Why Net is so Gross?

 

Starting off on a tangent; it will now be put forth that taxation is not theft, taxation is extortion plane and simple. Theft is simply the removal of a valued asset, while extortion is the removal of a valued asset coupled with an implied threat of, or an actual act of, violence.  

 

The proceeding paragraph was injected into this article for it is assumed that most of the readers pay taxes. This means that the concepts of gross-profit and net-profit should be well known to many. For the purpose of clarity; the term ‘gross’ is the sum of all things being counted, while the term ‘net’ is the end result of that counting after any offsets have been taken into account. Ergo, any climate initiative attempting to achieve Net-Zero carbon emissions has no bearing on the actual carbon emitted.

 

To place this thought train into perspective the reader is asked to consider the following two situations; a lone person does a single job and has a net return of $10,000 dollars, and then there is a business with 1,000 employees that also ends up with a net return of $10,000 dollars. These two businesses are at this point operating in a pre climate-panic, pre ‘Net-Zero’ point in history.

 

Eventually the bureaucratic cogs started to move, the valves opened and closed faster and the pistons applied torque to the shaft as the ‘save the planet’ machine quickly got up to full steam. For the purpose of this narrative, the number of players in the story will be kept to a minimum and the setting as simple as possible.

 

The lone person, Johnny, is the fifth generation to work the apple orchard that has been passed down in his family; with the help of his three sons and the legal migrant workers who show up for picking season.  Johnny saves some apples every year to maintain a supply of apple seed so he can replenish his trees as needed.

 

ACME Haulage and Processing, has five trucks and a factory that sorts produce and turns those not fit for sale into juice or cider. ACME, picks up the apples from the area farms and process them sale or cider and then delivers the goods to the regional food terminal. Acme also works with other produce locally grown.

 

NEWS FLASH – Government Announces Policy For Net-Zero Carbon Emissions – Plus New Carbon Tax.

 

Johnny saw the news, shrugged his shoulders and joined his family for dinner where he found out that his second son, who had been sweat on the girl next store for some time, had proposed to her and she accepted. The Bunyan family next door had two daughters and thought they might have to chop down their fur trees early, which they usually sell at Christmas, so they could get some money to move out, for they might have to sell their land to some developer. Later on it would be agreed upon that a small house would be built near the property line so the soon to be grandparents could easily visit their legacies.

 

Meanwhile over at ACME, a mild panic had set in. Management realizing that their costs were about to go up they knew that the current costs would have to be more strictly managed. The first round of decisions included a two year wage freeze for the workers and a 10% reduction for the inspection and maintenance for the trucks. ACME had been paying its workers 5% above the going wage rate as management knew that employee churn comes at a high cost and that higher wages reaped a higher UI benefit for staff.

 

Next ACME looked at their supply costs and concluded that the apples may have to be dropped as a product due to the need for more delicate handling. Fred, the owner of ACME, and Barney, the head of purchasing, went off to visit Johnny and the other apple farmers to see what can be done about the price of apples. Hoping the news wouldn’t be taken badly.

 

Everyone present knew the topic at hand having read the recent announcements from the government. The price at market, meaning the price to market, was understood to be the necessary goal. Johnny listened to Fred explain how the carbon tax was going impact his business. Johnny learned that ACME is going to be hit pretty hard due to the five trucks he runs picking up seasonal produce during the growing season. Three of the trucks, like the ones that Johnny sees get converted to plow/sanding trucks in the winter to provide snow removal from the driveways for the farmers; Fred explains how some of his prices will have to rise to cover his costs.

 

It is at this point that Johnny’s eldest son Pat says he learned about some things that might help everyone out. Pat goes on to explain that Net-Zero is a cap and trade system where strict rules outline how much carbon a person/company is allowed put into the environment. He continues explaining that if there is left over carbon that can be sold off as a carbon credit.  If we can all act more like a family and help Fred reduce his fuel costs we can all still stay in a good place; but we won’t have much chance of getting ahead.

