Home » Obama and fear itself: the small business owner

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Obama and fear itself: the small business owner — 82 Comments

  1. there’s been such a flurry of activity on so many fronts at once. So it’s not that easy to see the bigger picture.

    before obama was on the scene and we were still trying to make sense of invading iraq, and i laid out the line in the sand picture, i said that they were going to turn on all the burners to make it all hot and mix it up. and if you took the time to list what was going on, you would be amazed at the list. from foiled bombers from sweden, a few assasinations, nuclear bomb and missile tests, south america border threats, mexico near collapse, a no coupe in honduras, and i am sure this list will grow.

    divided attention when you need undivided attention

  2. Obama also utters soothing words every time he does something against the interests of the business world: he’s not really trying to stifle small business.

    its classical sociopathic language in which the victim or circumstances are blamed for them having to do what they want to do. that way they seem helpless and a victim of circumstance to soft feelings based people. you cant meet sociopathy with empathy, one has to turn empathy off to see what they are doing.

  3. Obama has shown his willingness to rise above principle on numerous occasions when failing to do so would affect him negatively. Is it possible that his economic advisors might tell him to back off of business and the well off if he wants to see any kind of recovery? I know some folks surmise that Obama is intentionally wrecking the economy, but surely some of his close advisors (most of whom are well off) don’t want to sign on to that plan.

  4. “I know some folks surmise that Obama is intentionally wrecking the economy, but surely some of his close advisors (most of whom are well off) don’t want to sign on to that plan.”

    I have to disagree here. His closest advisors, see themselves after the wrecked economy as still at the top of the heap with their wealth and privilege in tact. Thye will be the rulers under a defacto dictatiorship. Just look at any tyrannical government: those at the top are doing quite well. There’s no motivation in their view to not but help the destruction along.

  5. A lot of the blame for what is happening to us goes to the U.S. mass media. It simply does not report the big picture. We might as well live in the Soviet Union. Even today’s Pravda is freer and more informative than the U.S. press. Few Americans take the time to read other sources for general information, so they remain ignorant.

    I was just reading a post on pajamas media that tried to explain why Jews support Obama, even though he’s clearly an anti-Israel president. The writer blamed the Jewish love for being victimized, but I think the answer is simpler. Liberal, non-Orthodox Jews depend on publications like the NYTimes and other general publications for their information. They don’t get information about all the things us “neocon” types read about. As liberals, they refuse to hear other arguments because they’re close-minded. We’ve discussed these kinds of people before on neo-neocon’s blog.

    So, as things go rapidly downhill, Obama-loving groups like these will not get the big picture.

    I was at a social gathering today in which people alluded to “the economic situation.” I knew that they DID NOT HAVE A CLUE as to the nature of these problems.

  6. While Mr. Kennedy may be a little over the top, I assure you that small business owners are, in fact, losing a lot of sleep. Here’s why. Cash is king. You can’t operate let alone grow a business without liquidity. The borrowing spigot has been virtually dry for almost a year. Existing lines of credit have been at risk for an equally long time. So what do you do as a business owner? You pull your horns in, cancel expansion plans, lay off staff. You hunker down.

    Obama’s demonstrably antibusiness attitude exacerbates the fear. And then we see what he’s done. The stimulus was seen as a joke from the start. Most of us wouldn’t have seen a dollar of it anyway, let alone the simple fact that most of the spending was planned for out years, 2010 and beyond. But the debt remains, and the wreckage.

    The debt, of necessity, further deflates the dollar and, as we saw, immediately increased fuel prices. From a macroeconomic perspective, it’s difficult to see how the debt will not lead to interest rate increases and inflation. Lovely combination, yes?

    So what’s a business owner to do? It’s full fledged all out hunker down time. If you’ve stil got two nickels, save ’em. Payroll’s coming up, revenues are decreasing, inflation and interest rates will eat your lunch.

    Have a nice night, Mr. and Mrs. Small Business America.

  7. A couple of months ago I read about affluent senior citizens in Florida looking for real estate in Italy and Spain to get out of the US fearing the coming communism under Obama. My gut then told me they were right. Apparently this thinking has now gone to the business community.
    It is ironic. The last decades I heard about many Europeans who had left the EU to escape its socialist mindset. Ten years ago I myself pondered leaving Europe for the US (supposed that would be possible) for the same reason. Now I am glad I am here. But it is sad. The EU is a soft totalitarian society but the US is in danger of becoming even worse. No place to go…

  8. I believe that the fear that BHO & Co has created among so many business people is more based on the concern that the Democrats do not understand how delicate our economic balance really is rather than a plot to intentionally do harm.

    None of these “progressive leaders” have respect for our economy, or what it takes to keep it healthy.

