|
Those Evil Business Folks
By Bob Davidson, Canton
Americans generally like to root for the underdog. There is one exception.
There is one underdog which Americans by the millions criticize, demean and condemn without mercy. The strange thing is that the victim is responsible for providing Americans with the highest standard of living in the world, giving us jobs and material wealth, and without it our economy would collapse.
When a business like Enron appears to be guilty of bad behavior, we act as though every other business was guilty of the same behavior. We don't do this with people—just businesses.
When jobs are lost to an overseas company, we blame American companies for moving work outside the country. Has anyone dared to consider that union leaders over the years may have priced their members right out of the world job market? Of course not. Just blame business.
Most recently, businesses like Stanley Works are being called un-American and sleazy because they are legally saving millions in taxes by re-incorporating in Bermuda. Columnist Molly Ivins uses words such as "dodge" and "thievery" when discussing how businesses avoid paying unnecessary taxes, but she would never fault a union boss for doing exactly the same thing. Would you pay more in income taxes than required by the IRS? Of course not, but it is evil if a business pays only what the law requires. One critic said these businesses don't want to pay their "fair share." I thought that's what the tax laws were designed to ensure, but blame business anyway.
Well, representing big business, I am the underdog and I am sick of being the fall guy for every complaint about taxes, jobs and ethics.
| 
