PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
Dr. Thomas Sowell, in Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One, challenges individuals to analyze not only their short term (Stage One) impact but to also think ahead to their long term (Stage Two, Three, etc) impact.
Politicians do not think beyond Stage One because they will be praised (and elected) for the short term benefits but will not be held accountable much later when the long term consequences appear.
If Dr. Sowell up-dates the tome, he should include the following, as there couldn't be a more illustrative example of Stage One thinking.
1. "The Washington, D.C. city council has just passed legislation making the nations capital officially hostile to Walmart. The Large Retailer Accountability Act was proposed by city council chairman Phil Mendelson, who was determined to let big-box retailers know that youve got to pay a fair wage to your employees.
2. The law targets any city store with a net worth of over $1 billion, with a nonunionized workforce, and occupying a space of more than 75,000 square feetbut since no other big-box retailers operate in D.C. today, its a safe bet that Mendelson had Walmart in mind. Such stores must now pay wages of $12.50 an hour$4.25 above D.C.s minimum wage, itself a dollar higher than the federal rate.
3. Walmart is currently constructing three stores in Washington and planning three more. .... Together, they would provide 1,800 jobs and $15 million in annual sales taxes. These are areas in dire need of jobs and economic activity.
4. ....Mendelson objected because Walmart would pay some workers less than the citys median hourly wage for retail salespeople. Often our debate on the council is only about the number of jobs, not about the quality of those jobs, he said. Mendelsons bill typifies the opposition that Walmart faces as it tries expanding from the suburbs into major cities.
5. In 2007, community resistance killed proposed stores in Queens and Staten Island. In California, similar efforts have kept stores out of San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Unions, antipoverty advocates, and wealthy progressives argue that Walmart hurts small businesses and keeps wages down for the poor. Their cure for these alleged ills is to impose onerous and expensive mandates, including requirements to pay a living wage.
6. In D.C., for example, Walmart has donated millions to neighborhood programs and signed a community benefits agreement that guarantees training and hiring of local workers. In New York, Walmart has contributed an estimated $13 million to local charities and other organizations since 2007.
7. ..... progressives rail against Walmart from their own well-serviced neighborhoodsmany of which have big-box retailers, like Target and KMart, that pay roughly what Walmart does. But Walmart is one of the only major retailers offering less fortunate areas the groceries and cheap goods that these progressives can easily obtain.
8. .... the bills passage will force the company to abandon its plans for the three additional stores and that it might even jeopardize the three stores already under construction.
9. ... managerial positions that pay over $100,000 annually; indeed, three-quarters of the companys managers began as low-level employees.
10. Mayor Vincent Gray can veto the legislation, and he should. Otherwise, the citys poor will see Walmart driven further into the suburbs, away from where its so badly needed."
Stop Walmart First, Help the Poor Second by Scott Beyer - City Journal
The above, and stories like this, represents 'a posteriori' evidence of why a constitutional amendment is necessary that either pens Liberals/Progressives/Democrats up 'way out in the country where they will be a danger to no one but themselves, or...
at least....
...prevents them from ever holding offices of power.
Politicians do not think beyond Stage One because they will be praised (and elected) for the short term benefits but will not be held accountable much later when the long term consequences appear.
If Dr. Sowell up-dates the tome, he should include the following, as there couldn't be a more illustrative example of Stage One thinking.
1. "The Washington, D.C. city council has just passed legislation making the nations capital officially hostile to Walmart. The Large Retailer Accountability Act was proposed by city council chairman Phil Mendelson, who was determined to let big-box retailers know that youve got to pay a fair wage to your employees.
2. The law targets any city store with a net worth of over $1 billion, with a nonunionized workforce, and occupying a space of more than 75,000 square feetbut since no other big-box retailers operate in D.C. today, its a safe bet that Mendelson had Walmart in mind. Such stores must now pay wages of $12.50 an hour$4.25 above D.C.s minimum wage, itself a dollar higher than the federal rate.
3. Walmart is currently constructing three stores in Washington and planning three more. .... Together, they would provide 1,800 jobs and $15 million in annual sales taxes. These are areas in dire need of jobs and economic activity.
4. ....Mendelson objected because Walmart would pay some workers less than the citys median hourly wage for retail salespeople. Often our debate on the council is only about the number of jobs, not about the quality of those jobs, he said. Mendelsons bill typifies the opposition that Walmart faces as it tries expanding from the suburbs into major cities.
5. In 2007, community resistance killed proposed stores in Queens and Staten Island. In California, similar efforts have kept stores out of San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Unions, antipoverty advocates, and wealthy progressives argue that Walmart hurts small businesses and keeps wages down for the poor. Their cure for these alleged ills is to impose onerous and expensive mandates, including requirements to pay a living wage.
6. In D.C., for example, Walmart has donated millions to neighborhood programs and signed a community benefits agreement that guarantees training and hiring of local workers. In New York, Walmart has contributed an estimated $13 million to local charities and other organizations since 2007.
7. ..... progressives rail against Walmart from their own well-serviced neighborhoodsmany of which have big-box retailers, like Target and KMart, that pay roughly what Walmart does. But Walmart is one of the only major retailers offering less fortunate areas the groceries and cheap goods that these progressives can easily obtain.
8. .... the bills passage will force the company to abandon its plans for the three additional stores and that it might even jeopardize the three stores already under construction.
9. ... managerial positions that pay over $100,000 annually; indeed, three-quarters of the companys managers began as low-level employees.
10. Mayor Vincent Gray can veto the legislation, and he should. Otherwise, the citys poor will see Walmart driven further into the suburbs, away from where its so badly needed."
Stop Walmart First, Help the Poor Second by Scott Beyer - City Journal
The above, and stories like this, represents 'a posteriori' evidence of why a constitutional amendment is necessary that either pens Liberals/Progressives/Democrats up 'way out in the country where they will be a danger to no one but themselves, or...
at least....
...prevents them from ever holding offices of power.