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Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015 -Mason County Journal- Page A-5
GUEST COLUMN
or the first time in American
history, entrepreneurship is in
decline.
According to the U.S. Census Bu-
reau, businesses are dying
faster than they're being
formed. Each year, 400,000
new businesses start up na-
tionwide; 470,000 close their
doors.
Gallup reports that in
the 1980s, business startups
outpaced business failures
by about 100,000 per year, By DON
a trend that continued until
the 2008 recession. Now, af- BRUNELL
ter six years of sluggish eco-
nomic recovery, the entrepreneurial
death rate in the U.S. is outpacing its
birth rate.
In fact, the U.S. now ranks 12th
among developed nations in terms of
business startups, behind nations such
as Hungary and New Zealand. This
matters because small and medium-
sized businesses create two-thirds of
the 100 million jobs in our nation.
But isn't the economy improving?
Barely.
One quarter of decent growth is
followed by a quarter of slow growth.
While the national unemployment:
rate has dropped to 5.6 percent, part
of that drop is because millions of
people have simply given up trying to
find work and are no longer
counted as unemployed.
Middle-income families are
losing ground and a record
47 million Americans - one-
sixth of our population - are
on food stamps.
While welfare and social
spending provide a safety net
in a weak economy, the only
real solution to unemploy-
ment is to create more jobs.
But those jobs will be harder
to come by if entrepreneurs stop open-
ing the businesses that employ people.
Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO
of Gallup, writes, "[Wall Street and
the White House] both tell us, The
economy is coming back.' Lefts get one
thing clear: This economy is never
truly coming back unless we reverse
the birth and death trends of Ameri-
can businesses."
Two of the most formidable obsta-
cles facing entrepreneurs are high
taxes and excessive regulation es-
pecially for cash-strapped startups.
Unfortunately, the Obama administra-
tion has aggressively pursued both.
The U.S. has the highest corporate
tax rate in the world, yet President
Obama's 2015 budget includes $2 tril-
lion in new taxes over the next decade.
While the president says he's taxing
only the wealthy, the taxes will hit
many small business owners who file
taxes as individuals.
Then, there are the regulations.
The Competitive Enterprise Insti-
tute (CEI) says federal regulations
cost Americans $1.9 trillion a year
and notes that regulators imposed
3,541 new regulations in 2014 alone.
Continuing the juggernaut, the admin-
istration unveiled 300 new regulations
in the first seven days of 2015.
A CEI study released in January
reported, "If federal regulations were
a country, their cost would amount to
the world's 10th largest economy."
While reasonable regulations are
necessary, unnecessary bureaucratic
red tape needlessly increase consumer
prices and sap money that could other-
wise be used to expand businesses and
hire more people. Added to that are
the costs tO comply with hundreds Of
state and local regulations.
The House of Representatives re-
cently passed the Regulatory Account-
ability Act of 2015 which requires reg-
ulatory agencies to clearly document
the cost of proposed regulations and
consider less costly alternatives.
President Obama has vowed to veto
the legislation.
Here in Washington, Gov. Inslee
is taking a page directly from Presi-
dent Obama's playbook. Inslee wants
to increase taxes, impose costly new
cap-and-trade legislation that would
cost Washington employers $1 billion
a year, and start taxing investment
income.
That's a bad idea.
While our state's economy might
look good from the governor's window
and from the skyscrapers in downtown
Seattle, 90 percent of Washington
counties have unemployment rates
above the national average.
As with President Obama, Gov.
Inslee's top priority must be creating
jobs - not piling more taxes and costly
regulations on the very people who
create those jobs.
• Don C. Brunell can be contacted at
theBruneUs@msn.corn.
LETTERS cont. from page A-4
Scientific
theory can
be inaccurate
Editor, the Journal
Recently I wrote a letter to
the editor suggesting climate
change was a naturally occur-
ring event, but I did not ac-
cept the theory of human cau-
sation of climate change. Mr.
Jacob Ruler disagreed and
suggested that I did not un-
derstand the concept of a
theory.
He referenced Norah Ru-
din, Ph.D., on the nature of
scientific theory, which states
that scientific theories are
based upon sets of phenom-
ena developed by observation
and experimentation. These
are then proven by making
predictions and testing their
veracity.
I disagree. Human inter-
pretation of data, with human
biases, makes the process
suspect.
Add computer modeling
to prove scientific theories is
merely using technology to
make scientific guesses. The
problem is with the data it-
self:
• Which observed phenom-
ena do I include and which do
I discard?
• How much importance
do I put upon the chosen phe-
nomena?
• Did I leave out important
data that skewed my test re-
sults?
• Did I add superfluous
data that skewed my test re-
sults?
• Did I state my theory dis-
tinctly and correctly?
