A recent letter to the Suburban Trends expressed outrage that some business groups take their holdings offshore to avoid U.S. taxes.

The writer shows a complete ignorance of economics and a hostility to private business.

Business and industry flee America because of the anti-free market environment they have to deal with thanks to the politicians and unelected bureaucrats. No business leader in their right mind would want to set up shop where they will be penalized for being productive.

How many Americans know that the income tax, which we’ve been saddled with since 1913, has its origins in Karl Marx’s "Communist Manifesto" of 1848? "Comrade Karl" thought the income tax so important that it’s the number-two item (next to the abolition of private property) in his plan for a socialized all powerful centralized state!

Add in all the other unconstitutional agencies and bureaus like the EPA, FDA, BATF, and many, many more, and it isn’t hard to see why business leaves the United States.

It’s not just the bloated federal government that is to blame. We have tons of state, county, and local laws, taxes, and regulations across the land that stifle business. These petty local tyrants make life miserable for anyone trying to succeed in business development.

My father, retired construction official Gene Richards of West Milford, is a case in point, In 1998 he came out of retirement to serve on West Milford’s Zoning Board of Adjustment. It didn’t last long as he was thrown off for stating that zoning was a form of property rights violation by government. I don’t want to sound paranoid but I honestly think my pro-freedom libertarian activism over the years may have had something to do with it too. Nobody likes independent thinkers who see beyond the phony "Liberal" versus "Conservative" debates on various issues.

If you wish to bemoan America’s slow economic growth and decline, don’t blame business people. Rather focus on the parasites and political clowns in Washington, Trenton, and your local community who always want more "controls" on virtually everything. They are truly a menace! Vote them out ASAP!