The Business of Government is Business

"The Business of governmentis business."

The quote is attributed to Calvin Coolidge, often rated the worst President ever.

OK. Some rank Harding the worst. Others list Hoover. No matter. Shortly, after the next Presidential inauguration, GW will assume the ranking of the rankest. [Oh my! They're all Republicans.]

Both Coolidge and Bu$h exhibited unbridled confidence in the ability of businesses to produce wealth, if only unshackled by government. Calvin set the stage for the Crash of '29 - - - George set the stage, produced, directed and presided over our current economic disaster.

Is bigger really better?

When it comes to Montana, corporations, big ones, have dominated since statehood.

No question that the Copper kings and Anaconda Company literally ruled the Treasure State until the 1960’s.

In the 60’s after it sold its ownership share in the daily newspapers and an environmental movement was in its infancy, the "Company" receded as the Bad Guy with the Black Hat and was replaced by a mix of bad apples: Montana Power, the Burlington Northern, and bad actors in the resource extraction industry, with Pegasus head and shoulders above the rest. The insurance companies were more tactful, but they got their share without the accompanying share of notoriety.

Each one either fought its way to the front or strategically awaited its turn at the trough in Helena for just the right time to gobble down its share of policy handouts. The gobbling took place when the R’s were in control, which was periodically until the mid 90’s, when they then ran the table with two house legislative majorities and the Governor’s office from 1995 to 2005. During that time it went something like this: Tax breaks? OK. How much? Reduced water quality standards? Write the bill and we’ll get it through. De-regulate electricity? OK, whatever that is. Keep the explanation simple and we’ll jam it through.

A few Montana-based, but mostly large multi-state and multi-national corporations left the Capitol Building their pockets full, their way clear to pollute and despoil. Oh, there were promises. Lots of them. They promised Montana’s economy would roar with abundance and new jobs would spring up under the glow of an unfettered free market system. New taxpayers with high-paying jobs and newly-arrived companies paying reduced rates on everything would flood the state treasury with tax payments. Property taxes would go down schools, would have enough money and, and , and blah, blah, blah.

In case you missed it, the plan, whatever it was supposed to be, didn’t work.

Yes, some Democrats participated in the dirty work, but make no mistake about it: They were all Republican initiatives that enjoyed near-universal Republican support on each vote.

But, then again, you can’t have missed it. Montana’s economy languished as it had prior to the tax and policy give-aways under Governor Racicot and Republican legislatures. The leaders of the R Pack were John Mercer, Larry Grinde, Doug Mood, John Harp, Bruce Crippen, Debbie Shea and Fred Thomas. [Fred had a way of actually sponsoring the worst policy initiatives in Montana history, most notably de-regulation and term limits.] Market-based power costs resulting from de-regulation leaves Montana with of the highest electricity rates in the West. Between 1995 and 2003, property taxes on homeowners and small businesses skyrocketed. University system tuition doubled for in-state students during the same period. [Out-of-state tuition? Out-of-sight increases!]

We, like every other state, chased smokestacks with their promises of jobs and money. We even promised to lower taxes on them if they would only plunk down the slightest morsel of their industrial largesse. The owners of those firms took their smokestacks to other locales where they said they got a “better deal,” meaning free land, no unions and no taxes. [Not surprisingly, when a better deal came along, the pulled up stakes and took their smoke elsewhere.]

In the late 90’s, an article in the New York Times called Montana “one of the poorest states in the country.” Even Appalachia had passed us by.

Well, golly. Gee whiz, the industry apologists exclaimed. “We don’t need to tear the scab off the sore by examining why it didn’t work, do we? We just need to reduce taxes on businesses even more.”

“We need to look to the future. And, be positive.”

That’s what the voters did. In 2004, it sent the woeful Martz bunch packing and elected Brian Schweitzer, the first Democrat elected since 1984, elected a Democratic majority in the Senate and sent an even number of R’s and D’s to the House.

With the Martz exit, the vestiges of her, Racicot’s and Stephens’ [Stan was Governor from 1989 through 1993.]misguided ideologies about businesses wafted away like the stench and haze their policies produced.

Since, then, the focus hasn’t shifted from the importance that businesses play in Montana’s economy. It simply concentrates the focus on the fact that small businesses are the backbone of Montana’s economy, constituting between 85 to 90 percent of its business base. Discussions of tax policy, including the business equipment tax, factored in their interests as well.

Schumacher said it best: Small really is better and, yes, beautiful.

Democrats never fare well with voting records put assembled by either the state of local chambers of commerce. The R’s do.

No matter. Make up you own mind. When you look at these and other voting records, take a careful look at the detail of each of the supposed “good” bills. Most would have us turn back the clock to the roaring 1990’s.

Fortunately, the D’s and some moderate R’s held the line.

If they hadn’t, we’d be right back to the Roaring Twenties with Calvin Coolidge calling for more favors for business. The big 'uns.