Incentives are a zero sum game- unless you are a CEO or a politician

If we were in Georgia we’d be saying, our governor, sure did us a great favor- spending our tax dollars to bring that ATM/cash register company to our State. In Ohio, we have all the politicians saying “why wouldn’t they talk to us, boo-hoo.”

Reality: Both States took a whupping.

Georgia will find that in 10 years, there won’t be anything left of NCR. All those magical jobs will have gone to China, India, or are totally gone since no one needs ATMs since cash is dead- and the only checkout you do is online- since you do your shopping there- and pay online, to have it all delivered. Plus, all that extra congestion, the people who need water- well, they just drained the coffers dry- especially since they weren’t paying taxes- but the poor peanut farmers had to more than make up for it.

In Ohio, we’re sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves. We like to blame others for having a business environment that seems to drive business away these days. As a small businessman, I can tell you that the insane myriad of rules, payment dates, rates and other craziness makes it almost guaranteed that you either need to hire a pro to take care of it- or risk paying fines because you missed something. We’re crying broke, yet out of nowhere our governor all of a sudden has $31 million to throw at NCR as they leave.

The real mistake is that ANY tax dollars are going to these corporations for “relocation assistance” in the name of “economic development.” In fact, we should be rushing legislation through Congress to ban all of these giveaways.

But- there is a reason why politicians don’t want to stop this: guess where their money comes from for their expensive auctions, I mean, elections? The very same people who will screw their constituents in a heartbeat.

Did a quick look at opensecrets.org for who Bill Nuti ^[1] shared some of his loot – and it seems he’s a pragmatist- not really sure who he should give to- Hillary Clinton and then John McCain.

And a quick look at Mike Turner- found his big supporter was former NCR CEO Gil Williamson- who gave the max every time.

No, you won’t hear anyone say it’s time to stop giving money to corporations, at least not until the corporations and their overpaid golden children stop buying elections.

But, then again, when you are getting paid $2,000 an hour like Bill Nuti, it’s no big deal to give the max to a candidate who could come in handy one day. Need a course in how it’s done? Look to our local former Lexis/Nexis Chief, Willard Pardue- and his operation at Qbase ^[2].

Since NCR is leaving Dayton- maybe Governor Ted Strickland will extend the $31 million in breaks that he was offering NCR to stay- to small businesses in Dayton for the next 10 years- for each person we hire? Naw, none of us give enough money to politicians to get that kind of assistance.