The politicians have spoken....and now Businesses will
And I am afraid that it will not be pretty. I won't speak for Doug, but this post from NRO may well be telling.
Wanted to share with you an arresting letter from a friend:
Just thought I’d send some thoughts from small-business America. My husband’s business is a canary in the coalmine. When tax policies are favorable to business, he hires more guys, buys more goods, etc. When he is taxed more heavily, he fires people, doesn’t buy anything new, etc. Well, duh. So, at the mere thought of a President Obama, he has paid off his debt, canceled new spending, and jotted a list of whom to “let go.”
The first of the guys will get the news tomorrow. And these are not minimum-wage earners. These are “rich” guys, making between $200,000 and $250,000 a year.
My husband will make sure that we’re okay, money-wise, but he won’t give himself a paycheck that will just be sent to Washington. He’ll make sure that he’s not in “rich guy” tax territory. So, he will not spend his money, not show a profit, and scale his workforce down to the bare minimum.
Multiply this scenario across the country and you’ll see the Obama effect: unemployment, recession, etc. No business owner will vote for this man, but many a “middle-class worker” will vote himself out of a job. Sad the Republican can’t articulate this.I’ll say. But she did, didn’t she?
Businesses will be the first judges of whether or not the actions taken (or not) are wise or foolish. There are the votes in the Senate and in the House. Then, there are the votes by the dollars (and if the above is any indication, the feet of those being separated from those dollars).
Remember - REAL economics, as it HAS to be played by small business, will almost always trump political leanings. Socialism doesn't pay the bills at this level - as it is socialism that is trying to peel small business owner's dollars away from them.
Small business owners, for the most part, understand that their businesses run only with good employees and often will forgo certain "rewards" of the risk they have taken to have their own business - but only to a point. They will protect their investment - which they see as part and parcel of their family. And that they will protect when push comes to shove.
It is one thing for politicians to argue and put stuff into bills and take it out. Ideologies fight to win (and sometimes lose). Although politicians can be viewed as operating in a self-induced Fantasy Land, their decisions do have a material effect on how the rest of us live our lives (the main reason why I started to get involved in this arena is that I was tired, dammit, of having wackos making decisions that had adverse effects on my life and that of my family without my input.
Problem is, not enough of us do so.
We get what we elect.
All the way around: Losers, all.
