There is something to be said for that; $80K++ total comp for assembly-line work is rich, indeed.
But there's a lot of "cost" in having Fed, State, and local Gummints, and taxes are NOT the only costs. Regulations are a serious burden, too.
August 19th is the day the average American worker has finally earned enough to pay for his share of the government spending and regulatory burdens in 2010.
...Cost of Government Day fell on June 29th in 2000, but 26 days were tacked on between 2008 and 2009 to pay for the stimulus and bank bailouts passed by Congress. This year, Obamacare pushed the date back to August 19th – setting a new record.
So by the nationwide average, Americans spent the first 104 days (January 1st until April 4th) working to pay for out-of-control federal spending, the next 52 days (April 5th to May 28th) for state and local spending, the next 48 days (to July 14th) to pay for government regulations, and then 26 days for state and local regulations.
This study measures and reports the cost of regulation to small business in the State of California. It uses original analyses and a general equilibrium framework to identify and measure the cost of regulation as measured by the loss of economic output to the State’s gross product, after controlling for variables known to influence output. It also measures second order costs resulting from regulatory activity by studying the total impact – direct, indirect, and induced. The study finds that the total cost of regulation to the State of California is $492.994 billion which is almost five times the State’s general fund budget, and almost a third of the State’s gross product. The cost of regulation results in an employment loss of 3.8 million jobs which is a tenth of the State’s population. Since small business constitute 99.2% of all employer businesses in California, and all of non-employer business, the regulatory cost is borne almost completely by small business. The total cost of regulation was $134,122.48 per small business in California in 2007, labor income not created or lost was $4,359.55 per small business, indirect business taxes not generated or lost were $57,260.15 per small business, and finally roughly one job lost per small business.
ReplyDeleteQuoted from a study from Cal State via Hot Air http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/25/study-regulation-costs-california-economy-almost-500-billion/