Inevitable Results

Business, unlike government, deals with that infamous "Bottom Line." When all is said and done, you add up your costs and your revenue to find out how you are doing. It can get complicated and while the cliche is that "numbers don't lie," we increasingly are becoming aware that our convoluted laws do indeed offer numbers an opportunity to prevaricate. When bad loans become sub-prime and bundles of rotten paper are euphemistically referred to as derivatives you are getting into the lying numbers business.

Still, if your costs exceed your income, you are losing the business battle. When you negotiate labor contracts without regard to the competitive value of that labor in a free market, you are not going to succeed. That's what makes the foray of our national government into the auto industry such an outrage. Business decisions aren't subject to political overlays. When you nationalize a car company, oust the CEO and board of directors, award your union supporters a major stake and then mandate production of a product that few Americans would voluntarily choose to buy, you will create a recipe for failure.

Across the country we can see the results at the state level of what is now going on at the national. Some states have chosen to pander to the lowest, laziest level of society in return for votes. Pork-barrel politics prevails at the expense of a logical business model for governance. The belief that you can simply confiscate private wealth through punitive taxes and then distribute it where it will get you re-elected shows eventually to be a failed philosophy.

Examples of failing states abound. California is awash in red ink. Illinois' corruption can't hide the fact that it is a failed state. Pennsylvania, even with the infusion of John Murtha's largesse is going down the tubes. New Jersey? Even Tony Soprano's boys are leaving.

So, doesn't this make sense?

GM Says They Might Move

Michigan isn't reluctant to load on the taxes. Detroit is a mess. How can a corporation mired in bankruptcy proceedings continue to believe that they can turn things around while carrying the unnecessary load of financing a socialist experiment with no hope of success?

I don't think it is a question of if, but rather of how soon they can head to a business friendly red state.