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...
