This is the result of when the government takes the attitude of this is the “cost of doing business”.

While the East Coast is bracing for Hurricane Irene the “cost of doing business” will go up, because the hurricane will be blamed for all the bad news next week. The high unemployment figures, a downed market and yet more bad economic news will be used by the President as another excuse. The “cost of doing business” will again be on display, because someone will ask who’s going to pay.

Every week I end the FORUM with a quote. Today, I have a series of quotes from Jefferson himself. These quotes all relate to what I have written this week. Take the time to consider the words and then ask yourself who is right and who is wrong. Why is Main Street hurting and what is the cause? Is the loss of freedom and liberty something that we should fight or is that loss of liberty and freedom is just the “cost of doing business”?

Take a walk down Main Street this weekend and ask yourself those questions. Then, consider these words.

Jefferson on the Constitution:
“On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

Jefferson on the issue of today:
“The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”

Jefferson on Government:
“The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign affairs. Let the General Government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our General Government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.”

Jefferson on Taxes”
“Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reenactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free.”

Jefferson on the economy and debt:
“I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.”

Jefferson on the value of the industrious:
“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”

Jefferson on Liberty:
“Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.”

Jefferson on Democracy:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

Jefferson on Prosperity, or what the cost of doing business should be:
“The happiness and prosperity of our citizens is the only legitimate object of government.”


Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Finding these quotes was an easy thing to do, but applying them to our everyday life is something entirely different. The true “cost of doing business” lies somewhere in the words that I am ending the week with and asking you to consider.