You can’t avoid interdependence with others, unless you are a hermit. Human beings are social animals. Why do you Crunchys try so hard to deny it?

I hope I’ll be excused for speaking personally here. Centralized corporate and state power is consistently on my mind as the owner of a small business. I am hurt less than your typical bicycle business, but the affect of Wal-Mart and Target cheapo-bikes on independent bike shops is very significant. If we were on a fair, level playing field it would be one thing. But when Wal-Mart is heavily subsidized through welfare and other forms of government subsidy (I’m not as familiar with Target’s situation but I’m expecting they get lots of favors independent bike dealers don’t) it leaves a less than palatable taste in the mouth. Not only do they cut into the sales of small business, the small business owner gets the privilege of having his pay docked to provide corporate welfare the big boys get from the state. After you add in taxes for a school system I’d never send my children to, wars that further secure the corporate interests of the big boys, etc, my accountant tells me I have to take out 30% of my profit to make sure I have enough stashed away for tax-man. (It gets better–I just moved to a state that has an income tax, so my new accountant will likely tell me I have to set aside an even higher percentage.)

Of course, most people assume that if you own your own business you’re doing pretty well. You do well in many ways to work for yourself, but most of those ways can’t be measured financially. That 30% cut isn’t for someone making six figures, of 60K, or 50K, or 40K. How about 24K for a household with a wife and child. Again, there are many, many advantages to owning your own business and I’m not looking for pity, but the tax burden on people who are trying to achieve self-reliance and foster the wide distribution of capital is ridiculous. And as I said, the extra kick in the nether-region is that you can be certain the money will be largely used in ways that work against your interest.

At least it did a little (unintentional) good, by isolating the most underdeveloped part of town . . .

… but that he is not going to make the auto industry in Michigan competitive with production facilities in other countries simply through deregulation and research subsidies.

He’s not even going to make the auto industry in Michigan competitive with production facilities in many other states where labor costs are lower. Well, I suppose he could work to repeal the National Labor Relations Act, but….