I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hambuger today!

Nowhere is the trend of kicking the can down the road more prevalent then in government as politicians goal of being reelected takes front and center. This has reached a point where those in office are surrendering their better judgement as they go seeking jobs at any cost. We constantly see government bargaining with, and making concessions to companies like Amazon to locate facilities in their State. This is often done just  to gain a few jobs with little thought to the long term consequences. Sometimes it is exempting sales tax, sometimes it is giving the company free utility build-outs or forgiving property taxes. I use Amazon as an example because it is an exploiter of the brick and mortar stores that line the streets of our cities and neighborhoods.

By giving some companies advantages states may be lowering the ability of others to compete and in the long run lose more jobs then are created short term. In Fort Wayne, Indiana years ago the city backed a bond and the loan to build a massive hanger at the airport for an air-freight company named Kitty Hawk. They promised a slew of new jobs when they located their hub in the city, the company is now bankrupt and the jobs are gone. The taxpayers of Fort Wayne are now paying for an empty hanger that they are trying to lease at a aggressively low price. This hurts those private investors and property owners that lease building space as they are now forced to compete against the government to which they are forced to pay taxes.

Short sighted attempts to sidestep real structural failures and problems often fail. Real problems must be addressed with real solutions not just promises of  future action or put off until a later date. Unfortunately not taking the proper steps often causes more problems down the road. This brings to mind the words of Winston Churchill who said, "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences" My point is, we too are entering the place where we must pay the piper.



 Footnote; This post dovetails with many of my recent writings, for more I might suggest reading the article below. Other related articles may be found in my blog archive, thanks for reading, your comments are encouraged.
                       http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/01/creating-jobs-in-mature-market.html