COMMENTARY

Commentary: Conservative common sense Published on Saturday, December 19, 2009 Email To Friend    Print Version by David Tapfer Questions circulating in all mature countries are now fielded in the TCI. Will employment return and include the citizens who want to work? In Britain and America, businesses large and small have fled those countries due to over-taxation and over-regulation, accompanied by excessive labour costs. David Tapfer is a retired, US-born engineer and management executive. He is married to Yvette Robinson, a TCIslander born in Middle Caicos and raised in North Caicos. They have a home in Conch Bar, Middle Caicos. He is also the chairman of the Middle Caicos Branch of the opposition Peoples Democratic Movement. These labour costs include not only the basic wages but a host of labour-related taxes and mandatory benefits. Unemployment insurance, workman’s compensation insurance, retirement insurance, health care insurance, ten or more paid national holidays and up to three and four weeks paid vacation for a start. The fact is the more taxes and insurance, the lower the actual wages. Then there are the nuisance liability law suits. From hot coffee someone spills on themselves to feigned slips in retail stores. Fake back injuries from fender benders. One can only imagine the suits filed when people got their feet wet in the Hudson river a few weeks ago when a senior skilled pilot saved all their lives. Will they sue the birds who clogged the engines? They will file against the airline, of course. The air carrier or their insurance company has deep pockets and will raise prices to come out even after the suits are settled. It is no mystery why the democracies are hard pressed to retain jobs. What is needed in all cases are governments that are friendly to business. Not by issuing big government contracts but by encouraging private business. It is well known that conservative politicians are anxious to return to the driver’s seat and pump up business. I recently spent six weeks in my home town, where steel mills, the auto industry and all kinds of manufacturing provided millions of jobs. The liberal policies of the last 50 years have shut that city down, the population has left and it may take 50 years to restore it to some reasonable level. This has yet to occur in the TCI but we are on the verge. When and if taxes and regulation on business are imposed, good bye business. If Britain is the model we are to follow, we are doomed. The British are considering a return to a conservative government. This could be a new beginning for British manufacturing and business in general. Sorry to say it, but the Democrats and Labour parties are not cutting it. National debt in the UK and the USA is beyond belief and the money is owed to China and other Asian countries, who are beginning to enjoy seeing their business sectors grow by leaps and bounds as they convert raw materials into useful products. Punishing those who have worked their brains and hearts out to obtain success with escalating tax rates and illogical regulation, destroys incentives for young people and businesses young and old. Before some environmentalist jumps on me, let me tell you my family lived all their lives half a mile from three smoky steel mills. They all lived into their late eighties and one made it to 95. All this with a 1950 level of health care. I am not suggesting steel mills in the TCI because here the environment is the attraction that brings business and tourists into the country. The walls of concrete we are erecting will not sustain us, they will condemn us. All we need is thoughtful leaders and managers, who have integrity, management skills and a will to work at it. The work starts after the election but preparation begins right now. This is not Oak Ridge, rocket science or Silicon Valley. It’s just hard work and common sense. We do not need the advice of pseudo intellectuals, we need common sense managers with rolled up sleeves. I say, bring on the conservatives.   Reads : 344 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. 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