Time to Vote

Well the election is almost here. As a small business owner I have been trying to keep up on the issues the best I can. It is hard. So much goes on behind the scenes that we, the public, never get to know. The political machines have their front men, McCain & Obama. I guess 1984 is finally here. We are controlled to vote by television for the most part. Very few people actually know anything about how this election will affect our personal lives. Most people don't really care about our country, only them selves. Our society has morphed into a greed fest. The natural balance of nature is bound to play out the imbalance in one way or another. I believe, as many people do, we are heading for an economic crash. The greed won't go away but a good ass kicking is coming. I for one think it is probably a good thing. Talk about income redistribution. A collapse will put us on more of an equal playing field until the process begins all over again. I for one should fare well. I don't have any money in the stock market. My properties will go down in value but I don't care. I use them, they are not part of a rental portfolio. I guess the influence of my parenting family, Aunts & Uncles and Mother & Father, who were children during the depression had some affect. I have been paying off my house for years. I have paid cash as much as possible for the things I have needed. There were times that I felt a little left behind as many people invested and rode the wave of prosperity to highs I have never reached for. I work with my hands and enjoy what I do for a living. I look forward to going to work every day. That has a value most people never obtain.
Back to the election. If television has the power I think it does Obama will be elected in November. As a small business owner I make more than $1,000,000 a year gross. That puts me into the tax plan by Obama. The problem is the reality is my net income is earned from my paycheck for the work I do in my business. The rest of the business funds are spread out over payrolls and direct business expenses. I have crunched my business numbers every way I can. With the Obama tax plan I will have to lay off two of my employees to lower my business volume so I will be able to make my increased tax payments to our new welfare state. I have been paying full insurance for all my employees and their families. Since I am not greedy I take very good care of my people. Thanks to our new socialism transition I will be forced to turn those responsibilities over to the state. I grew up believing that if you worked hard and played by the rules you could do something good for your life and others. A thought a job is the best form of assistance for people that need things for their families. The belief that the hardest working people should give to the lazy people doesn't settle well with me. On top of that I am going to be forced to put 2 of my 6 workers on the welfare roles to be able to pay the government for more of their mismanaged programs. Think about it, Obama's campaign is saying they will give low income people $1,000 for a year. I give my families $1,000 every month in the form of medical insurance. When Bill Clinton was President I didn't understand what these issues meant to me. I got an education. Boy did I get an education. I didn't take defensive precautions. I ended up in bankruptcy after some years due to tax liens. I didn't run my business strictly by the numbers only then. I tried to outwork the Clinton tax burden because I didn't want to put people out of work. It took me ten years to overcome that lack of political education. I now have that education. I know I can not out work a bad fiscal policy. I have no choice but to cut my work force to a point that reduces my income to a point that will allow me to reduce my tax liability. I have no choice. I learned from my last go around with Clinton. I need to work and keep going this time. I can not afford to let my emotions dictate my business decisions. I will never figure out how politicians lose sight of the fact we can not pay more taxes. Most people just barely get by as working class Americans. 90% of small business owners are not in any better condition than their employees. We are working class Americans that take on the responsibilities it takes to create jobs is all. This all makes me so sad. The ignorance of the basic workings of the smallest of businesses like mine is amazing. I am not rich, I just pay more bills than most people. Rich is net income or retained earnings. Some businesses have vast retained earnings. Bill Gates is an example of a small business with retained earnings that continued to grow. 90% of small businesses never grow beyond a modest profit if they are lucky.
I can't do anything about world politics. I can vote and I will. The reality of the situation is most of us can only make their neighborhoods better not the country. I live in a small town. We try to help where we can. We will have to all pitch in to try and maintain some sense of normal life. The damage to the banking system is done. The only way out from here will be hard work. You can blame the Republicans or the Democrats, their really isn't any good politicians. The situation is way beyond recovery at this point. I understand bankruptcy, I went through one many years ago. There is a point where you cross the point of no return. It is usually years before you are actually forced to stop your ridiculous behavior. Our nation started down that path when they took our currency off the gold standard. We slipped past the point of no return many years ago. As an example our nation has been living on credit cards to pay off credit cards for generations. It is now time to pay the bill and the reality of the debt stands at over 50 trillion. Every other generation has to relearn the lessons of our for fathers. "If you can't pay cash you can't afford it". "If you get in debt it will ruin your life". I didn't learn the lesson soon enough but I get it now. I guess we will just have to ride together as our nation learns this lesson on a massive scale. It is called a depression. That is how you feel when your go broke..... depressed. I am not depressed because I understand what is happening and I think I will get by better than many people, not as good as some. My collision repair shop will be in demand as new cars are harder to come by. I named my blog crash course. I guess with the economy doing flip flops it has a dual meaning when own a collision shop. I was going to express my opinions about the collision industry and what he insurance doing to rip off the general public through their claims policies but the banking collapse and the election has become more important. Vote to lower taxes and government control over the workers of America. Vote for someone that will expose the corruption. Vote to make people work for their money unless they are disabled or elderly. Don't let a con man buy your vote for only $1000 stimulus check. How long will that help you compared to a steady pay check and self dignity. Teach you kids that you work for what you get as a building block to their life's goals.

