A few minutes ago I read where GE plant is leaving New York for the south.

which is no surprise to me at all.

Taxes are high in New York and lower in the southern states. GE probably looked at the books and decided that they would come out ahead over a reasonable amount of time if they moved.

It makes sense and if I were a CEO I would likely do the same thing. Taxes rob businesses of profits and it is as simple as that.

I said that once to a liberal and he said, "Oh, come now. When has a company ever been taxed to death".

Cape Dory Yachts and Bristol Yachts folded after boats became subject to a short-lived luxury tax a while ago and following heavy taxation and over regulation the US Merchant Marine began a pretty rapid decline.

Taxes, governmental regulation and unions tend to drive costs of doing business up. The luxury tax clobbered the recreational boat industry and taxation and regulation clobbered the US Merchant Marine in the 60s. There are very few US flagged ships anymore and the few that still exist are plying Jones act trade and not really going overseas.

In a simple stroke of the pen the shipowners simply reflagged the vessels and got rid of taxation, unions and regulations. It was as easy as that.

There used to be a lot of pride in the US Merchant Marine and the Merchant Marine academies pumped out officers that found good paying jobs until a combination of regulations, taxes and union greed made it too expensive for the ships to run profitably.
The companies really didn't want to reflag but the incentive to do so proved to be too enticing.

It doesn't surprise me.

Winston Churchill once said: "Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon."

It's true.

He also said: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

He was right when he said that, too.

We have to get over this "Everyone is a special snowflake and deserves a living wage" crap and start realizing that life is no bowl of cherries and that you will get out of it what you put into it.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. When you have a job that can be performed by someone living in a mud hut than it's time to either learn another skill or get used to living in a mud hut.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY