Here it is the Holiday Season again, but too many Oregonians do not have much to celebrate. The official numbers indicate that just over 200,000 of our state residents are out of work. But the true number is much higher. Thousands of businesses owners have closed their doors over the last two years. Most of the owners are not included in the unemployment numbers. We have also had tens of thousands of students graduate from school, but they are also excluded from the official State Unemployment static’s.
In 2008 Oregonians passed Measures 66 and 67, which increased taxation on corporations. Even companies who sold a lot of product, but did not make a profit had to pay thousands more in State taxes. Some of these corporations moved out of the state, while adding their employees to the unemployment rolls.
Our government has added to their rolls to reduce the number of unemployed workers, but that costs all of us more money. You see, government workers are overhead expenses like buildings and equipment. The cost associated with their salary and benefits must come out of the state budget. They do not bring in any revenue, but simply shift from one category to another. Oh, they also cost us three to five times more money, but government is not about truth, it’s about packaging and presenting “good news.”
So how do we fix this dilemma? Call, write, e-mail your government representatives and tell them we need a smaller government with less regulations and redundant agencies. Employers will not hire more people unless they are sure those workers will make more profit for the company. It’s just that simple! Would like to work all week and not make any money? Neither do business owners. Government does not make our lives better. They have become a big fat burden, which needs to go on a diet.
Ken Bear Cole
