What If Government Stopped and Nobody Cared

In a previous post, I quoted P.J. O'Rourke, who once wrote, “The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.”

On the state level, we recently found out just how to do that here in New York. For those not familiar with NY politics, there is what is considered the holy trinity of power brokers in state government; the Governor, the Senate majority leader and the Assembly majority leader. A few weeks ago, that included Governor David Paterson, Assembly Majority Leader Sheldon Silver and Senate majority Leader Malcolm Smith.

That was until last week, when two Democratic Senators switched their allegiance to form a coalition with the Republicans to oust Malcolm Smith as Senate Majority Leader. Since this little coup has take place, the remaining Democrats refuse to work with the new leadership. As if this didn’t sound silly enough already, the secretary of the Senate actually refused to turn over the keys to the Senate chamber to the new Republican leaders.

So since June 9th, the legislative branch of NY State Government has ceased operations. The effects of this government stoppage have been monumentally insignificant. Life has continued to go on in the Empire State. It is amazing how we have managed to survive with this huge void in leadership in State government.

To give you a sampling of what New Yorkers are missing, I randomly pulled three pending bills proposed recently in the State Senate. I started with Senate Bill S05700, proposed by Senator Klein, which prohibits issuing a credit card to anyone under the age of 21 unless that person has had parental consent and has completed a course or instruction in financial responsibility and liability. I wish I could propose a bill requiring a course of instruction in financial responsibility and liability for our elected officials.

Then there is S05701, proposed by Senator Schneiderman, that “requires licensure for instructors in religion, dancing, music, painting, drawing, sculpture, poetry, dramatic art, languages, reading comprehension, mathematics, recreation and athletics.” Luckily, my past work as a disc jockey was in NJ, not NY, or I may have been arrested for instructing the guests at the Weinstein Bar Mitzvah how to do the Electric Slide without proper credentials.

Next up is S05702, proposed by Senator Johnson, which “authorizes the metropolitan transportation authority to create a regional bus authority.” After all, we can just never have enough authority.

I will stop there. While this was just a small sampling, in my more in depth search, I was hard pressed to find any bills that appeared to provide any significant action.

My belief is that in regards to small business, the stoppage of the NY State Senate is one of the best things that could have happened. Aside from giving us a break from some pretty silly proposed legislation, the recent stoppage of government is preventing our lawmakers from further raising taxes, imposing new fees or creating a greater regulatory burden. While lawmakers don't like to admit it, New York ranks 49th out of 50 states, topping only New Jersey in the taxes and fee burdens placed on businesses. Here is a link to that study by the Tax Foundation: Tax Foundation

In a previous magazine article, I quoted Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who once said, "It's essential to remember that government does not create jobs or wealth. At its best, it creates the conditions in which men and women of imagination and enterprise create wealth for each other. At its worst, it drives away such people and the jobs they create."

Unfortunately, since the Legislative session started last January, there were no indications that the New York government was doing anything to create better conditions for entrepreneurs in this State. In fact, in the first few months of session, the Legislature was seriously considering raising a number of taxes and fees. I was at a meeting last week and one business leader, whom I hold in high regard, said, "At least now that the State Senate is completely dysfunctional, they aren't doing any more damage."

It is hard to tell whether it will be days, weeks or months until the NY Senate fixes this leadership issue and gets back into session. Inevitably, they will return, but will business owners really care?