• Did I test my theory cor-
rectly?
The theory may be correct
or incorrect based upon the
scientist's reliance on data
analysis, accurate observa-
tions of chosen phenomena
and appropriate experimenta-
Letter Policy
are welcomed. We will not publish letters that are deemed libelous or scurrilous in nature All
letters must be Signed and i lude the writer's name, address and daytime phone number, ich
and clarity. Tomsubmit a letter,
.mail it to P.O
tion. Inaccurate data analysis, name only." and others. This foundation's
inexact observations, impre- Three years ago, in the goals are to eliminate Ameri-
cise experimentation or in- spring of 2012, Sen. Rodney can passports and issue New
complete theoretical modeling Tom and his colleagues, Sens. American Passports to Ameri-
results in bad theories, which Jim Kastama and Sheldon, can, Canadian and Mexican
lead to bad science. In com- abandoned the Senate Demo- citizens.
puters we call this, "garbage cratic Caucus and helped In line with the European
in, garbage out." Republicans seize control ofUnion, open the borders of
I will defer to a higher the Washington State Senate.Canada and Mexico, provide
authority. Sir Isaac Newton Sens. Tom and Sheldon bro- free trade, work permits, edu-
(1642-1726) was the most kered a deal with the Repub-cation, etc. In layman's terms,
prestigious natural philoso- licans to seize control of the they want to change the foun-
pher and mathematician of state senate for the 2013 and dation of America in their own
modern times. He is consid- 2014 sessions, image, including changing
ered one of the fathers ofSheldon became president the name of America to New
physics, pro tern, but lost that to Sen. America.
He discovered calcu- Pam Roach when his Repub- All I can say is that Ameri-
lus, authored the theory of lican colleagues abandoned can voters are getting much
universal gravitation and him. more than what they voted
provided a most important Each time Sheldon votes for.
statement about the role of he costs the Democratic Party I'm sorry to say I was
scientists -- science should two votes, raised a Democrat and to me
not feign hypotheses. Science Example: place two even this New America Foundation
should admit ignorance ab-stacks of chips side by side, is an attack on America just
sent data. one blue (Democrats) and onelike open borders and all the
red (Republicans). Take one rest of Washington, D.C., at-
Ardean A. Anvikblue (Sheldon) and place it on tacks on the Constitution.
Shelton the red stack. Research this New Ameri-
The red stack is not one can Foundation then ask
chip higher than the blue, it is yourself, "Why isn't this front
.¢u--or*ers two chips higher, page news on all American
newspapers?"
Sheldon: Look Charles L. Wiune
Hoodsport Tim Barnett
Shelton
at the facts
Editor, theJournal New America
School boss
To those who have repeat- Foundation
edlyvoted for Sen. Tim Shel- an free to s-en u
don because he professes to
be a Democrat, I have this to attack on U.S.
offer.
According to an editorial Editor, the Journal
in the Feb. 2 issue of The On Dec. 17, President Editor, the Journal
Seattle Times, "Republicans Barack Obama announced, in It seems to me that the
now have outright control, Spanish, the founding of the recent letter to the editor
phis one of the original de- New American Foundation from Mr. Lewis regarding the
fectors, Sen. Tim Sheldon, with Hillary Clinton, billion- current interim school super-
of Potlatch is a Democrat in aire George Soros, his son, intendent rubbing Super Bowl
tickets into the faces of Shel-
ton citizens is unduly critical.
It appears that Mr. Lewis
believes that if you are a
school employee whose sal-
ary is funded by taxpayers,
then you are automatically
exempt from using your per-
sonal money to attend any
event such as the Super
Bowl.
Shelton and state his-
tory will show that we have
always had and always will
have some families that are
having financial struggles.
This interim superintendent
did not cause their financial
difficulties and should not be
required to restrict his social
life because of it.
After all, he legitimately
earned his salary and should
not be criticized for how he
chooses to spend it. Would
Mr. Lewis also criticize greedy
private business leaders and
corporate CEOs that play an
ongoing role in creating fam-
ily financial struggles through
their continued efforts to
break unions and pay less
than a working wage to their
employees while at the same
time putting record profits
into their own pockets? Who
really should be criticized
here?
I know for a fact that school
superintendents have a dif-
ficult job and earn their salary
by working many long hours
beyond the eight-hour work
day, or 40 hour work week.
In comparison to private
business leaders and CEOs,
superintendent salaries are
definitely not "bloated," as Mr.
Lewis suggests.
School and other public em-
ployees serve the people with
salaries that are most oi%en
lower than many private sec-
tor jobs.
They should have the right
and courtesy to spend their
hard-earned money however
they choose, and without criti-
cism.
Gary Wilson
Shelton