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| Weekly Address from October 16th, 2010 |
So, I have tried cutting through the veil. My remarks are interjected where appropriate. The speech is italicized.
"After a decade of hardship for middle class families, and a recession that wiped away millions of jobs, we are in the middle of a tough fight to rebuild this economy and put folks back to work."
Excuse me, but Mr. President, things were going great for the first seven years of the last ten. The last year of the Bush administration, and the first (almost) two years of your administration doesn't quite make up a decade.
"Winning this fight will not depend on government alone. It will depend on the innovation of American entrepreneurs; on the drive of American small business owners; on the skills and talents of American workers. These are the people who will help us grow our economy and create jobs."
Whoa...wait a minute! Did I just hear the President confess that government is not ALL the answer? The guy doing the Weekly Address, he isn't a stunt double, is he? While this is huge progress for the thinking of the President, he still has a long way to go. He needs to say that government isn't any part of the answer...because yes, Mr. President, American entrepreneurs are innovative, American small business owners have drive, and the American people are teaming with skill and talent. The problem, Mr. President, is that government is the stumbling block, the drag, the dumb and inefficient enterprise that just can't get things figured out. The government is supposedly full of "experts," yet it is upon your "expert" recommendations, we continue to falter and sputter.
"But government still has an important responsibility. And that’s to create an environment in which someone can raise capital to start a new company; where a business can get a loan to expand; where ingenuity is prized and folks are rewarded for their hard work."
Opps! Never mind the part where I said the President is making progress in his thinking. I spoke, apparently, way too soon! Government's responsibility is not to create any environment in which to start a new company. For then, the government will have control of enterprise - for it thus created the environment in which that enterprise can live and breath. I think that idea has been tried in some communist countries before - it didn't work.
Furthermore, starting a business is not something that happens because all the conditions are "just right." Most small businesses get started with nothing but sweat equity, and because free people want to do what they like to do. Yes they must work and endure some risk, but traditionally they have always looked forward to a reward; a reward that would more than pay them off in the end, a reward that is rightfully theirs, not the government's. Mr. President, if you really want to create an environment that will foster business creation and growth, let people keep what they earn. Is this really this hard to figure out? It's not like this stuff is "rocket-science."
"That’s why I fought so hard to pass a jobs bill to cut taxes and make more loans available for entrepreneurs. It eliminated the capital gains taxes for key investments in small businesses. It increased the deduction to defray the costs of starting a company. And it’s freeing up credit for folks who need it. In fact, in just the first two weeks since I signed the bill, thousands of business owners have been able to get new loans through the SBA."
OK, big problem here - why is government discriminating against certain investments (note his word key)? Why not eliminate ALL capital gains taxes for ALL investments? Is it because some investments don't fit with the President's green agenda? Perhaps some don't fit with his social agenda? Since when did it become the President's job to fight to re-engineer America by picking and choosing winners and losers in business? For some reason, this doesn't sound very American - using government to force people to like something they don't like. In a free market, what lives and dies is based on what people want - not what government forces people to want - again, not very American. Actually, I'm think this is more like a slap in the face.
"But we need to do more. So I’ve proposed additional steps to grow the economy and spur hiring by businesses across America. Now, one of the keys to job creation is to encourage companies to invest more in the United States. But for years, our tax code has actually given billions of dollars in tax breaks that encourage companies to create jobs and profits in other countries."
"I want to close these tax loopholes. Instead, I want to give every business in America a tax break so they can write off the cost of all new equipment they buy next year. That’s going to make it easier for folks to expand and hire new people. I want to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent. Because promoting new ideas and technologies is how we’ll create jobs and retain our edge as the world’s engine of discovery and innovation. And I want to provide a tax cut for clean energy manufacturing right here in America. Because that’s how we’ll lead the world in this growing industry."
Mr. President, let's ask ourselves a question. Why would a business owner WANT to take his hard earned money and go somewhere other than the United States? OK, I realize you don't have your teleprompter in front of you, so let me answer. The reason people don't want to keep their money here is because YOU want it all. Why would I want to invest in a market (even the US) when there are other markets that will give me a better return on MY investment? If my return on investment is taxed less somewhere else, I am going to go there - duh.
So does closing this "tax loophole" really mean you want to make it illegal to go somewhere else with MY money, so that you can collect even more revenues here, and further yet, hold MY future earnings hostage to your higher taxation? I know you don't have your teleprompter in front of you, but a simple "yes" is all you need to utter for the correct answer. O, and you're going to frame this argument as trying to create jobs? Mr. President, business people are not as stupid as you take them and/or make them out to be. But then, maybe you know that - and is this just more class warfare?
"These are commonsense ideas. When more things are made in America, more families make it in America; more jobs are created in America; more businesses thrive in America. But Republicans in Washington have consistently fought to keep these corporate loopholes open. Over the last four years alone, Republicans in the House voted 11 times to continue rewarding corporations that create jobs and profits overseas – a policy that costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year."
"That doesn’t make a lot sense. It doesn’t make sense for American workers, American businesses, or America’s economy. A lot of companies that do business internationally make an important contribution to our economy here at home. That’s a good thing. But there is no reason why our tax code should actively reward them for creating jobs overseas. Instead, we should be using our tax dollars to reward companies that create jobs and businesses within our borders."
OK - here it comes, the big cry-baby story and the game of blame; the standard method of operation. Its the Republicans this and the Republicans that - everything is a Republican problem. I am so sick of hearing our supposed Commander-in-Chief frame everything as "My way or the highway."
So what you're saying Mr. President, is that the Republicans have fought to keep our investment options open? Now I know this might not make commonsense to you, since you have never run a business before - actually, all you have done is organize a bunch of people together and told them what to say. But the commonsense thing here is to make the United States an attractive place to invest money. The American way of doing that is not to force people to invest in America, but to lower taxes so that America is a competitive place to invest. This preserves, not tramples on our individual liberty to make our own decisions without you.
"We should give tax breaks to American small businesses and manufacturers. We should reward the people who are helping us lead in the industries of the future, like clean energy. That’s how we’ll ensure that American innovation and ingenuity are what drive the next century. That’s how we’ll put our people back to work and lead the global economy. And that’s what I’ll be fighting for in the coming months."
You just don't get it, do you Mr. President? Sure we need to give small businesses and manufactures tax breaks (and all of them, not just your green buddies), but you are not the one to be handing out such rewards. In case you didn't know, the rewards that are built into hard work are already there. You need to stop taking them from us! That's how we will ensure American innovation, ingenuity, and create the drive that will take us into the next century. This is how we will put people back to work. This is how we will ensure American exceptionalism. Mr. President, we have all the tools and incentives we need, it's called liberty; just get out of our way!
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