Thankful for the skills

I have been watching the news like many people in the world. I can't help but remember my grandfather and my dad talking about what the depression was like. My grandfather died many years ago and I am in my fifties. We have been a blue collar family for generations. My dad was adament about either college or learning a trade. I didn't want to go to college and I didn't join a union but I developed a very high level of skill in the automotive collision industry. I know that I could have been anything that I wanted, looking back. Most people that are succesful at one thing could apply the same focus and work ethics to many other proffessions. My business skills and my technical ability have combined to keep my lifestyle quite comfortable for many years. Now that we could be heading into the next depresion I see what my grandfather meant when he said the guys who could fix anything were king. I am so thankful for my repair shop and all the wonderful equipment I have bought over the years. In my little town many people are self sufficient. We should have a partially stable micro economy. I don't think we will be on any type of an expansion program but comfortable simple survival might turn out to be an admirable position. I may be a little alarmist with these statements but if it all comes to pass I rest well at night knowing I am personally in a safe condition. A truck load of cash might not be worth near what a well built wind generator and some solar panels would be worth to run a battery powered green house and refrigeration units. Hunting, fishing and gardening might all become much more than a pass time.
I still love my work even after so many years. For this I am thankful for being brought up in a self sufficient blue collar family. Even though I have made millions of dollars over the years I still value my skills and tools above all else.

They Passed The Bail Out Bill.....

Well, they passed the bill, or should I say we just got billed? I have an idea that when the people of this great nation realize that we are still heading into a long recession they will settle into buyers remorse. You know that feeling a person gets at the moment you realize the car salesman won and you bought a car you didn't really want or need. If you just would have waited a couple of days before signing the loan papers. You probably would have realised that since the kids are grown you might not have needed that fully loaded Suburban for $65,000 when a good used Honda would have suited your lifestyle better. That is the equivalent of what we just did except you bought a new car and a house for every man women and child in this nation except the fat cats on Wall Street get the car and the house, you just have to pay for them. The used car salesman won. You now have to pay and pay and then your kids will pay and pay and then your grand kids will be paying long after you are dead.
Barney Frank was asleep at the wheel or his pockets were greased as the Banking Oversight chair. Don't get me started on Henry Paulson. Here is a guy who came from Wall Street, and is headed back to Wall Street after this election. Isn't that a little like robbing the store you work for and sending the money to your buddy so he can boost his business. Then you can quit the store you robbed to help run his new bigger business? Guess what, we own the store he robbed. He needs to go to prison along with our buddy Barney Frank! The Clinton administration deregulated the industry. That is where it started. He balanced the budget on phony paper and raised our taxes to the point of crushing us. Now close down our military bases and you have the best used car salesman that every graced our Television screens.
Wake up America! Being a Conservative doesn't mean you are a George Bush fan. He blew it. It means you have common sense and know we should not live beyond our means. As a business owner I understand this principle. Some business's might run sales to increase business activity. That is the same principle behind lowering our taxes. We increase our activity when we all have a little more money in our pockets. That increases the exchange between us which increases the flow of tax revenue to the federal government. If you increase my taxes I lay off some of my work force to lower my tax obligation. That puts another family on federal assistance. Don't you remember the well fare state of the Johnson and Carter years. It took Ronald Regan to snap us out of it. Right now more than ever we need a true Conservative leader that isn't afraid to blow the whistle on the corruption in Washington D.C. Sara Palin is that type of leader. That is why they are trying to stop her with everything they have. They are afraid that if McCain/Palin are elected, the party is over. My only fear is someone might try to kill her because she isn't afraid to take on the guys behind the scenes that we never get to know. The power mongers that control the money. We don't get to elect them, they run the the puppet show we all pay for.