Let us try a little thought experiment. We’ll call it “Thought Experiment 1”, since I am feeling particular creative today.
Say that you have a neighborhood kid that rakes your leaves every year and that you pay him a whopping ten clams to do an extra good job. Suppose that you get a wonderful tax break that knocks you from the 25% tax bracket down to the 15% tax bracket. What are the chances that you will now say; “Hey, I be rolling in dough. I am gonna give that raking dude a huge raise. In fact I may hire a whole team of raking dudes and pay them extra out of the goodness of my monetary windfall elated heart.”
I think we all know the answer to that question. Now let’s move on to “Thought Experiment 2”.
The aforementioned and somewhat wiser raking dude says to hissef; “I am not getting paid enough. Ten clams is what they used to pay raking dudes back in the 1970’s and it is now 2017, I deserve a raise”. The young dude gives you this pronouncement to which you respond; “What are you some kind of nut? Why should I double your pay when I can find raking dudes galore in the neighborhood?”
The raking dude takes it to the next level and gathers all of his raking dude buddies. They all agree that twenty clams is the going rate for raking lawns. And so the first raking dude union is born and you my friend are either going to rake them all yourself or possibly end up face down on the lawn with the paddles of life strapped to your ass.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a “union guy” but I do want to point out the complete lack of logical thinking that permeates our country’s leadership. I suppose that raking could be outsourced or done by migrant labor, but it seems to me that is also a temporary solution.
Eventually everyone demands a higher raise. Shit I keep writing these stupid blog posts and am getting paid nada.
