Congress's failure to consider a Wall Street tax ignores the fact that, in several ways, Wall Street profits are of no particular value to the growth of the economy. It ignores the actions of Wall Street bankers that nearly destroyed the world economy in 2008. It ignores the fact that most start-up businesses have a short life. (The five-year survival rate varies by industry sector: manufacturing (48.4 percent); services (47.6 percent); retailing (41.1 percent); and finance et. al. (39.6 percent), according to Small Business Trends.) And it also ignores the fact that businesses are driven by profits, not by better working conditions for their workers; not by higher wages; not by better health and/or pension plans for their employees; and not by clean air and pollution-free rivers, streams, and lakes.
It often is the case that only when the government tells businesses to end their polluting practices or be fined that their practices change. They have little incentive to change on their own, as their primary goal as a business is to maximize profits. These observations put the lie to the argument that, if only the government were run like a business, its fiscal problems would go away. Really! As if businesses themselves don't ever have reason to file for bankruptcy. Recall Enron, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers, Circuit City, Borders, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and AIG, just to name a few. Some people are fond of citing Greece and Detroit to make their case against government, while ignoring all the instances of business failures like the few I've listed here.
Meanwhile, in the halls of Congress, it is business as usual. Diversionary issues like Benghazi, NSA, ObamaCare, the deficit crisis, and raising the debt ceiling have run amok as matters of concern, while, on the other hand, Wall Street is breaking new highs, CEO bonuses are in the stratosphere, and there is no end to the impasse in Washington. Business lobbyists in Congress seek to persuade the lawmakers to gut regulations, resist clamors to increase the minimum wage, repeal Obamacare, and reduce business taxes. And the mindset of Congress is to ignore data showing that the deficit is on a downward trajectory and to dismiss the thesis that a healthy economy characterized by low unemployment and rapid growth would put downward pressure on the deficit. Alas, the very failures already attributable to the political and ideological biases of our Congressional leaders proves that there is no appetite or incentive at all for imposing a tax on Wall Street that could actually help strengthen our economy.
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