Deja vu all over again. Remember how the US government mandated that ethanol be added to gasoline? It made gasoline costs more, damage engines and reduced fuel efficiency thus decreasing mileage and increasing pollution in the real world. But the lobbyists for the corn and ethanol industry loved it. They ignored the fact that it takes more energy to make ethanol than ethanol produces.
The Associated Press reports that fuel prices are increasing and food prices are climbing again. December saw a 0.8% monthly increase which comes to 9.6% annual price increase for food. Your insurance, if you have it, is going up 30%? Fuel prices are skyrocketing. Home heating costs are soaring. Our electric rates just went up 23.5%. But there is more…
The government has two new stunts though:
1) They’ve passed the “Food Modernization Act” which is going to force tons of paperwork (HACCP) and fines on farmers. Yes, proponents claim that smal farms are protected by an exemption but you have to prove your qualification for the exemption, and keep proving it every year plus the exemption is not set very high. Even a small family dairy farm in tiny little Vermont would easily kick over the threshold - all without the farmer making much of an income at all. What people fail to realize is the $500,000 threshold is the GROSS income of the farm. That gross income, gross annual sales, must cover all the expenses of the farm: feed, fuel, mortgage, equipment and the salaries of all the people who work at the farm. City bureaucrats, politicians, regulators, etc don’t get the point that the farmer’s not actually getting that money. It is flying out the door. The exemption is completely misguided. It should be based on something else like net sales or the actual size of the farm. Or maybe the government should just stop forcing their once size fits all regulations on us. Feds shouldn’t be controlling in-state commerce.
2) Hidden away in the “Health Bill” a.k.a. “Obamacare” was a little regulation that forces all businesses to file 1099 forms with the IRS for every vendor they buy over $600 from in a year. In addition to that the businesses have to collect W-9’s and fill all of this with the government. This will vastly increase the paperwork for all businesses. It won’t actually generate any additional tax revenue. Even worse it will result in businesses consolidating their purchases to major vendors to reduce their paperwork - wouldn’t you? This will further hurt small businesses. It gets worse…! This is going to mean more paperwork for the IRS which means they’ll need to hire more people making government bigger and raising your taxes.
The government is doing all of this during a recession when families and small businesses are already hurting. The added stress will drive more businesses under and more families out of work. Small businesses are the driving force of our economy. They provide most of the jobs. They stay local rather than shipping out overseas. Government is systematically killing the golden goose.