The Big Government, The Big Business and the Little Guy

05/23/2006 | Brian Dickey

[nitzy]

The Big Government, The Big Business and the Little Guy.

Not too long ago, in a small village not far from where you now sit there lived an apple merchant. He was a kind little man with a loving wife and two beautiful children. He sold his apples out of a cart at the side of the road leading between the village and the village’s only large place of employment, the box factory. The local townsfolk would stop and pick up boxes of apples on their way home from work. Directly across from our dear apple merchant, another apple merchant sold his apples everyday. Now, as it turned out, the apple market had reached equilibrium with both men charging $1.00 for a heaping box of 20 juicy apples. The box factory charged each man 10 cents per box, the cost of growing and selling the apples was 80 cents and that left 10 cents for profit. It wasn’t much to live on but our apple merchant found a way to do it. He made just enough money to put food on the table for his family and save a few dollars for retirement.

One day a woman and her son stopped by to purchase a heaping box of apples. As they were walking back to their car in the parking lot, tragedy struck. An apple rolled off of the top of the heap and hit the ground. The woman’s clumsy and dimwitted son managed to slip on the apple sending him sailing through the air. He landed with a crash and as it turned out a broken arm as well. Our dear merchant hurried over and tried to help but was received with scorn from the woman and turned away.

“My, I hope that boy is O.K.” said the merchant, as he went back to his cart.

The next day the merchant was awoken early by the sound of his wife screaming. “Look at this!” she exclaimed as she burst through the door holding out the morning paper. There on the front page of the village newspaper was the headline, “Apple Merchant Sells Bad Apple, Local Boy Is Injured”

Immediately, a call went out through all the burrows for a town meeting. Something had to be done. At the meeting in the town hall the mayor addressed the crowd, “Dear Friends and Neighbors, I’m sure you have all heard about the tragedy that occurred the other day and I want you to know I will do everything in my power to make sure this never happens again. I promise that one day the scourge of stray apples will be a thing of the past and your children will be able to grow up in a land where apple will never again spread misery. I am calling for an emergency session of village council. I will direct them to immediately pass legislation limiting 10 apples to a box. If any apple merchant defies this decree they will be subject to fines or time in jail.”

Shouts of joy echoed through the hall and resounded through the streets. The people were now free. Free from the terror that had gripped their lives for the past 24 hours. They hoisted the mayor onto their shoulders and paraded up and down the street singing the praises of their savior and protector.

The next day our apple merchant went to his stand the same way he had for years. He did as he was instructed and sold the apples 10 per box but something didn’t seem right. As the day wore on he realized he was paying 80 cents for the growing and sale of 20 apples and 20 cents for 2 boxes. He was still selling 20 apples for $1.00 and thus was not making any profit. As it occurred to him he had three choices. He could continue selling 20 apples for $1.00 which would result in the slow death by starvation of him and his family. He also could get out of the apple business all together but he had done it for so long it was the only thing he knew. His last option was to increase the price of his apple to $1.10 for 20 apples. He felt bad doing so as he had made many friends over the years and knew they would not be happy with the increase. He ultimately chose to increase his price. His competitor across the street was forced to make a decision as well and chose the same as our merchant.

A little known fact that I will share with you is that there was a witness to the awful events of that terrible day. You won’t read it in a newspaper and they won’t talk about it at city hall but I have it on good account that there was a witness. It just so happens that the owner of the box factory was in the parking lot that day and witnessed the whole tragic event. It also just so happens that within hours of the incident the box factory owner made a sizable donation to the mayor’s upcoming reelection bid as well as a two year advertising contract with the village newspaper.

So in the end everyone was happy. The Mayor was reelected in a landslide. The newspaper’s ad revenue beat the previous year. The box factory recorded record sales. But most importantly the fine people of the village were safe at last. All of this for the small expense of 10 cents. What a country!

[nitzy]

This is what happens every day in this country. 90% of the legislation passed by congress has no real purpose other than meddling for the sake of picking winners and losers and profiting from the transaction through bribery.