Let's see: low corporate taxes, no unions, worst school systems in the country, highest poverty rates, decaying infrastructure, highest murder rates, mortality rates for women creeping steadily upward, . . . what else can the red state South brag about?
If cutting taxes to the point where they're nonexistent is such a wonderful thing, why, on an international level, do the Nordic countries always get high marks as being the best places on the planet to do business?
I'm listening to NPR, a much better choice. Your addiction to C-SPAN is like someone beating their head against the wall, I feels so good when you stop!!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see something like this, I'm reminded of this rant:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.annotatedrant.com/
(Click on the F The South link; it's a bit aged now, but still spot-on.)
Definitely NSFW.
Lurker111
That is a great rant. And so true.
ReplyDeleteSadly there's scant evidence we're going to be witnessing cultural-social improvement any time soon. It's best (healthier) to stop watching the train wreck ...
ReplyDeleteGeorge Carlin talked about being an observer as our culture circles the drain. Of course he also had some awesome rants.
Interesting comments, considering that the area surrounding Huntsville, AL produces a large percentage of NASA's engineers and quite a few of Boeing's, Thiokol's, etc. And most of the big companies that have closed plants in the Huntsville area (Chrysler, for example) had powerful unions. OTOH, look at Detroit's schools and economic development.
ReplyDeleteAs far as taxes vs. business environment, the most economically successful city in the world is also the freest. This city has:
No sales tax
No capital gains tax
No VAT
Maximum income tax of 20%
Maximum business tax of 16%
That city is Hong Kong.
Tracy -- And what was at the heart of all the development around Huntsville? The US government, the Redstone Arsenal, and the rocketry program that followed World War II. Thiokol wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the government.
ReplyDeleteYou do see the irony in touting a city that relies on a Communist command economy as being business-friendly, don't you? Yes, I know Hong Kong is referred to as an Autonomous Region, but it's still the People's Republic of China.
I thought we were talking about tax rates and school systems in the South, not whether or not the government is involved. Besides all that, the part of the government responsible for Redstone is not the "public service" branch, but the "military industrial complex."
ReplyDeleteAs for Hong Kong, the city became successful when it was not part of the PRC, and has remained successful because the high-ups in the PRC recognized that HK did not need fixing, and so they have wisely left it alone. Communism certainly didn't build Hong Kong. In fact, China has been applying the lessons it has learned from free-market Hong Kong to business on the mainland. In other words, China is moving away from government control because they see the free market working in HK. The US, OTOH, just can't learn. For example, check out the comments Bernanke made yesterday. QE1 didn't work, QE2 didn't work, he figures we're just gonna have to go for QE3 and some more stimulus of taking more money from private businesses and throwing it at more pet projects of politicians to kick-start the economy. Actually, he specified buying bonds. For example, since progressive California is about to go under water for the last time*, they would love to sell some bonds to the fedgov to drum up some liquidity. And what did the fedgov produce, again, to come up with that money?
*Yeah, California, that shining example of high business taxes. Even though Hollywood is real big on pushing socialism, it seems they can't afford to pay the high taxes associated with actually making movies in California anymore. It is actually cheaper for them to fly the entire cast to a country with lower taxes and produce their movies there.