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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
Inauguration Day Madman
February 4, 2009
New Small Businesses as a Part of the Answer
There aren't that many ways for us to get out of our prolonged
Recession/mini-Depression slump. The economic stimulus/ recovery package now
working its way through the Senate is, however, one of the few options which
might work, and it will take time - lots of time - to see what its end result
will bring.
Let's all keep our collective fingers crossed in anticipation.
One thing the new economic/ recovery plan doesn't take into consideration,
however, is one of the main strengths of the American people: aggressive
perseverance.
I'm not speaking of the type of Bush-like aggression perseverance that has taken
us into two wars and alienated us from many of our allies (now former-allies) in
the world. I'm speaking of the kind of that presents itself as the ultimate in
economic risk-taking: self-employment.
If it's true that competition is the best medicine for any commercial society,
then it's aggression and perseverance that puts the teeth into it. Sure Coke
hates Pepsi , but the mom and pop store on the corner hates Wal-Mart even more.
And we're ready to take them on!
Self-employment and small business start-ups should be used either as an
alternative or addition to the new economic stimulus/ recovery plan being put in
place. But there are prerequisites which need to be put into place first.
We need to make sure that everyone has health care. No one is going to leave a
job, or spend money on creating new jobs without it. When the average American
looks into the future and sees him- or herself in their own business, they don't
see it without health care. And while the plan which President Obama is pressing
for includes health care financial aid for those who have lost their jobs,
health care is neither mandatory or inclusive, and it need to be. Many a
would-be entrepreneur never takes the plunge without it.
Back in 1990 when two of my brothers and I started our own New York based button
and trimming company (Buttoncraft, Inc. - mpbuttons.com on the web), health care
was easier to afford. Today it has made the possibility of starting one's own
company nearly impossible. I could never had started a business like Buttoncraft
today without affordable health care.
And we need to make it even more than just affordable.
Today, job searching is, in itself, a full time job. Ask anyone who has lost
their job within the past year or so how easy the job market is and how much
time they put into it. No longer does one just purchase Sunday's New York Times,
circle the jobs which interest them, then make a bunch of phone calls on Monday
to set up an interview or two. Today, a job seeker has to put in the requisite
Internet time filling out endless forms on Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com or any
of the other thousand or so career finder web sites. Then comes the necessary
wading through all of the ads for online universities, resume writers and any
other thing the site's webmaster can make a buck off of for the seeker to spend
his (or her) time and money on.
(This is all followed up by dozens of emails a week. And if you should choose
the option to allow your email address to be shared among other "partners" of
the job seeker web site, you may as well forget work because you have a new full
time job: reading your email to get to the one or two that might make actually
lead to a job.)
The option of starting a new business is certainly hampered by the method of
searching for a job today. One would think that helping those who wish to create
new jobs by first creating their own new job would be a way towards making our
nation more solvent today.
I'd like to see the new economic stimulus/ recovery bill tackle that issue. I'd
like to see the SBA (Small Business Administration) given some if its teeth back
and be a player in the market once again.
I'd like to see the aggressive perseverance of the American worker transformed
into the aggressive perseverance of the American small business owner.
-Noah Greenberg
In response to, "I'd like to Howard Dean named as Daschle's replacement. As a
doctor, former Governor (Vermont) and the original author of the Democrats'
fifty state strategy after John Kerry's defeat in 2004, he should have been
President Obama's choice for HHS in the first place, Pat Thompson writes:
I agree with you 100%. He's a great man, and we should all -- including Obama --
be thanking him for the 50 state strategy. But unfortunately he as head of the
Democratic Party had a falling out with Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who
was chairing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It was a bitter
struggle over funding, and from what I read in a NYTimes Magazine account of it
a couple of years ago, Rahm thought it very stupid to be sending money and
opening offices in places like Alaska and other red states -- and now we have a
Dem. Senator from Alaska! Dean was right, and he should be in an important
position in this administration.
In response to, "I'm from the GOP and I'm here to Help(?)," Sheila P. Burleson
writes:
Do I think Senator McConnell will EVER do anything to help the people who need
help the most? HEEEEECK NO. He's a fool who always looks like his underwear is
in a knot. All the Republicans who are against a GOOD STIMULUS PACKAGE need to
remember this: a large majority of their constituents back home (remember -
those are the people who voted you IN) are out of jobs, have a problem with
their mortgage, need healthcare and are just plain tired of Republicans who
stick together just because they can. Come reelection time, those constituents
are going to REMEMBER who voted to help them out and who wanted to keep the rich
- well RICH. Large corporations and the disgustingly wealthy don't pay taxes -
they have attorneys who find loopholes so they don't have to pay taxes.
McConnell has been on the Hill way too long. It's time for him to retire nicely
and be replaced by someone who puts not his PARTY FIRST but the people who voted
him in to help them. Those holdout Republicans are acting like silly children -
GROW UP.
In response to "Confirmed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had to explain
away his neglect in failing to pay taxes from his world Bank days ", Pat
Thompson writes:
As a non-US employer, they didn't deduct social security/Medicare taxes from his
paycheck, as I understand it.
And in response to, "Tom Daschle (DEMOCRAT-SD) failed to pay taxes totaling
somewhere in the area of $120,000," Pat Thompson writes:
his taxes were on the use of a car and driver, which a friend offered him. He
had never declared this as "income". And when he did, he declared the highest
possible amount, as if he had used the car daily, which supposedly he didn't.
Many low income people catch a ride with a fellow worker -- do they declare that
as income? Or a relative gives them an older car -- is that income taxable? I
wonder if any of us were scrutinized like these candidates were if we'd come out
perfectly clean.
I suspect that had the driver been a co-worker of Senator Daschle it might
have been call car-pooling. Instead, the driver was paid as a driver and his
compensation had to be reported as income. Yes, it was an innocent oversight,
but it was still a tax omission and someone like Daschle should have known
better. -NG
In response to "DC hypocrisy", Victoria Brownworth responds:
As a leftist with more than a five minute memory, I actually remember when Tom
Daschle was in the Senate and he was just as lacking in backbone as he has been
this last week when he should have withdrawn GRACEFULLY and not created blowback
for President Obama. What many fail to comprehend is that the arrogance of
insider Washington is not just the purview of Republicans--it's the purview of
power. Frankly, I was horrified when Obama chose Daschle. I thought in the
Senate he was ineffectual and his behavior during the primary was appalling. So
I couldn't be happier that he's out. Particularly since Obama promised that he
would not have lobbyists near his White House. That has proven to be false, but
Daschle's lobbying ties to the health insurance industry are so dramatic, that
it's difficult to imagine how he could possibly deal with the health care issue
honestly. The Daschle story is a cautionary tale: Americans are done with the
arrogance of power, with entitlements for the wealthy and the attitude that they
are above the law. If we didn't like the Republicans doing it, I don't think we
can accept the Democrats doing it. The fact is stealing from the people is wrong
no matter who does it. I'm glad Daschle withdrew. I just wish he had been honest
and less arrogant in the first place so that the Obama Administration--and the
president--had not been forced to deal with this embarrassment in the first two
weeks.
And Bob Driscoll writes:
The Democrat solution for everything is taxes, taxes, and more taxes. In order
for Obama to fund his socialist agenda, everybody has to pay their taxes and
pick up the slack created when people who don't even pay taxes get a "tax
refund". Obama should be able to find some non tax cheats for his
administration. Our new President allows Daschle to fall on the sword and then
comes out and says he (Obama) screwed up. This guy is beginning to make Slick
Willie Clinton look like a piker!
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-Noah Greenberg