Friday, December 27, 2013

Dreams Can Come True...

My dream is to buy some property in the mountains, and run a Christmas Tree farm.  Part of the property would just be the tree farm.



But, I want enough land that families can go up into the hills and find and cut down their own tree.



There would also be a place for the kids to visit Santa (not the real one), shop for Mrs Bannon's homemade honey and peanut butter stuff, buy hot cocoa, decorate cookies... (...all for a small fee.  But it would be sooo worth it!)...



Dreams can come true, I know that.  But....somebody will always try to crush them, and you have to be on guard:


"...some in the Christmas tree industry sought to develop a promotional program to assist its industry.  After three failed attempts to set up a voluntary system, they turned to the federal government to do what it couldn't: Force Christmas tree producers and imports to pay for Christmas tree promotion program.

...The government would set up a Christmas Tree Promotion Board...The new program would include a 15 cent "assessment" on fresh cut Christmas trees, which could eventually rise..."

Don't be fooled, this is crony capitalism at its worst.  Large Christmas Tree factories want to share the cost of advertising, and want to use the power of the federal government to force it upon competitors who do not want it.  15 cents a tree...is just a start.  Remember the Federal Income Tax was temporary and Social Security didn't start out as 1/3 of Federal Spending.  Next tree prices would be regulated, quality standards, choking hazards, CO2 emissions...and on, and on...

I have no fear that a Christmas Tree tax will take over like that in my lifetime.  But I do fear the force of government in every aspect of our lives, and the robbing of small business profits for the benefit of big business takeovers.


6 comments:

LL said...

The tax would be a shot in the arm to the Chinese Plastic Christmas Tree industry. The government would need to consider an embargo on plastic tree imports from the Third World.

In the off-season, the Bannon Christmas Barn could become a gun store or could sell saddles and tack - or both?

Opus #6 said...

I believe the term for this tax is "jizyaa".

Fines meant to punish non-muslims.

Race Bannon said...

The gun store will be year-round. Its off to the right, near the indoor range/shoot house, with the outdoor range just beyond that. (The range will be closed when folks are out picking out a tree...)

Another idea has been to buy some bulldozers, front loaders, etc., and have some small structures made...for crushing. How much would you pay to crush a small building with a huge dozer?

Grammi Faith said...

I would like to volunteer in the kitchen to help Mrs. Bannon. I promise not eat the profits, just to sample occasionally.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

We know the secret to it's failure ... "Federal Government".

LL said...

Bulldozers crushing cars….what a concept! I'm sure that you could recycle those cars and get a federal subsidy that would offset the tree tax...