Labor Day: A nostagic reminder of a different time?

Is the Labor Day celebration a look back on a bygone era of optimism and endless energy? The global market combined with the unholy alliance of big business, big government and big labor have pushed the average wage earners psyche in a different direction. The individual has little or no influence over these institutions who continue to exert ever greater control of our lives while offering less in return.

Fortunately the Third Pipe world offers us the opportunity to change course. Free and open access to information, free and open computing platforms, and abundant cheap bandwidth will enable anyone to compete even on the smallest scale. The new lifetime job with good pay in exchange for hard work has moved from the glass tower and the smokestack to the cottage. Armed with these tools, anyone with minimal education and assets can publish, trade, design, distribute, manufacture, create and consult. Free and open information, and instant communication have made many of the “services” provided by government and big labor obsolete. In the global marketplace, a nations’ competitive advantage is determined by internet infrastructure and how much interference comes from it’s government.

We have a lot to do before we can restore the original spirit of labor day. When labor day was founded, the average family’s tax burden was less than 5% its income. Government regulations and taxation on small business were simple and easy to comply with. Big labor had not yet taken control of the not yet so big government’s workforce. Corporations were not so big and there were more of them. On the down side, prices for many services and consumer goods were rather high due to lack of global competition. Protectionist trade policies limited global competition and opportunity.

As we prepare to elect or reelect those who supposedly make policy on our behalf, its time to hold their feet to the fire and demand change. Broadband is the new gold standard for a nation’s productivity. Americans must have the most  universally available, highest capacity, lowest cost access in the world. Entrusting this task this to our duopoly and big labor as overseen by our big government has been a miserable failure. The next President and Congress must set a reachable goal of cheap, universally available gigabit class access within a decade. All restrictions and regulations that stand in the way of entry into the broadband marketplace must be removed, including the myriad of those imposed by state and local governments. The last mile must be changed from a private street to an open road where any competitor can offer access.

Finally, we must be taxed and regulated less. Small entrepreneurs should be more free to compete with the giants. Complicated tax credits only benefit the corporate giants who are equipped to take advantage of them. If we are taxed and regulated less, there will be no need for so many bureaucrats and tax collectors. If we don’t have to deal with them, we become doubly more productive. Perhaps ending the income tax would be a great way to begin.