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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

I built it in SPITE of you!!!

            There are a lot of people, much smarter and savvier than I am, writing political stories, pithy missives, headlines on blogs etc., but I haven’t read a businessman’s approach to this topic in a way that SPEAKS to the business people in America.  Yes, there is anger, and there is outright hatred for the sentiment…but that doesn’t win elections, arguments or the hearts and minds of people like me that are so completely done with American Politics in the current form.  So I thought I would do it.  So put your feet up, get a bag to throw up in, and hang on…this might make you sick.

            To create a business, let alone a successful one, involves a lot of people.  Not all of these people, however, are interested in making your company succeed.  In fact, it is the “job” of many of these people to make it as hard as possible for you.  Assuming we are not talking about a business that has insider deals with a congressman, or the owner isn’t a huge donor to the president…this is what a business owner goes through.

            Loan.  In order to start any business, you must have a brilliant idea that is either new, or improves upon what is already at the marketplace.  This is a given, as we already have businesses in the world…what is special about yours?  Then you have to have money to make this happen.  Capital…or the money it takes to start the business, comes from a bank loan (usually).  A loan, in its simplest form, is risk.  You put up collateral, and you take your shot.  There is nobody in the world who is going to just give you money for nothing.  So you want to start up a company…have an idea, a plan, experience or expertise, and then you have to risk something.  That…believe it or not, was the easy part.

            Build.   Now you need to build your company.  You need raw material in the form of a building, which takes a contractor, consultant, budgeting and all of this revolves around the image you have for your company.  Are you a distributor of product, a manufacturer?  Both?  This all has costs associated.  Thank god you got that loan.  Assuming nothing went over budget (hahahahaha, some of you know how funny that is)…you have an empty building ready to go.  Now just turn on gas, water, electric, phones, internet, heat/a.c., etc.  Couldn’t be simpler.

            Open.  To open, you need inventory, logistics (trucks, drivers, boxes, etc), computers, sales staff, warehouse staff, accounts receivable, accounts payable,  customers.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  Did you hire the cheapest salesmen?  Are they go-getters if they make $8/hr?  Do you have to motivate them daily?  Commission?  Labor is expensive if you want more than uneducated illiterate seat fillers…not to mention health insurance, worker’s comp, 401K, Social Security, unemployment…yeah, now we’re talking BIG MONEY.  All just to get the place going, you haven’t cleared dollar #1 yet.

            Operations.  Maintenance of facility, vehicles, computers/internet site, inventory rotation and damages, Quality control, collecting on slow paying customers.  Are you kidding me, what happened to America being the land of opportunity…my loan is almost all used up.  Now I am going to show you why companies fail, and frequently.  We are going to add the “others” who are here to take credit for your success…even though you haven’t “made it” yet.

            Government Regulations.  Now that you are up and running, and raking in the money with your “can’t miss” business idea…we need to go over things like: Employee regulations regarding overtime, sexual harassment, posting of labor regulations etc.  Building permits, city state and federal permits, Trucking permits, safety inspections, insurances, water/EPA requirements, Storage regulations and permits, Hazard and Critical Control Point regulations, Banking regulations, Collection of debt regulations, FDA regulations, Dept. of Homeland Security and terrorism forms/regulations, USDA/USDC regulations, Customs Dept forms/regulations on importing, Immigration rules/regulations, IRS rules/regs, Weights and Measures regulations…WTF.  How much does this cost to maintain? 

            Profit.  IF you have anything left, now you can pay your greedy corporate raider self.  You greedy S.O.B., I can’t believe you make what you make.  Capitalism sure is easy, isn’t it.  Sheesh.  Hey Elisabeth Warren, thanks for “You can keep a big hunk of what’s left.”…I appreciate ALL YOU DID TO HELP.



That is one route to success.  It isn’t easy, but it is still actually doable.  Let’s examine a little bit deeper into what helped YOU get to where you are. 

            “You didn’t build that, you used roads, bridges…blah blah”…ok, I did use roads and bridges, but the taxes and fees and everything else I have gone through has paid WAY MORE THAN MY SHARE.  I mean, come on…there are millions of people using roads and bridges in this country who pay NO TAXES.  NONE, not corporate, not income…hell, they use all of this I provide and they don’t kick in one cent.  How is that fair?  Tell me, after my thousands of hours and tax dollars, am I not entitled to use the roads I helped pay for…more so than the freeloader?  And what about those who built the roads…was that slave labor?  NO, they were paid for their work…and since it was a gov’t job, they probably got WAY more than it actually would have cost…so there really is nobody in debt for this, we paid…work was done…now you want to talk about who is using the roads to provide goods and services, vs who is just using it without providing anything.  Yeah, I thought you wouldn’t. 

            If the collective built infrastructure, and we all chipped in…except for tax cheats and those who fall below what the government deems rich enough to pay taxes, then why are we trying to separate the businesses from the collective?  Why aren’t we kissing their asses for being more productive, and paying more into the kitty?  What we should be doing is lamenting those who avoid taxes.  Geitner?  You owe taxes…how dare you screw the collective society.  Charlie Rangell…how dare you?  John Kerry…you park your yacht in a state that doesn’t tax you, but you live and legislate in a place that does tax yachts.  That is beyond gross…it’s a good thing you are such a big businessman…wait, you aren’t, you married the daughter of Heinz.   You should be ashamed of yourself.  Talk about hypocrites.

            So, I didn’t do this on my own?  Well, without me and those like me, what roads would you be driving to pick up your welfare checks…or if they are mailed to you, who do you think supports the USPS, as well as the food stamps and welfare?  Not the tax cheats in congress, not the poor, and not the average family of 4 making $42k/year…because statistically after the earned income tax credit and marriage/children credit, they don’t contribute much to the government.  How about next time you want to take credit for a business that has succeeded, you take a nice long look at what it takes to make it in this country, and then ask YOURSELF why YOU haven’t made the effort to add to this country…it was a democrat that once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”…I think you ought to start thinking along the lines of, “What can I do to support my local business, instead of what can they do to support me.”  And the next time you think about the Stimulus packages that were supposed to repair roads and bridges, look at all the bankrupt solar companies and offshore GE, GM and other crony capitalist crooks who got that money and are telling you that we need more money. 

            Speaking of cronyism, who asked the government to bail out these companies who were supposedly in business like all of us?  Why did their failing model deserve our money?  Who made that decision for US, and why are they still in office?  Success is not the start of a company, like I said, that is the easy part.  Success is how you deal with failure, and we seem to throw money at failure, instead of letting it hurt, in order to teach a lesson and fix a problem.  I am not asking for help, I am asking for those who cheat, those who fail, and those who are not running their business properly to be left to the same fate that I would have if I did the same.  Nobody is handing me money just for trying.  I don’t want a handout, but every once in a while, just say thanks to the people who make America different than North Korea and other famous nations with roads, bridges and no success.  America didn’t make people great, great people make America.  Don’t forget it.



-REV

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