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Jeffrey L Minch's avatar

Government not only does NOT contribute to GDP, it is a GDP DEFLATOR.

When our decrepit, faux President, Elderly Joe with the cognitive issues, cancelled the Keystone Pipeline, cancelled drilling leases, put ANWR off limits, put LNG projects on hold -- he stopped energy investment in its tracks thereby deflating GDP and business expansion that would have created goods and services whilst also driving the price of gasoline up and sparking inflation.

All this stuff is connected delicately and in gross terms.

It gets worse.

Government eats money such as when they sold the excess parts of the Trump Wall at a firesale auction for $0.08/$1 value thereby destroying the value of goods and services for which they had already paid.

The topper: for a single USD to arrive in DC to be spent requires $0.26 to collect. This is one of the most compelling reasons for a small, streamlined gov't -- the bloody friction associated with simply collecting taxes.

JLM

www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com

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Illinois Entrepreneur's avatar

One of the problems is that providing "incentives" is the only way some of these states would attract business. Their tax structures and regulations are unfavorable, so governors sense the pressure to "do something" and they create this mega-incentive packages for splashy names or ideas.

The other thing it does is give them more control and power, which is perhaps obvious.

You could say, "Alright, so lower your taxes and reduce regulations so that ALL businesses are attracted here," but that would reduce their ability to control their kingdoms. This is why I think Florida has it right, and it's why I like Ron DeSantis quite a bit.

I think the others like picking winners and losers, and they like having companies and people beholden to them. Since there is no short-term or mid-term penalty to using state money, they all do it.

I would love to see deregulation and a fair tax structure for everyone--including smaller businesses that don't get these benefits--but we all know that the structure won't allow it to happen.

It's a fundamental flaw in our republic. I think it could only be resolved with a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting funding or financing of private interests.

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