The Sound of Pigs in Slop
Ever been around at feeding time on a pig farm? I wasn't a farmer, but even "town kids" in my rural western Ohio hometown (pop. almost 1,000) visited farms occasionally. Reading this article by Edmund Andrews in today's The New York Times brought back memories. This is a short piece, but quite instructive, about what happens when there is even the slightest scent that Congress is in the mood for a major drive at buying votes, oops, I mean reforming taxes.
It's election time and all politicians are out to tell voters that they have provided some money for them. Problem is, even the Republicans (we small government Democrats were driven out of the party 30 years ago) forget about their "limited government" philosophy in the rush to pay off constitutents.
Magazines, even some trade journals in the manufacturing space, are speculating on who will be best for manufacturing--Kerry or Bush. I'm going to make a bold pronouncement--it's neither, or maybe either. Businesses, just like any rational individual, will always take something given to them.
What I've discovered in a career of both trying to make businesses succeed and reflecting on those experiences is that what business people really want is to know what the rules are. If I know how to play the game and feel that the rules will be relatively stable for some time, then I can build business plans around those rules. If I get a break, great, but please don't keep changing the rules then try to trap me if I break one.
I think business will go on regardless of who wins. It's probably a fair assessment that some businesses will do better under Bush (oil?) and some better under Kerry (high tech?), but the economy will do what it's going to do. The President will accept the credit or take the blame regardless.
How Tax Bill Gave Business More and More. It was the biggest free-for-all in corporate lobbying in nearly 20 years, and its final product was a tax bill with giveaways for almost every business. By By EDMUND L. ANDREWS. [The New York Times > Home Page]
12:16:01 PM 
|
