These days there is a lot of mud-slinging at corporate executives and their pay and bonuses and companies having lavish parties while the economy is suffering. My current employer has cut back severely on business travel, and the days of any celebratory event beyond the level of bringing in lunch once a quarter are probably over.
No doubt there are people and companies out there who appear to be "fiddling while Rome burns". But demonizing all such activities has a serious ripple effect. Like a rock landing in a still pool of water, the first act causes waves that go in all directions. Those waves are the unintended consequences.
Here's one example from comedian Jeffrey Jena (via Big Hollywood).
Many years ago, a "luxury" tax was imposed on yachts. Few "regular" people worried about it. So what? Those people are rich, they can afford it! Well, here's what happened as a result: rich people - the only market for yachts - stopped buying those yachts. So boat manufacturers stopped making them. And people lost their jobs. Think about all the people who are involved in the production, sale and operation of yachts - designers, factory workers, salespeople, boat crews, cooks, bartenders, waitresses, maintenance workers, accountants, secretaries. Then there are workers in related businesses - yachts need fuel to run, they need insurance, they pay fees to dock.
It was the "regular" people - multitudes of them - who suffered as a result of the "luxury" tax.
Guess who didn't suffer? The rich people...they got their fun some other way. And because they didn't buy the yachts, the tax wasn't paid. So the original intention was never fulfilled anyway.
So the next time you find yourself thinking that it's a good thing that "rich people" are being made to pay more and more, consider the unintended consequences.
You might be one of them.
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