The talk around Witch
Falls, and particularly
in our Grade Eight class because of our focus on government this year, was
often about the highlights from the President’s State of the Union address last
night. I didn’t mention it in my update
last night, though I did listen to it while doing my archive studies; but that
was mostly because I have a fairly jaded view of politicians in general – and
I’ve mentioned before that governments mostly just get in the way of our family
business work.
Expressing those views; or my analysis of the speech last
night in class wasn’t exactly an option; though Uncle Nick – Mr. Ayres – is
well-aware of them. He did allow a more
open discussion than probably happens in many classrooms around the country;
but our ‘debate’ over the issues wasn’t exactly in-depth, and didn’t really get
into the real problems facing our government and country. Part of the reason for that is the changing
breadth of our lessons when it comes to politics.
For instance, I’ll guess that in the not-so-distant past,
the role of media wasn’t even discussed in the classroom as part of the
political equation during events like this.
Media bias and spin is now a really big deal, and whether you agree or
not with the results; there isn’t much doubt that media deeply influences what
a large percentage of the population believes to be true – whether they’re
right or not.
I won’t go into every detail of the speech or our
discussions about it in class, but there are a couple of things that will
affect our family business that I do want to mention.
First up would be the increase in minimum wage. There is the usual media spin going on at
both ends of the issue today, but I’ll stick to the practical, business
effects. A forty percent increase in
labor costs for jobs where that’s applicable does have an impact on
businesses. That added expense will
either be passed on in higher prices; productivity will need to improve to
warrant the added cost; or alternatives will become more cost-effective – like
robotics or business relocation to less-expensive countries.
While the President’s planned executive order will only
impact government contractors at first, he’ll likely get congress to go along
with the new minimum despite the fact that it’s a net-negative to the country
and won’t really help current minimum wage earners. The government contractors will love this
because I’m sure many of them – as we are for the few family business companies
that do government contracts – make their profit on a cost-plus percentage
mark-up basis; so they get free money out of the deal with no added work or
effort. That may not be the case for
their employees. Higher wages mean more
taxes; could mean less supplemental government benefits; and there will almost
certainly be increased prices – particularly for products that rely heavily on
a minimum wage workforce.
Note that the President mentioned that the increase was
needed because the current minimum wage is worth twenty percent less than when
it was enacted. The problem has never
been what the minimum wage is – it’s how much those dollars can buy. The only thing this wage increase will
accomplish is to add more to the government debt, since that forty percent will
need to be paid for somehow; and shift spending from one place to another. People always seem to forget that money that
is spent on wages isn’t spent somewhere else.
I don’t want to make too big a deal of this, since the
impact on our family business is actually fairly minor; but it will have an
effect; and we may decide to change some things. That certainly isn’t strictly business for
us; but we do still need to choose where we can help people the most; and our
vision for that is global. Here at home,
particularly with the store owners, it will be very important if congress does
implement the President’s proposal as a federal mandate, and though none of the
employees working directly or indirectly for the family business will be
affected; I’m sure that Mom will take a look at how we can help with the impact
the change will have on smaller businesses in town.
Moving along, next up is the announced ‘MyRA’ retirement savings plan. To be blunt, this is nothing more than a
money-grab plan by the government to get more dollars flowing into government
bonds. Here’s a novel concept – the
government should try running a balanced budget – that way they wouldn’t need
to sell bonds to fund their debts to pay for things like minimum wage hikes and
Obamacare. The entire notion is even
funnier when you consider that Washington
has been doing everything possible to discourage savings for the past fifteen
or twenty years and encourage consumption and debt accumulation.
Will people plow money into the new program? Possibly.
Will they regret that decision in twenty or thirty years? Probably.
I don’t mean to offend the President or Congress, but it doesn’t take a
twelve-year old Magi Master to figure out that financial security provided by
the government only lasts as long as the governed who pay for it continue to
consent to do so; and nobody – at least ethically – gets rich through these
types of government savings programs.
Let’s not even discuss the idiocy of putting all of your eggs in one
basket; which is essentially what counting on social security, Medicare, and a
government savings bonds retirement fund would be. I’m certainly glad that we have other options
for most of our companies and employees in this country – and many others as
well.
The bottom line for pretty much the entire State of the
Union speech boils down to ‘we know what’s best for you; so let us take care of
you’. Feel free to decide whether that’s
true for you or not; but I can assure you that it isn’t for me; and my work
would be much easier without all of the ‘help’ I’ve personally experienced with
the government.
That’s enough of a rant for one night, so let’s do the quick
daily report; and then I’ll be ready for some quality down time.
We had a standard morning routine; school was fun but
uneventful; we studied after school at Tim’s house; and then I worked on my
part-time job from the time I got home until nearly eight o’clock with just a
short break for a soup and sandwiches dinner.
Mom did my Magi lesson before we put Ethan and Ehlana to bed; and then I
came straight up to my room to do the usual studying and work. That’s why I’ll be sleeping before midnight
while still getting all of my planned work finished. Some Michael and me time might have been
nice, but I do like the getting to sleep before two or three in the morning; so
we’ll survive the occasional evening when we don’t see each other.
I definitely don’t want to be dreaming about politics when I
do get to sleep; so let’s end this with those thoughts about Michael front and
center in my mind.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
