A number of years ago while travelling, I had the usual layover in Detroit. I went to my favorite shoe shine stand to find my friend Washington. He told me, it would be my last shoe shine because he was retirin' at the end of the month. I asked him why and of course I told him I would miss seeing him and miss talking about the Tigers, hoops, and his grand children and everything.
He said, "The City of Detroit decided to make me pay rent for my little space here. They want $450 a month. I can't afford that kind of money!" he said, and then he went on, "After taxes, supplies, gas to get here, and parking out here, and everything else, I'd have to do over 200 shines in a month before I even started makin' any money. I'm too old to work for $3 an hour. So they just plain puttin' me out of business. Greedy politicians is what they are."
I felt bad for Washington because he was not really ready to quit. In my mind, he had been providing a great service for tired travelers at DFW. He wasn't in any one's way and he wasn't in a location where another vendor could take his place. He was a hard working black man, trying to make a living, removed by the uncaring Democratic leadership in that city.
When government gets too involved in the lives of businesses and people, you end up with situations like this everywhere. The unintended (and sometimes intended) consequences of things like Obamacare, heavy burdensome regulation, and union favoritism lead to these kinds of circumstances. This isn't really what we want is it?
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