Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Dear Leader Really Does Hate Business And The Private Sector

I have waited a while to comment on the remarks that the Dear Leader, President Obama, made in Roanoke, Virginia, last week concerning American business and his true disdain for the private sector and entrepreneurs in general.
Now I have purposely linked the official White House transcript regarding this issue because of the memes on the left is that his remarks are taken out of context.
So, lets examine the remarks that the Dear Leader, President Obama, made in reference to businessmen* and those that actually take the risks to create a strong, growing private-sector economy:

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)
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.

I highlighted the money part of the remarks that has gotten the most attention this past week:

 If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that.

Really? A person and or a group of people that invested money in an endeavor that is
a) Successful.
b) Providing a product and or a service that people want.
c) Rolling with the inevitable ups and downs in an business endeavor.
d) Provided jobs in a community.
did not do that on their own? They did NOT build it?
I am sorry folks, but if that is not socialist clap-trap, I do not know what is.
In fact, the whole two-paragraph diatribe is a window on what the Dear Leader, President Obama, really thinks about those who are
a) Smart.
b) Work hard.
Yes, people who do the above are just terrible in the eyes and the mind of our Dear Leader, President Obama.
Sorry to inform the Dear Leader, President Obama, but many of the most successful people in this nation, well they never spent a day in college. Some barely graduated high school. Yet they did become successful. And not because they ran to the government for help and guidance.
One name that comes to mind is the late Steve Jobs. A man who revolutionized computers. He went to college, but never graduated. But what he learned would actually help him in developing the now famous Apple computer. The dude was smart and talented and it is why there is the kind of computer, phones and now tablets that are known and loved the world over.
Funny, I don't remember when Mr. Jobs went to the government, hat in hand, to help him develop the modern computer. Same for his competitor, Bill Gates, and MicroSoft. Oh yeah, Mr. Gates, well he did go to Harvard, but did not graduate either. I guess that he just had the lousy professors.
But there are those that did graduate college but changed the face of the United States.
How about Sam Walton, the founder of WalMart? This man single-handily changed the way that Americans, and now many around the world, shop. Oh, this dude and his company are Public Enemy Number One on the left-wing radar screen. Because of the fact that this eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll company does all that it can to. . .keep labor unions from organizing. Yet many an employee has started at the low end and become very successful within the company. And yeah, because of the same smarts and hard work that was the hallmark of Mr. Walton.
And one last example is a guy named George W. Romney.
Does that last name sound familiar?
Because Mr. Romney was the late father of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.
The late Mr. Romney came from very humble beginnings and that was a motivator in his ability to be a very successful businessman. He rescued American Motors in the late 1950s.
Oh, snaps!
Mr. Romney went to numerous colleges and universities and did not graduate. Again, must have been lousy professors.
Why am I focusing on the education of the aforementioned?
Because the Dear Leader, President Obama, seems to think that people can not make it for themselves in life without a crutch. Whether it is the crutch of government or a teacher or a mentor or the village, whatever.
The reality is that these people all were and are very smart in their own way. And they did something most do not. They took risk. And that is what the free market is.
A reality is that the overwhelming number of new business and new business ventures fail. Yet someone, somewhere does succeed. And it maybe small to some. But look at restaurants as a great example.
Hey, we all have to eat, right?
Yet how many times have you gone to a new restaurant in your town and loved it. Yet you go back six months later and it is gone. Why is that? I mean, you loved it and thought it was great. Yet for a host of reasons, the owners and investors just could not make it work.
But what if no one took these risks? What if no one tried to start a business? Hire some people? Make a profit? And, paid taxes?
Ahh, the taxes!
Yes, it is the taxes that pays fot the roads and bridges that the Dear Leader, President Obama, talked about in his diatribe. But if there is not a successful private-sector economy that broadens the tax base, the government at all levels will not have enough money to keep up the maintenance of the roads and bridges.
So, why does the Dear Leader, President Obama, not get it?
Because in his mind, those that are successful must be doing something wrong. Maybe even nefarious. It can not be that they are pretty damned smart, work hard and most important take the risk.
Oh, one last thought.
You realize that the reason we have the kind of roads that we do today is because of the wonderful invention called the automobile, right? And the vision of a guy named Henry Ford that developed the first car that most Americans could afford to buy. It was during the 1920s, that eeeeevvvvviiiiiillllll, greedy decade of unrivaled economic growth that people were flocking to buy the now famous Model T's. But the United States had to transition from the dirt road to the kind of concrete and tar roads we have today.
In other words, it was the private sector that made the government have to change. If the automobile had not become what it is today, we could still have a majority of dirt roads and be a Third-world nation.
But we are not.
And it is because of a lot of people that had vision, smarts, wherewithal and an amazing ability to take risk. And if successful, many, many people are employed and able to obtain these amazing products.
At one time, we had political leadership that welcomed that. Today, we have a political class that is trying to develop a frightening resentment of success.
That is what was so revealing about the Dear Leader, President Obama's comments. He made a case to resent success.



1 comment:

Will S. said...

I find it amazing how his attack dogs claim he never said that - and show footage, in their own video, of him doing just that!

http://happolatismiscellany.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/obamas-utter-lies-on-display-in-latest-ad/