I was reading about corporate welfare at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Christopher Westley states and I quote ,’ As hard as it may be for the arrogant state development community to believe, the vast majority of economic growth that occurred in the United States was actually coordinated without any such central planning boards.’
I had made a similar case in point against state subsidy on my blog albeit without the research. San Francisco and New York did not become great cities because of tax subsidies.
State Corporate Income Tax is based on a three factor formula, which affects the plant, workforce and point-of-sales locations. In today’s global work environment, workforce and point of sales locations might not be a concern for Internet businesses. The plant might also be a mute point. So, the question is how do we go past this antiquated concept of attracting high growth companies?
There was a study conducted by a former Michigan governor that concluded that the best long-term strategy for attracting business was to maintain a simple, low-tax and low-regulatory business environment.
Even a country such as, Albania introduced a flat tax rate of 10% to attract international investors. So, why are we not doing this? This is tantamount to saying, tax anything that is productive and efficient. Make them pay for being smart to compensate for the rest who might not be.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Problem Solving...A fine example
Had Aaron Spelling been alive today, he probably would not have liked this news about flight engines shutting down TEMPORARILY in violent weather conditions. I have highlighted the temporary in caps lest some of us suffer from a full fledged panic attack.
Having said that though, I want to bring to light the effective way in which the various agencies have worked together to investigate the issue, respond in a timely manner and mitigate the risks along the way. The FAA, NTSB, engine manufacturers, and the airlines and of course the pilots all readily shared information.
The result is that FAA is issuing new flight procedures. The Safety Board issued recommendations. FAA has more stringent standards for newly designed engines to mitigate the risk of a mid-air shut down of the engines because of icing. Safety bulletins were released and engine-control software has been revised.
It seems that there are a few lessons here for the other industries in turmoil.
1. These would be to engage stakeholders in a timely, mutual and consensual manner. There was a sign at the door that said, ‘Check your egos at the door’. Inside the conference room, the sign said, ‘The Problem is the Focus, Not You’.
2. Keep the Number One priority the Number One priority. It was passenger safety.
3. The ‘Blame Game’ was not in effect. The party was strictly 'Problem Solving’ and if you couldn’t contribute, you were not invited to the party because of your title. Notice how the CEOs didn't create headlines with misinformation while the real technical experts went about solving the problem.
4. Even though the nature of the problem was unknown to begin with, we didn’t see people running around like headless chicken propounding mindless theories and creating panic driven disasters.
5. The best lesson here was that the active participants, namely the pilots, were actually interviewed for their version of what happened. That was also what tipped off the technical experts to the nature of the problem. Sometimes, it is best to interview those having to deal with the problem directly instead of letting a committee attempt to solve the problem in an ivory tower.
Having said that though, I want to bring to light the effective way in which the various agencies have worked together to investigate the issue, respond in a timely manner and mitigate the risks along the way. The FAA, NTSB, engine manufacturers, and the airlines and of course the pilots all readily shared information.
The result is that FAA is issuing new flight procedures. The Safety Board issued recommendations. FAA has more stringent standards for newly designed engines to mitigate the risk of a mid-air shut down of the engines because of icing. Safety bulletins were released and engine-control software has been revised.
It seems that there are a few lessons here for the other industries in turmoil.
1. These would be to engage stakeholders in a timely, mutual and consensual manner. There was a sign at the door that said, ‘Check your egos at the door’. Inside the conference room, the sign said, ‘The Problem is the Focus, Not You’.
2. Keep the Number One priority the Number One priority. It was passenger safety.
3. The ‘Blame Game’ was not in effect. The party was strictly 'Problem Solving’ and if you couldn’t contribute, you were not invited to the party because of your title. Notice how the CEOs didn't create headlines with misinformation while the real technical experts went about solving the problem.
4. Even though the nature of the problem was unknown to begin with, we didn’t see people running around like headless chicken propounding mindless theories and creating panic driven disasters.
5. The best lesson here was that the active participants, namely the pilots, were actually interviewed for their version of what happened. That was also what tipped off the technical experts to the nature of the problem. Sometimes, it is best to interview those having to deal with the problem directly instead of letting a committee attempt to solve the problem in an ivory tower.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Follow Up on Wal-Mart Case
As a follow up to the case of a former employee of Wal-Mart, who was being sued by the company, the latest news is that Wal-Mart has reconsidered it’s decision and will be withdrawing the case.
This is clearly a win for logic and humanity over bad business practices, however lawful they might have been.
This is clearly a win for logic and humanity over bad business practices, however lawful they might have been.
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