Just to set the record straight, I'm Anti Trust, not Anti Big Business. The key difference is that I know that some big businesses are necessary to a thriving economy. It takes a large business to operate critical infrastructure. Some things, like automobiles, can't be efficiently produced and maintained by a small business. Moving freight across the country and around the globe requires large corporations.
That being said, I am anti trust. What that means is that when a business begins to grow so large that they can prevent competition, I have a problem with that. When Joe Doe Shoemaker can't compete with Nike because Nike can all too easily undercut him, there is a problem, and business regulations need to address that. The whole purpose of free market enterprise is that competition breeds improvement. Walmart underselling Ma and Pa down the road doesn't breed improvement, it breeds cheap goods from China and Mexico that are of lower quality. And Walmart's business ethics are much in question to me, because they actively train employees how to gain public benefits so they don't have to fund them. So not only are they destroying the American Dream, they are making the rest of the country pay for their billions of dollars in annual profits.
Now, there are communities like Red Bluff, CA, that have benefited from the presence of a Walmart distribution center, but that is beside the point. One dc serves several stores that pay barely more than minimum wage, and degrade the total commercial value of several communities. That is a problem. There are towns and cities now where entire shopping areas sit vacant because the last occupants couldn't compete with Walmart. This devalues entire sections of cities and contributes to crime.
Now, I'm not entirely anti Walmart, I just have a problem with some of their business practices. One problem is that they import a lot of Chinese made goods. China strictly regulates the value of the Yuan compared to other currencies, and so prevent other nations' currencies from falling below theirs' in value, thus keeping Chinese manufactured goods cheaper. This is not fair or free trade, this is China using aggressive economic warfare to conquer the world with. It's that simple.
My solution to the problem is to use tariffs where free trade is impinged upon. Let Chinese made goods be jacked up in price by 30% until China backs off its' aggressive economic policies. Let other goods be taxed at 30% until the nations they are produced in pay a decent living wage to their laborers. We need to level the playing field with these nations, which don't have the regulations we have.
There is another problem in that we have too much regulation here at home. California ranks dead last, not just in the country, but in the world as a place to have a business. One tenth of the population of the US resides in California. That says something, that we can't even support our own population because of bad regulation. We need to reduce regulation and balance economic and environmental needs.
Another source of bad regulation is unions. I'm not afraid of union busting. The fact is, they create excessive regulation, require jacked up wages, and have driven many of the middle class blue collar jobs out of the US. There was a time that unions did serve a purpose. That was when there were no laws on the books guaranteeing a living wage for entry level employees. If unions don't want to get on the same page as those who want to improve our competitive edge with other countries, they need to go.
Yes, we need regulations that control the negative effects of greed, but we need desperately to lure decent jobs back to the US. Yes, we should have a minimum wage in place that guarantees that someone will make a decent living even in entry level jobs, but we need to make it possible to conduct business. I've stated before that I'm in favor of regulating what the top employee or owner of a business can make in ratio to the lowest paid employee, provided they meet minimum wage and can provide decent benefits to their employees. Too much profit goes to people who do too little, and too much work goes to other nations.
That being said, I am anti trust. What that means is that when a business begins to grow so large that they can prevent competition, I have a problem with that. When Joe Doe Shoemaker can't compete with Nike because Nike can all too easily undercut him, there is a problem, and business regulations need to address that. The whole purpose of free market enterprise is that competition breeds improvement. Walmart underselling Ma and Pa down the road doesn't breed improvement, it breeds cheap goods from China and Mexico that are of lower quality. And Walmart's business ethics are much in question to me, because they actively train employees how to gain public benefits so they don't have to fund them. So not only are they destroying the American Dream, they are making the rest of the country pay for their billions of dollars in annual profits.
Now, there are communities like Red Bluff, CA, that have benefited from the presence of a Walmart distribution center, but that is beside the point. One dc serves several stores that pay barely more than minimum wage, and degrade the total commercial value of several communities. That is a problem. There are towns and cities now where entire shopping areas sit vacant because the last occupants couldn't compete with Walmart. This devalues entire sections of cities and contributes to crime.
Now, I'm not entirely anti Walmart, I just have a problem with some of their business practices. One problem is that they import a lot of Chinese made goods. China strictly regulates the value of the Yuan compared to other currencies, and so prevent other nations' currencies from falling below theirs' in value, thus keeping Chinese manufactured goods cheaper. This is not fair or free trade, this is China using aggressive economic warfare to conquer the world with. It's that simple.
My solution to the problem is to use tariffs where free trade is impinged upon. Let Chinese made goods be jacked up in price by 30% until China backs off its' aggressive economic policies. Let other goods be taxed at 30% until the nations they are produced in pay a decent living wage to their laborers. We need to level the playing field with these nations, which don't have the regulations we have.
There is another problem in that we have too much regulation here at home. California ranks dead last, not just in the country, but in the world as a place to have a business. One tenth of the population of the US resides in California. That says something, that we can't even support our own population because of bad regulation. We need to reduce regulation and balance economic and environmental needs.
Another source of bad regulation is unions. I'm not afraid of union busting. The fact is, they create excessive regulation, require jacked up wages, and have driven many of the middle class blue collar jobs out of the US. There was a time that unions did serve a purpose. That was when there were no laws on the books guaranteeing a living wage for entry level employees. If unions don't want to get on the same page as those who want to improve our competitive edge with other countries, they need to go.
Yes, we need regulations that control the negative effects of greed, but we need desperately to lure decent jobs back to the US. Yes, we should have a minimum wage in place that guarantees that someone will make a decent living even in entry level jobs, but we need to make it possible to conduct business. I've stated before that I'm in favor of regulating what the top employee or owner of a business can make in ratio to the lowest paid employee, provided they meet minimum wage and can provide decent benefits to their employees. Too much profit goes to people who do too little, and too much work goes to other nations.
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