Nicky Cheese

At the Sam office, everyone is squealing with excitement, anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s manifestation. Imagine a bunch of 6-year olds on Christmas eve.

Being the new guy, frankly, I’m a little freaked out. However, after giving some thoughtful reflection to the matter, I think I understand what all the hoopla is about.

No, it’s not The Office season premier. It concerns an individual. An individual historically important, vital in developing the liberty paradigm. So much so that some non-profit in Chicago felt compelled to adopt his namesake.

What is it already? Bring the balloons and light the candles - it’s Sam Adams birthday! And, as I’ve come to realize, Sam Adams was the man. Wait, scratch that. He is the man. The man, I think, politicians should be modeling their thought processes after.

An example? Okay. Let’s say you have these politicians, right? And let’s just hypothesize that they’re proposing to triple the sales tax. I know! I know! Like that would ever happen. A location? Oh, I don’t know, how about Cook County, Illinois.

So how would Sam Adams handle the situation?

A cool thing I learned in reading Mark Puls’s book Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution (a staple here in the office) was that Sam foresaw arguments Adam Smith would later develop in The Wealth of Nation. Sam knew the economics of taxation. So when the British imposed sales taxes on the colonists, Sam stressed that such actions would not only stifle private economic growth but also “reduce government revenues in the long run”.

The logic is simple. Consumers naturally avoid areas with high sales tax for those that lack such costs, and businesses naturally avoid areas that lack consumers. If there aren’t any businesses, and therefore, consumers to tax, there won’t be any government revenue. As Adams wrote, “It is the trade of the colonies that renders them beneficial to the mother country.”

I think we need to remind the “mother country”, Cook County, of that.

Happy birthday Sam! You know, I’m really feeling the office buzz.