I’m late to the Obama party. I’ve thrown a couple of barbs at him from time to time but mostly stayed out of the hyperbole game as to if he is a good President or not. Basically this is because I don’t want to identify myself with the fringe elements from either side of the political spectrum that usually engage in this game, but more importantly, because I have a friggin’ life.
However, I can no longer continue with the blinders I have been wearing. I have seen the light and am now ready to get on the Obama express in all of its hopeful glory. Sure it may seem sudden, but I was recently jolted out of my unappreciative complacency by an oratorical lightning bolt delivered by our Dear Leader.
(via The Washington Times)
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
Oh what a misguided and thoughtless proletarian I have been. I have labored under the opinion that the business I started and ran for over twenty years was successful mostly due to my hard work and sacrifice…..but woe unto those who believe in such fair tales. I now know that I own a debt of gratitude to that builder and shaper of dreams – “Someone else.”
Someone else went into debt and risked their credit to fund the business at age twenty.
Someone else worked sixteen hour days, six days a week to build the company.
Someone else spent years leaving parties, events, and family gatherings early in order to make sure things were ready for the next business day.
Someone else went into personal debt to keep the company afloat after the internet bubble and 9-11 occurred.
Someone else had to put up with being harassed by every government agency that thought they could extract a tax or fee from the business.
Someone else paid tens of thousands of dollars to lawyers to make sure the company complied with layers of obscure regulations.
Someone else was the first in the office each morning and the last to get paid year after year.
Someone else provided hundreds of jobs and paid millions in wages, taxes, and fees to the government.
Someone else had to deal with fake injuries, ambulance chasing lawyers, and bought off doctors in the workman’s comp system.
And Someone else, after contributing to the community in terms of jobs and revenue for over twenty years had to cough up 28% of his profits after selling the business (and had to deal with two subsequent IRS audits, both of which found nothing but cost thousands in CPA and legal fees).
Here is the point you business hating, ivory tower theorizing, let’s-all-hold-hands-and-hope-our-way-to-a-better-America neo-socialist fool. Even if you get a break or a leg up from others, be it teachers, mentors, or the government YOU STILL HAVE TO FUCKING DELIVER..!!!!!
There are 100′s of millions of people out there right now that had “someone else” help them out or give them a break and then never amounted to anything. And it’s not all because of bad luck, bad health, or a bad economy. Some people are pieces of shit. Some people bust their asses. And a lot of people meander somewhere in between.
You can’t build a house using nails, live under and prosper in that house, and then decide that you are going to discount the importance of nails. You will teach the successive generations that they don’t need nails to build a strong house, and those they do build will then collapse.
And you can’t build a country, live in and prosper in that country, and then discount the hard work of those who laid the economic foundations for it; the business owners. You will teach successive generations that it’s not hard working, sacrificing, and focused business owners who drive our economy and help build a strong country, but the random and benevolent actions by amorphus groups of people that do so.
If you ever ran a business a day in your life you would know that.
Read the complete Washington Times article.
Why not subscribe to bclund.com for free Via E-mail or Via RSS and follow me on StockTwits and Twitter?
What bclund is, is the intersection of markets, trading, and life (with some punk rock, pop culture, and off-beat humor mixed in). Check out “The Best Of bclund” to get started.