American Capitalism: Big Business is Good!
The Battle between Wall Street and Main Street
When politicians flock to the podium, they are often quick to discredit the greedy Wall Street firms in the defense of Main Street. The fact of the matter is, neither Wall Street nor Main Street should be individually exclusive; they both make meaningful contributions to American society. Big business is a representation of American success, innovation, and perseverance. The abundance of taxes paid by corporations resurface to finance the construction of new schools, highways, and make up the very asphalt of which Main Street is comprised. However, the tax-burdened CEO in the high-rise office suite should not lay aside the values of the compassionate, hardworking and honest folks of Main Street. The two opposing sides need to be considerate of one another and coexist for the benefit of this great nation.
Capitalism Equals Success
Our country was founded on capitalism and a free market system that thrived on ingenuity and conceptual dreams of what was sure to be a better tomorrow. The thought of turning a private business over to the government is a heart wrenching idea that would set our great country back to the days of the Soviet Union, where we would be the Soviet Union. Since the government began all of the unnecessary bailouts (throwing good money after bad) we’ve not only increased the deficit, but we’ve taken a few steps closer to socialism. There is a direct relationship between economic success and the level of economic freedom within a country, in that capitalistic economies have stronger GDP’s and higher standards of living. The United States has the highest GDP and standard of living in the world and also the freest market system. Coincidence, I think not.
Big Business Benefits
The misfortunate financial scandals involving Enron, World Com, Tyco, and the more recent AIG debacle certainly create a bad impression for big business, however that is a small unethical portion of the corporate environment. These immoral business practices have lead many people to the stereotypical assumption that all corporations are big and evil. Ambitious and greedy perhaps, but evil they are not. The greed that is found in business competition is beneficial to the consumer. Imagine if companies cared nothing about their sales or providing their customers with the top service. Imagine if there was no ambition to compete. Would you wait two months to get a package because FedEx didn’t feel obliged to compete with UPS for the quickest service? Would you pay $10,000 for a basic desktop computer because Dell and Compaq didn’t offer any competitive low prices? I certainly wouldn’t. Large businesses not only provide products and services to consumers, but also millions of jobs to individuals. Although Wal-Mart has had some employee legal issues in the past, they are still the nations largest private employer, providing thousands of jobs across the country.
Corporate and Individual Taxes
Many of the large corporations are criticized for being harmful to our country, when in fact they pay a substantial amount of taxes that go directly into the improvement of our infrastructure and other government initiatives. Corporations are typically classified into one of two groups: S corporation or C corporation. C corporations are extremely large entities such as Microsoft or Pfizer, where S corporations are smaller. The C corporations must pay taxes twice, as they face double taxation. Most American corporations pay more than 30% in taxes, in spite of the disrespect from political figures. Individuals that fall into the highest tax bracket pay a large majority of the income taxes in the country. The wealthiest 1% of tax payers pay 40% of the nations income tax while the bottom 50% of earners pay only 3% of the taxes. So it's almost baffling how the rich can get richer and the poor get poorer with this type of wealth redistribution...
