The Law of Unintended Consequences and it’s corollary No Good Deed Goes Unpunished continue to prove out.  Remember when meetings and conferences at places like Las Vegas were trashed?  Well, this caused a substantial decline in visitors to Las Vegas and the loss of an not inconsequential number of jobs.  The real tragedy is that Las Vegas is one of the least expensive places to have a conference or meeting!  Similarly, when the use of private jets was trashed more jobs were lost.  I find it bizarre that our President decries the use of private jets but uses Air Force 1 – a 747 – to fly he and his wife to New York for a date.  Quite probably, that 747 burned more fuel on take-off than the combined fuel usage of the three auto executives planes on their total trip to DC.  In scenarios like these, one is reminded of George Orwell’s book Animal Farm.  If you recall, when the animals took over the farm a sign was painted on the side of the barn that said, “All Animals are Created Equal”.  As the pigs rose to power the sign was altered to read “All Animals Are Created Equal But Some Are More So”.  Call it the Political Elite or the Inside The Beltway Mentality we are seeing this demonstrated daily.   President Obama said as much recently with this statement;

“Let me distinguish between professional politicians and the public at large. You know, the public is not paying close attention to the ins and outs of how a Treasury auction goes. They shouldn’t. They’re worrying about their family, they’re worrying about their jobs. They’re worrying about their neighborhood. They have got a lot of other things on their plate. We’re paid to worry about it.”

Obviously, we the “unwashed” are not smart enough to handle the real facts?  Those elected to serve us – be they Republican or Democrat – somehow think they know what is better for us than we do. Forget that we elected them and as was the case in 2010 sent a pretty clear message.  Maybe we can get a conversation going with your examples of the Law of Unintended Consequences or No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.