As a public service, Buster reminds all his dear friends that unfettered free-market capitalism is not necessarily your friend. Big business has a long and ugly history of fucking the little guy at every turn, all in the name of maximum profit and shareholder return. Remember that, at one time or another, it was the captains of industry who brought us fun stuff like monopolies, child labor, deplorable working conditions, unsafe products, the 16-hour day, the use of violence and murder against labor organizers and striking workers, gender and age discrimination, and unequal pay, to name but a very few.
Take any one of these examples and you'll find that, at the time, business stomped and snorted and insisted that not only was this condition just fine and dandy, but it was also the very key to their business survival, and any restriction of it would spell their certain and immediate doom. "That's right, Congressman. The day I'm not allowed to have little 8 year-old Timmy running the radial arm saw is the day I have to close my doors!"
A total load of crap. But to this day, selfish moaning and groaning is the default setting for corporate America: Taxes are always too high, regulations are always too restrictive, the business climate is never friendly enough.
This strikes me as a threat and it pisses me off. Like the owner of a pro sports franchise who threatens to move the team unless a new stadium is built at taxpayer expense, today's business community likes to work the same sort of slimy shakedown: "Hey America, better give us what we want or else we'll be forced to downsize, outsource, or maybe even move our whole goddam operation to a Third World country!" It's corporate hostage-taking.
Subjecting business to a rule or two, a tax or two, having some protection for worker and consumer, is not a bad thing and it doesn't make us a bunch of Commies. Don't pay the ransom.
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