 

Barney muttered a cuss word under his breath and everyone stopped talking; for it sounded as if he said ‘Yaba daba trucking doo.’ Barney! Exclaimed Fred, we have been neighbors for years now and I have never heard you use such language. Barney went on to explain how the government seems to keep making policies that didn’t really help what they claim they are helping, the policies just seem to be taking more and more of the money that good people earn. Meanwhile Johnny got up to make a phone call.

 

‘This is Johnny Pomoseme calling for Paul Bunyan’ everyone heard Johnny say into the phone; the rest of the phone call was downed out by the sound of Johnny’s wife Catarina bringing out a tray of sandwiches and coffee from the kitchen. Johnny returned shortly to say that Paul would also join in on this Net-Zero thing and that they both thought most of the other farmers in the area would join in too. Johnny started to get some ideas…

 

Johnny asked Fred, what he did with those drying machines from January to April. Fred explained he laid off most of his of his staff at that time of year as he little to nothing for them to do. Johnny thought for a moment and told everyone he had another phone call to make. Upon his return, Johnny announced that ‘Puff’ was in and he would send some product Fred’s way for drying.

Everyone knew Ali Ghulam, though everyone calls him ‘Puff’ as he is good at growing only two things, marijuana and poppies. Puff’s business was doing better ever since the government got in the drug distribution business, though some of his product was a little to strong for that. While many of the locals were surprised when the government legalized pot, Puff wasn’t surprised at all. He pointed out ‘the government has been in the drug business for years in the forms of nicotine and alcohol.’ Ali has a good sense of humor and often asked people where the nearest government gun store was; this left many people perplexed as they knew there was no such thing and pressed Ali on why he was asking such an odd question. Ali’s simply responded with – ‘How can the government “buy back” something it never sold?’

 

Johnny sat quietly, for a moment before asking Fred where he got his trucks maintained and fixed. Fred explained that he uses a place down in the city; this news caused Johnny to frown just a little though he started to smile once again when he saw Catarina going towards their garden to get some vegetables to make the dinner. Pushing out the fond memories from last night, Johnny brought his thoughts back to the task in hand.

 

Johnny looked at Fred and asked if he remembered his cousin Vincenzo, to which Fred replied, ‘Yeah he’s that lawyer fellow we went hunting with last fall.’ Johnny continued, and explained that Vinni’s wife runs a shop just one town over and that Johnny was sure that she and her crew can handle Fred’s repair needs for a better price. The story is that the garage had been in her family for years and the property is all paid for. Fred showed interest in learning more, promising to pay the place a visit. Johnny wrote down the name, Il Motore, and the address for Fred. Johnny asked Fred to him a call the night before he visits, so Johnny can meet him there as he might be able to help with a discount. Fred offered to pick Johnny up so they could talk more along the way. Johnny made a mental note to ask Vinni if he could help with all the government forms.

 

Johnny called over his youngest son Tat and whispered in his ear; the boy nodded and ran to the kitchen. A few moments latter, Tat returned with two 4 quart baskets and Catarina in tow behind him. Each basket had a bottle of wine, some apples, tomatoes and a cucumber. Fred and Barney stood up as Tat approached and accepted the baskets with thanks. Fred glanced at Barney as both reached for their wallets; Johnny shook his head and held up his hand explaining that the baskets were a gift. Fred and Barney both pulled a five dollar bill from their wallets, Fred went on to explain that the money was for Tat as he did the work and continued by telling Tat to never do anything for free unless it was for his family. Johnny nodded in approval signaling an OK to go ahead. Tat said thank you to the two men.

 

Fred looked at the boy and told him – ‘remember son, nothing in life is free and you must always ensure there is some tit for Tat.’ The not so youngster caught the innuendo and blushed, which added to his embarrassment; he glared at his father for naming him so.

 

Recovering himself, Tat looked at the men and said – ‘Just so I understand things, the government is going to squeeze people out of business with this; wait a minute, does anyone even make an electric truck yet?’ Johnny smiled knowing he hadn’t raised an idiot, next up for Johnny, the list of farmers willing to organize...