Sunday, March 03, 2013

Small Business: Does Anyone Give A Damn?

An Editorial Opinion


First off, I am not a whiner or complainer, but I do bitch a lot lately. Something about hearing yourself speak the truth empowers you. I am a semi-retired small business man. I have several on-line businesses which have served me well since my official retirement several years ago. My businesses were small but steadily growing. I was my own boss and enjoyed what I was doing, they were like favorite hobbies that earned honest money.

Then about the end of 2009 I noticed a small but meaningful decline. I had more free time so I created a couple more small endeavors to take up the slack ... and watched and waited. I spent money on advertising that was paying back 2 to 1 return on investment. This lasted a couple years.

Eventually I noticed I was spending more on ads than I was getting back, so I was forced to throw in the towel, stop the ads and close some of the less productive sites. With drastically lower income I also had to default on credit cards and cut back every place I could. Since 2010 my sales income has dropped 60% and I had to ask my customers why they stopped buying.

My credit is now destroyed and I am forced to live on meager amounts from Social Security. My customers say they are likewise having to prioritize due to fears of their own lowered income now and in the future. They say Obama’s speeches and policies have created an atmosphere that is unfriendly and even scary. Those on welfare, however, applaud him.

In retrospect I should have gone into the firearms business. People are buying guns at record rates and no one can keep them in stock. Cruise the internet or visit a sporting goods store to see the ‘Sold Out’ signs on every item. Guns and ammo of every description are being pre-sold up to 6 months or more in advance. 

Guess who prompted that surge ... If you need or want a weapon be prepared to pay double what you would have paid one year ago and wait for months. This is not a country which has faith in it’s president.

Meanwhile, I and thousand others are struggling to make sense of why a president would seemingly, intentionally, destroy small (and large) businesses with counter-productive policies. We will not find a rational answer to why anyone would prefer our country to be more like Cuba than to continually improve upon who we already are, an innovative, creative, and productive country with pride and hope for the future.

Now he is on his bully pulpit threatening us with what will happen when sequestration kicks in. Lost jobs, failed economy, weakened military, cuts to education, fire protection, police and border patrol will all suffer. Does he really not realize we all know it was he who created sequestration?

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