Caldwell: Guest Opinion: Cash cows and whipping posts

Chevron, one of the major donors to Democrat candidates for office in California, is trying to stay in Richmond, where the city council wants to close them down. Recently, Chevron was stopped from expanding. Yet, the company continues to finance Democrats that want to tax and regulate them out of California. The same goes for Silicon Valley, Ford, Bank of America, Wells Fargo—and numerous other major companies.

“The groups that have power in this state, including unions and environmentalists, while they may have lobbyists who speak softly, well, they mostly rely on big sticks! They protest, harass, harangue and intimidate the politicians who won’t do their bidding. They put their money where their mouth is and they are committed and adept at swaying public opinion to affect the outcome of elections.

The business community has the means to win by leveraging the access they have to their own employees, customers and vendors! They need to teach these contacts what they have not learned in school or life, namely that which drives the cost of doing business in this state and how that affects all of us as employees, taxpayers, and consumers.

These firms are financing their own destruction and the killing of hope for the future of middle class families in California. They have themselves to blame for California turning into a Third World State/Nation.

Guest Opinion: Cash cows and whipping posts

By Andy Caldwell, Santa Barbara News-Press, 4/5/17

There are three reasons that California is always ranked as the worst state in the union for doing business. The first is the politicians and activists who abuse and demonize business. Second are the businesses who enable the abusers by buying favors, and alternatively, those who refuse to fight back. The third reason is the disregard and indifference of the general populace who fail to recognize their own standard and cost of living suffers as a result of this situation!

There are several aspects as to how and why the politicians and activists routinely fleece business owners and get away with it. They view businesses in our state as cash cows for their wealth redistribution schemes and convenient targets for stirring up angst and envy. Meanwhile, the citizenry doesn’t realize that the resultant costs get passed down to them in the form of lower wages and higher consumer costs.

For example, even though the general population creates consumer demand for products which generate pollution either in the making or the using of the product, it is the producers who get tied to whipping posts for being “big” polluters! All the while, the consumers live in denial that they need and use these products every day.

Here in California, there is a continual assault on the ability of business owners to make a living through the use of the land, equipment, and the business operation they own, including land use restrictions, environmental regulations, the nation’s highest taxes and most complex wage and hour laws, along with extreme exposure to frivolous and abusive litigation.

So, how did it get this bad? Why does the business community tolerate this situation? And, when the business community has everything to lose, why are they outspent in terms of time, energy and money? The foremost reason in my opinion is the reliance on lobbyists to represent business interests. The fact of the matter is that nobody in Sacramento is afraid of a lobbyist as the one and only weapon in their arsenal is the ability to ply politicians! As one truthful politician said, “If you can’t take their money, drink their booze and sleep with their women, and then vote against their interests, you don’t belong in Sacramento”!

The groups that have power in this state, including unions and environmentalists, while they may have lobbyists who speak softly, well, they mostly rely on big sticks! They protest, harass, harangue and intimidate the politicians who won’t do their bidding. They put their money where their mouth is and they are committed and adept at swaying public opinion to affect the outcome of elections.

The business community has the means to win by leveraging the access they have to their own employees, customers and vendors! They need to teach these contacts what they have not learned in school or life, namely that which drives the cost of doing business in this state and how that affects all of us as employees, taxpayers, and consumers.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB and the host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m. on News-Press Radio AM1290.