I could hardly believe it when I heard the President of the United States say, “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” (Barack Obama, Roanoke, VA, July 13, 2012) My first thought was, “Did I hear him right? Did he really say that?” Yes… he did say that.

Just because the government built the roads we drive on, provided teachers at our schools as we were growing up and invented the Internet (or was that Al Gore?) doesn’t mean all entrepreneurs necessarily had help starting a business. Most didn’t! Continue reading Who built your business?? →

As I wrote back in July, “These are the words that can strike terror in the hearts of most Americans, especially those in business for themselves like marine dealers. The words, “I’m from the government and I am here to help you,” came to mind again this past week as a result of some recent news items plus a personal experience.

Regarding recent (and scary) news, I just read a columnist who wrote the following about the new health care plan: “The former director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, says that the subsidies for health insurance in the health law will cost $1.4 trillion, not the $450 billion estimated by the CBO. That is because as many as 35 million people will lose their health insurance at work since employers will have a strong financial incentive to drop coverage and dump workers into taxpayer subsidized plans.”

I have heard that many small businesses will be dropping health insurance for employees because the cost of the penalties to do so will be far less than the added cost of insurance premium increases. Here we go again, another, “I’m from the government and I am here to help you.” Continue reading “I’m from the government and I am here to help you.” Part 2 →

“I’m from the government and I am here to help you.”

These are the words that can strike terror in the hearts of most Americans, especially those in business for themselves. The words, “I’m from the government and I am here to help you,” came to mind this week when I read a newspaper article, “Government watchdog criticizes handling of car dealers,” written by Ken Thomas, an Associated Press writer.

The article referred to the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler and how the Treasury Department told both companies to quickly shut down many dealerships. This has made no sense to me whatsoever. I cannot think of any valid reason for the government to insist that GM and Chrysler cancel several thousand dealers who bought, sold and serviced the cars and trucks that they built. Continue reading “I’m from the government and I am here to help you.” →