Policy Recommendations Show a Discouraging Trend

I just finished reading your article about Owen Zidar and the sidebars, which give a sampling of some of his work. I must first disclaim that I self-identify as a member of his group of “regional millionaires” since I started and nurtured a closely held business over 40 years ago. I never realized that I have been “flying under the radar.” Curious that he uses military jargon to describe what I assume should be some sort of government surveillance of my business.

I applaud his interest in developing “policy interventions aimed at helping young people land job opportunities that would prime them for entrepreneurship,” but I have little faith in government programs of that sort.

Nevertheless, once one of these budding entrepreneurs starts a business and is confronted with a problem as complex as supplying health insurance for the employees his simplistic and intellectually lazy solution is to charge the higher earning employees more simply because they make more. Could there be other issues involved here? For instance, do individual employees need or deserve more health benefits as a result of their lifestyle choices (e.g. smoking, drinking, overeating)? Should they pay more or receive less? No, just charge the people who earn more a higher premium just because they have more money. How discouraging on so many levels.

And then after the entrepreneurs are successful and become “regional millionaires,” increase the taxes on them to penalize their success or even tax them out of business. Is this some self-defeating prophecy?

It is the oldest pipe dream in history, from “the meek shall inherit the earth” to “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs” to Obama/Biden wanting the 1% to pay “its fair share.” It never ends and it never works.

We know that Karl Marx is alive and well at Berkeley. Now, it appears, he is thriving at Berkeley East.