Topher Morrison
How Drug War Dinosaurs & Traffic Jams Kill Our Economy
PART I
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Everyone takes it for granted that the federal government is
laden with redundancy and inefficiency.
It doesn’t surprise anyone it requires a mountain of paperwork to buy a
paperclip, but rarely do many appreciate the other market distortions our lawmakers
create in the private sector. A market distortion is simply something someone is doing that they would otherwise not being doing if it government weren't in the picture.
Ironically, even in the Great Recession, because of market distortions, there is a lot of fat to cut
outside of the beltway.
The Tax Men and their
Elves
According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) there are over 1.6 million bookkeepers, accountants and
auditors, one of the largest employment groups in the nation. Now the personal business or corporate accountant
is crucial to understanding the intricacies of a firm’s operations, sales,
marketing, payroll, etc., but there are a quarter million people dedicated to
tax examining, collecting and preparing alone!
According to the Tax Foundation the
IRS estimates Americans spend an aggregate 6.6 billion hours just preparing
their taxes essentially taking us away from life – planning, creating, and spending. This time is lost forever and every
year it is a massive drag on the economy and our ability to compete and progress
as a nation.
We understand taxes are built into
the everyday activities of large and small business and have a net effect on
every decision made. We also
understand that once we buy a product or service those taxes contribute to the
price we pay, but the questions now are what other products and services would
be available and how much sooner might a new innovation be made if we could
gain that lost time back? It is no
wonder Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan got so much attention. It’s too bad his ladies did too.
The Jailbirds and the
Bird Watchers
The
United States, home of the free, is ironically home of the highest incarcerated
population on Earth. Widely known
fact, little attention. According
to the U.S.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (USBJS) in 2010 there were nearly 2.3 million
incarcerated and the BLS reported over ½ million correctional officers and
supervisory personnel, the USBJS puts them at nearly 800,000. In either case we literally have 3
million people staring at each other.
If
that were it things would be bad enough, but we also have – brace yourself – nearly
5 million people on probation or parole and nearly 90 thousand probation and
“correctional treatment specialists” making sure they’re playing by the
rules. With 1 in 2 returning to
jail or prison it is hard to see the effectiveness of this system.
How
many years are lost on minimum sentencing, three strike and drug laws for both
the prisoner and the watchman are next to incalculable. The financials are a different story
with America spending a little more than $74 billion per year on corrections as
of 2007, however, the most alarming trend is the federalization of correctional
financing. Year after year local
and state governments are spending less keeping people in jail, while Uncle Sam
picks up the tab.
Driven Apart – Bumper
by Bumper
Transportation
policy is probably the last thing on Americans’ minds, but it is the first
thing on every mind at 5pm. In
2000 the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) estimated that the 75 largest
metropolitan areas experienced 3.6 billion vehicle-hours of delay resulting in
5.7 billion gallons in wasted fuel and 67.5 billion dollars is lost
productivity or about 0.7% of the nation’s GDP.
It has since not improved
according to a
recent Reason.com poll which reports a majority of Americans believe
traffic has become worse over the last 5 years and most believe it will
continue to get worse over the next five years. Moreover, most Americans feel their local infrastructure is
in need of repair or in poor condition.
The country’s infrastructure
system has remained nearly unchanged since the Eisenhower era, which along with
the 1960s saw the largest expansion in American roadways and along with it
economic growth. We have since
been surpassed by China in miles of road.
Recently the TTI reported that
since 1982 the amount of delay has worsened by 70% and that the average
commuter must endure 34 hours of bumper love per year. The TTI estimates the cost of
congestion to be nearly $100 billion, rush hour is actually become 6 hours of
not rushing anywhere and rush hours have found there way into other parts of
the day including mid-day and overnight!
Unlike most of our economy our
transportation system, with some justification is a public utility, but like other
public works infrastructure suffers from the typical bureaucracy, glacial
response to the needs of its citizens and political logjams. According to the Rockefeller Foundation
transportation is the 2nd highest expenditure for the average
American, why isn’t this receiving more attention?
Unfortunately as I
mentioned earlier this is the last thing on Americans’ minds and therefore the
very last thing on our politician’s agendas. Regrettably the connection between this and our economy is
underappreciated and as the previous topics have shown this is just another
barnacle on the hull of our stagnant economy. A market driven transportation system paid for by the
elimination of certain gasoline taxes could do wonders in decentralizing and modernizing
this ailing sector.
NEXT: How the Drug War Dinosaurs and The Military Industrial Entitlement Program drag down our economy.
