Aaron J. Crowley

Stone Industry Consultant

IF you’re a political news junkie, you know that the political class considers every election to be the “most important election in our lifetime.”       

Obviously elections matter and they obviously have consequences, but in previous election cycles, I’ve shrugged off such statements as mere talk by those whose paychecks depend on the outcome.

But this year, it feels different…my observations and experiences seem to suggest that the harder the politicians try, implementing grand schemes and imposing regulations and fees, the harder it is to make a living.

The grand schemes are now legendary: Cash for Clunkers, billion dollar bailouts for banks, Tax Credits for Chevy Volts that no one wants to buy, and the taxpayer funded loans to solar panel companies, to name a few.

These programs are so complicated, so disconnected from my reality, and comprised of expenditures so vast it exceeds my ability to comprehend.  As such, it’s easy to believe that while they don’t benefit me directly, they may not be harmful either.

Not so with the web of inflexible and irrational regulations that are slowly blanketing the small business landscape. Well-intentioned I’m sure, but destructive nonetheless as my recent experiences illustrate.

Are you familiar with DEQ’s 1200Z permit?  I wasn’t either until our local DEQ affiliate – Clean Water Services provided me with a packet and a deadline for submitting a storm water protection plan.

Our crime? Storing “cut material” outside behind our shop. Oh, we call them remnants, but to DEQ they fall under a classification requiring an onerous and inflexible permit process where our options were 1) build a structure over the rems 2) bring them inside, or 3) develop the plan and pay the fee–exasperating, but the cheapest of the options.

So, now we pay an annual fee for the privilege of documenting monthly inspections of our storm drains, taking quarterly water samples and sending them to a lab (at our expense) and then reporting the test results.

Even more recently, we unknowingly ran afoul of another federally mandated “classification” issue.
For years, our bookkeeper classified our sales/showroom staff at the same workman’s comp rate as our office staff, a reasonable judgment most would agree.

Unfortunately, our worker’s comp auditor didn’t agree, and informed us that we would either need to 1) move the showroom (I swear to you the auditor made that suggestion with a straight face), 2) move the sales people, or 3) absorb a massive increase in the worker’s comp rate to keep them in the showroom.

We appealed, but it was rejected because NCCI (the federal entity setting work comp rates) had ruled and clearly stated that showroom staff must be classified at a company’s highest rate. For us, the rate we pay on our shop personnel.

In this case, shuffling staff was the least expensive of the options and we now must meticulously account for any time we spend in the showroom with clients.

My point is that power is shifting violently away from the individual to a massive bureaucracy where politicians and philosophers are happily testing their theories on the economy at large.

Unfortunately, they are completely insulated from the consequences of their ideas once implemented. We, on the other hand, are not.  You and I bear the full economic brunt of their experiments and failed policies.

And that is why elections matter.

And that is why you must engage in the debate, read what the candidates have said, and study history to gain a perspective.

Then on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, you must vote.

Because, my friends, this is the most important election of our lifetime.

Aaron J. Crowley is the founder and president of FabricatorsFriend.com, the exclusive promoter of Stone Sleeve fabricator sleeves and Bullet Proof aprons. He is also the author of Less Chaos More Cash. You can reach him by email at Aaron@CrowleysGranite.com