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Guest Column from State Representative Jim Buchy
Capitalism in
Government
At the age of 16, I began to peddle bologna for my family
business. In the summer my extra help was needed and I didn’t
mind making the money. It was a great lesson to save money and
earn a living. In 1956, more than 65% of the males 16 to 19 were
holding down jobs. Today, under 50% of males 16 to 19 are
employed outside of the home. Young people are losing an
opportunity for life lessons. This lack of personal financial
responsibility could be part of the reason we have a credit crunch and
such a high rate of home foreclosures.
Generations of Buchy’s taught me that hard work would bring success and
wise financial decisions were a key part of that success. The
Government cannot make effective decisions for businesses or personal
lives, and we cannot afford to take care of those unwilling to work for
their own benefit. As Republicans in Ohio, we believe in the
invisible hand of Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations. We
believe capitalism and the free market are the best way to improve our
economy.
Darke, Mercer and Preble Counties are the greatest place in the world
to live and rear families. The people of District 77 believe the
rewards that come with hard work are worth the sacrifice. It is
in our blood. Most of the people in this area are cut from the
same cloth with strong fiber and true character that has stood the test
of time. It is no wonder that our capitalist friends in Japan,
the Honda family, have selected this area as a prime location for their
U.S. automotive production activities.
A willingness to work makes businesses want to open shop in this
region. Increased taxes and government regulation over the past
28 years have made Ohio a less friendly place to do business and in the
last decade these problems have become more apparent. In the past
four months, I have witnessed the fastest moving state government in my
time of service. The legislature is working with the governor to
pass reforms like the Common Sense Initiative to make business in Ohio
easier. Unlike, previous Ohio governments this one party
controlled state is also going to be affected by ideas that have come
from the other side of the isle.
The Ohio House has passed three pieces of legislation with Democrats
carrying those bills as the primary sponsor. Two years ago, at
this same point in time, the Democratic leadership had not brought up
any bills sponsored by the minority (Republicans) for a vote on the
House Floor. In fact, no minority primary sponsor legislation had
been passed out of committee. Very recently, I voted in favor of
Representative Mallory’s (D- Cincinnati) legislation to enable the use
of better chemicals for fighting bed bugs, a major problem facing
Ohio’s tourism industry. We will not allow partisan politics to
stop good legislation that helps business in Ohio and increases job
opportunities for Ohioans.
Following the passage of Senate Bill 5, which modified collective
bargaining laws to provide costs saving tools for public employers,
many constituents responded by saying “raise taxes on
corporations.” This comment is fueled by emotion and lacks
practical economic principles. High taxes increase the costs of
doing business in Ohio. The high cost of doing business has chased jobs
from our state. The economics of free enterprise say keep
taxes lower and allow business to operate with less overhead. I
know this is what the people in our area believe. The invisible
hand, without government interference, will find the irregularities in
business and it will correct itself.
On many of our main streets in this district we have multiple pizza
shops. The law of supply and demand says that there is only a
limited amount of demand for pizza in a given area and without an
increased population both pizza shops cannot succeed. If
government interfered to create jobs at the pizza shop with an hourly
rate of pay set at say 15 dollars then both pizza shops would be forced
to sell their pizza at a higher cost to the consumer and it would make
the act of cooking at home more beneficial to the family. Both
pizza shops would lose business and they would close their doors unless
the Government paid the bills and kept the doors open with the high
paid staff, resulting in higher taxes for all.
In a free market as we have in Ohio, the two pizza shops would compete
to produce the lowest priced pizza with a quality that would keep
customers coming back in the future. If one pizza shop choose to
pay their employees 15 dollars an hour while the other paid 8 dollars
an hour, barring an extreme difference in the quality of product the
pizza shop that pays 15 dollars an hour would likely close because the
limited demand would chose the lower cost pizza.
In Ohio, businesses have been leaving because they cannot produce goods
at a lower rate than their competitors in other states and
countries. My colleagues in the Ohio House are looking for places
where Government is increasing the costs of doing business and we will
stand-up to keep the costs low and keep jobs in Ohio. Governor
Kasich and I prefer the free market and that explains why Ohio’s
lawmakers are passing legislation that is friendly to business and job
creation, and why we will balance the Ohio budget without increasing
taxes.
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