Posted by
Bob on Thursday, October 23, 2008 1:14:10 AM
Dear Joe,
You're not alone.
I run a small, high tech business. We grow the company by reinvesting profits. It's all about profits. Not profits before taxes but profits after taxes. We added 10 new jobs last year. That growth was paid for by the profits that Obama wants to tax away. And yes, we made more than $250,000 in profits. Obama thinks that's a lot of money and fair game for his redistribution strategy. But you don't fund 10 new jobs with nothing. Does Obama or the people he wants to give that money to know anything about creating jobs ?
Does Obama know how small and medium sized companies actually work? Listen to him talk about outsourcing and free trade. This year we increased the percentage of raw materials we purchased overseas, saving considerable sums over what we were buying from higher priced domestic suppliers. Did that result in the loss of jobs in this country? I don't know. I do know that I'm still adding jobs and I'm willing to bet that the net effect is positive. And these are high paying jobs with benefits.
By sourcing intelligently we remain competitive on world markets. And as an exporter of American goods we sell far more overseas than we buy. Does Obama understand any of this? Did he study business? Did he ever work in the private sector? I don't include the entry level job he held briefly or the bit of law he practiced. Other than that, he has no experience in business. To him business is the golden goose that somehow produces wealth. And you know the parable of the golden goose. I'm afraid Obama is not sympathetic to the role of business enterprise, entrepreneurship and free markets in the job creation process.
After the better part of 20 years, my company began paying dividends to its shareholders. Obama wants to increase the tax on dividends. He apparently thinks that I'm a fat cat ready for skinning, like his friend Warren Buffett or maybe Gordon Gecko. Well, Buffett is wealthy enough already and very public about his inclination to part with some of the fortune he's made. Gecko, a fictional persona, is a stand-in for greedy fat cats. Funny, I always thought of myself as another hard working guy, maybe a bit more successful than most but no more greedy than the next. In the last twenty years, I took very few vacations while I built up my company and created almost 70 jobs. Now I and my shareholders, mostly fellow employees, finally have some dividends to show for it. So, after socking it to my business, Obama wants to go after my personal income as well. Just another 5% I'm told. Remember the federal income tax started at just 2%. What's Obama going to do in the future when his grand ideas of social justice and wealth redistribution prove un obtainable ? Impose a higher tax on us " fat cats" or lower the bar and increase taxes on the rest of the cats - you know, the ones who are voting for him hoping to benefit from his tax policies. When you promise to rob Peter to pay Paul, you can generally count on the help of Paul. Eventually Obama might find everyone's income a tempting target. After all, what's a social engineer gonna' do when all that stands between his dreams and reality is someone else's money?
Obama is a very smooth talker. I ask my friends, "Do you like Obama 's domestic policy? Do you believe all that smooth talk about the economy from someone who understands so little about job and wealth creation?"
I only hope someone is listening beyond the sound bites.
Bob
Bob is an entrepreneur living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has founded several companies and is currently serving as CEO of one of them. Bob is a politcal independent who votes Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian depending on circumstances.