In this post-capitalist society, it is time for every business plan to include a section on how you will use governments to your advantage. One way is to shift regulatory burdens onto your competitors before they do it to you. A simple example from today’s headlines explains this.
The whole idea of using government to “level the playing field” is bad for consumers, but that does not stop politicians from colluding with business to screw consumers. The retail industry has been frothing for years about the fact that online retailers don’t have to collect sales tax in certain situations. Well the industry has sympathetic ears in tax-starved state houses across the country. In Virginia now, Amazon will start charging sales tax. Nancy Thomas, president of the Retail Merchants Association in Richmond says, “Really, the impact on the retail industry is that it finally levels the playing field, at least with Amazon. This is a great first step. What we really need is a federal bill to level the playing field for good.”
“Good” for whom? Certainly not good for consumers! If brick and mortar retailers truly wanted to “level the playing field” with online retailers, they would agree to charge a delivery fee and make customers wait three or four days to receive the goods they just paid for. The fact is, consumers really want inventors to figure out ways to UNlevel the playing field and make things cheaper and better. But modern governments, run by so called “progressive” thinkers, don’t care that their policies actually harm their citizens. Politicians are into wielding power and employing crafty sayings to make it sound like they’re doing us a favor.
So what should your company do with this information? Of course you should lobby governments to give YOUR company advantages over your competitors based on some emotional appeal akin to “leveling the playing field.”
Every business plan should include a section on how you will use the coercive power of governments. Get creative. The future of your business may depend more on how well you use governments than on how well you produce something that consumers want.