ECONOMY:
We must stop the fiscal irresponsibility of increasing Ohio's debt for programs that have not proven advantageous for all of Ohio's citizens. Government interference always means trouble for some sector of society.
1) "Each company's greed can only be satisfied by serving its customers well," Dr. Mary J. Ruwart.
2) "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door," Benjamin Franklin, entrepreneur. But, "Ya gotta have a gimmick." Gypsy Rose Lee, entrepreneur.
3) "Congress raised the minimum wage by 47% between 1977 and 1981. This resulted in the loss of 642,000 jobs. -- Daily Labor Report, 3/26/87.
4) "Government efforts to protect workers--everything from the minimum wage to the recently enacted Family Leave Bill--appear to be playing an unintended role in speeding the decline of traditional full-time jobs." Charles Green, Akron Beacon Journal, 5/29/93.
5) "Half the businesses surveyed...said they would hesitate to hire young women under the [Family Leave] Act and would likely cut down on low-skilled jobs. More than half said they would trim other employee benefits to pay for mandated leave. One quarter of the female work force would temporarily benefit at the expense of everyone else. ." The Wall Street Journal 2/8/93.
6) According to James Bovard, in the publication Freedom Daily, "The Tariff Code...now has 8,753 different rates...equivalent to more than 8,000 different industrial policies--and 8,000 different entitlement programs for protected domestic industries. While the average tariff is around 5%.........
* Low priced watch parts are hit with a 151.2% tariff
* Duck liver tariffs are16 times higher than the tariff on goose liver.
* The tariff on grape wine with low alcoholic content is 6 times higher than grape wine with high alcoholic content.
* The tariff on vodka worth less than $2.05 per liter is 13 times higher than the tariff on vodka worth less.
* Gjetost cheese pays a 6.5% tariff while goya cheese pays a 25% tariff.
* Vitamin B12 pays a 7.8% rate, Vitamin C pays 3% and Vitamin E pays a 7% levy.
* Aspirin carries a 10.2% tariff while antidepressants and tranquilizers are 16.6%.
* Higher prices caused by tariffs often result in fewer people receiving lifesaving drugs or treatment. The Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California paid a $189, 964.32 tariff on one lithotripter, a German made machine for surgical removal of kidney stones.
* In 1963, the US raised tariffs on truck imports to 25% to retaliate for European tariffs on US chickens. The 25% rate has remained though the "chicken war" has been over for decades.
* A tariff on fabric used to make protective clothing for firefighters is 33% even though no US company makes the product. Authorities thought it would encourage production if rates were high.
* The government protects the steel industry by sacrificing precision metal workers and agricultural equipment exporters. We protect 11,000 sugar growers by sacrificing the sugar refining and food manufacturing industries.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING & TRADE UNIONS:
1) "Workers should be free to organize, bargain and strike for better wages and conditions. Employers should also be free to hire new employees who will be willing to work under existing wages and conditions. Each side must not defraud, steal or assault the other," Dr. Mary J. Ruwart, Ph.D.
MONOPOLIES:
1) "Rockefeller's Standard Oil gained 85% of the market for a couple of years but found that the only way to keep competitors from gaining ground was to maintain low prices. AT&T, on the other hand, asked government to give them a monopoly to put their competitors out of business. For all his greed, Rockefeller could only dominate the marketplace by giving the customer a good deal. AT&T was able to charge monopoly prices [which shows that] government intervention is usually necessary to make monopolies work." Dr. Mary J. Ruwart, Ph.D.
2) "Microsoft has never done the kind of despicable acts committed by the Postal Service. I would be arrested for competing with the Postal Service. By law I cannot even put anything in the mailbox [the householder paid for]". Walter Williams, The Washington Times, 1/26/99.