Final Word from Thursday, January 14, 2010
One Czech business leader after another is standing up and blowing the horn for major post-crisis reform. If, as in the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the proposed solution to the problems were to lead all the rats out of the city and over the cliff, it would be something to cheer. Instead, the cornerstone of the proposed reforms are higher taxes, which will merely worsen the economic crisis for all and bring the precipice ever closer. Small and midsize businesses risk going over first, because they have fewer resources for finding workarounds and will therefore be disproportionately affected by the higher taxes. By stressing tax increases more than efficient use of existing tax revenue, the Confederation of Industry and others are of course facilitating corruption, esp. if 20% of the extra tax money goes directly to the rats. But almost as importantly, the Pied Pipers of Prague are indirectly promoting a further consolidation of the market into the hands of big business. It's been said that you never want a good crisis to go to waste.[Czech Republic Hamelin and Transportation]
Glossary of difficult words
Pied Piper of Hamelin - a well-known legend about the abduction of many children from the German town of Hamelin;
to blow/toot the horn for - to vocally support an idea or thing;
precipice - a very steep rock face or cliff;
workaround - a method for overcoming a problem or limitation in a program or system;
You never want a good crisis to go to waste - attributed to Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's chief of staff - a crisis should be used to accomplish policy goals that might not otherwise be possible.