Job Creators
With this next presidential election cranked up about two years ahead of the Big Vote, I’ve been thinking about another round of debates we should have between the Job Creators and us Takers. The Pope’s been in town this weekend, talking about the obligation of a society — or a religion — to take care of the poor and the sick. Seems like the decent, the moral, thing to do, he says. Course, this makes him a socialist. A ‘taker’ too if you figure his salary’s paid from tithes.
I was just in my local Haggen grocery store. They bought about 150 Safeway and Albertson stores this spring, figuring, I guess, they would create thousands of jobs overnight. Now they’re closing stores, laying off thousands and applying for bankruptcy protection. Job Takers, looks like to me.
VW just got caught fudging its emission control tests. Put in a little software to fool the regulators, make it look like their diesel engines were clean as whistles. Now they’re going to end up either going down the Rabbit Hole or, best case, downsizing when the lawsuits and the fines reach many billions of dollar and sales dive. Job Takers, you ask me.
I’m a small businessman myself. Occasionally I even create jobs. Been awhile, since the Great Recession knocked me back on my heels, the one where the financial sector played a little fast and loose with our money. Cost me a little, cost the country plenty. Job Takers, if anyone wants my opinion.
Capitalism is fine with me — I got my little business and it’s given me a livelihood that pays the rent. But you know and I know and the Pope does too, the game is rigged. The winners make the rules and okay, nobody thinks they’re fair, except maybe the winners, but let’s take care of the losers. Let’s think of it as the cost of doing business. If government is only there to rig the game, the Big Boys can do it on their own. Maybe that’s why they hate government — it’s just a waste of their money.