"So What" to Naysayers of Tax Policy on Corporations; Tim Spinner

I was invited me to contribute over a year ago and I graciously accepted.  Hope you enjoy!

My main bone of contention with all the contentious rhetoric around the GOP tax bill is that it has turned everyone who opposes it, opposes the GOP or opposes Trump into Miss Cleo. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that they know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that [a tax cut on business] will absolutely, positively, unequivocally do nothing to help the economy, I'd put Jeff Bezos to shame with his paltry personal wealth.

First and foremost - the government does not run the economy. The government cannot create jobs in the private sector. The government can place policies into effect which hamper job growth or economic growth, for instance raising corporate taxes or the minimum wage. Thus its only power is to prevent growth. It cannot force Walmart to hire more stock boys or department managers. It cannot force Apple to hire more engineers. It cannot require that Comcast double its staff of English speaking customer service agents - which by the way would bring the total up to two.

When Government goes against its nature and removes barriers to job growth then the economy can exist in a more natural state and market forces can dictate job growth. In that scenario some businesses will hire more and some may hire less or cut payroll. But those decisions should be left up to the individual business owners if for no other reason than natural rights dictate that it is their right to run the business that they invested their money to start up as they see fit.

Yes, yes, I will grant you that certain regulations should be in place to ensure that people are treated fairly, i.e. ABC News should not be able to fire an intern who refused to go to a "private meeting" with Matt Lauer a second time. But those can be far less than what the current glut of regulations now governing all businesses, large and small, is.

Secondly - when is it our business to use the heavy hand of government to demand businesses do what we want them to do with their profits? What gives you or I or anyone else the right to demand that GE use its profits to hire more people? Why should a voter in central Ohio be able to dictate how Apple spends their profits? If they want to increase their business and hire more people they have that right. If they want to give those profits to the shareholders in larger dividend checks they have that right.

Yes, wealthy, greedy individuals like Warren Buffet and the Illinois Teacher Retirement Fund will benefit from larger dividends and increases in the price of equities but what's the alternative? Having government take control of the means of production and dictate to companies what they can and cannot do with profits?

I've come to the conclusion that anyone who speaks out against a tax cut because it will not boost the economy deserves nothing more in response than "So what?". Generally, not always but the vast majority of the time these people are the ones demanding that government take more money in the first place, that taxes are too darn low (remember that guy?).

So should our argument to them when they want to raise taxes be "But it won't help the economy!!!". Of course not. Why? Because they don't care about the economy. They rail against businesses on a daily basis as if the guy who gave them their last job was a genetically engineered hybrid between Dracula, Himmler and Ghengis Khan. They want the government to do everything possible to destroy big business and then without missing a beat demand that they get free tuition, free healthcare, free cable, free internet, free Big Macs, free foot massages, free cake and a $50/hr minimum wage.

Giving these people an answer above and beyond the level of interest required to utter "so what?" is unwarranted and grotesquely overestimates their ability to comprehend such higher level thought processes required to determine that two plus two really does equal four.