    They are obviously acting like a bunch of teenagers who has never driven a car, but they watched the race and stunt drivers on TV. They feel fully qualified to take the wheel and take off because they each took a course about driving in school, and have driven super fast on their computers. They are blowing the horn, yanking the wheel, putting the accelerator to the floor, and shifting all at the same time in order to get where they want to go before somebody yanks them out of the driver’s seat. They are truly operating on hormones, hope, emotion, and desire. Rules of the road? They don’t need no stinking rules! Do not let their cool swaggers and brave talk fool you, they are just ill-equipped to anticipate the consequences of their mistreatment of our economic engine. Fear is growing in the business community on main street because people understand that we can easily end up in a fatal car wreck. The longer the Dems drive, the more overconfident they become, even while they make excuses for why it is OK that they are apparently careening out of control. Obviously they have not found where the brake pedal is yet, much less the gas station. Oh yes, I believe that they forgot to bring their wallets too. We business people know that as well. Watch out for the unexpected patch of ice!

  9. The problem is, of course, where does such a safe haven–that these businessmen, or anyone of us and our families would be able to flee to–exist? Somewhere in Europe? Canada? Australia or New Zealand? India? East Asia? Shangri-la?

    There are already functioning U.S. laws on the books that allow the IRS to reach out overseas and collect US income taxes–for each of several years after they leave–from those “wealthy” individuals the IRS deems to have left the country/immigrated to avoid having to pay federal income taxes; sounds like these businessmen would probably qualify. I imagine if some future, very determined US government really tried, it would be a relatively easy matter for it to retain jurisdiction over, or even be able to use rendition to “repatriate” “disloyal” U.S. citizens who fled, back to the U.S.

    Imagine a “1984” type U.S. government almost totally focused on using it’s massive energy, resources and reach in carrying out an agenda of Tyranny and domination; it’s functionaries–those left after the purges–telling themselves, each day, that they are doing nothing wrong and that, “they are just following legal orders.”

    Don’t these businessmen, don’t we, remember all those horror stories about Jews trying to get out of Germany after Hitler rose to power, the long hopeless lines of Jews and others at foreign embassies trying to get travel documents and passports, trying to escape anywhere, stories of families trekking across Europe, through country after country, just ahead of the Nazi tide? Well, now we won’t be around as a destination, and a lot of other countries won’t be such great destinations either.

    As the commonplace observation goes, we all now live in a vastly smaller, interconnected world, these days, and America is the one remaining Superpower with global reach and influence, for good or ill.

    Do any of these businessmen, do any of us, really expect that, if America goes under, and something like, say, a new French Revolution, a second Dark Age of dictatorship and terror overcomes us, we or they, or anyone else on the planet for that matter, would be immune from or be able to escape the consequences?

  10. Final question.

    Over the course of the last 100 years or so, we in the U.S. have come to the rescue and–at great cost to us in blood and treasure–have saved Europe and the West on two occasions.

    Given the current state of the World, if we go under, who can we look to for rescue, who will save us?

  11. One of the worst examples of what is being done to small business is the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, ostensibly passed to protect children from lead, etc (especially in imported Chinese products) but so badly drafted that it is wreaking destruction on many small businesses–including thrift shops, sporting goods stores, toy & science kit manufactuers, and homecrafters–as well as imposing heavy costs and product inflexibility on larger companies. With astonishing irresponsibility, Congress blames the “bureaucrats” at the CPSIA for enforcing the law they themselves have written, rather than fixing the law.

    Many of the people hurt by this law have been of the lefty persuasion, and for some, it has been an education in the reality that government is not always benign.

  12. Right on cue! “Dr. Mengele, please call your office!”

    Check out the extraordinarily, well, what shall we say, forceful views on forced abortions and mass sterilization in the 1977 book, “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment” co-authored by John Holdren, Obama’s new “Science Czar.”

    Since “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof,” the web story not only cites key passages in this book, but also includes high resolution scans of each relevant page of the book in question http://tinyurl.com/n49jvr).

    I expect the two lines of defense will be either that those were the portions that Holdren didn’t write–and he wasn’t aware of what they said, in any case. Or, that “that was then, this is now” and his views have changed and “matured.”

  13. Aren’t there businessmen’s organizations that can lobby for better laws and more understanding? I can’t believe we’re so far gone that all these business groups don’t have any influence.

    For example, in Chicago, home of the dread Daley Machine, both the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago are gasping for funds. But they have already spent everything, and they will be forced to lay off workers.

    Sure they can start laying off the most vulnerable, but eventually, they will have to lay off teachers, firefighters, health inspectors, the rat patrol, the police, various administrators, etc.

    Unlike trying to change one’s country, it’s much easier to move out of the city and out of the state. The City of Chicago has recently become a housing destination for retirees who enjoy urban life. But if Chicago becomes more expensive, like New York, then that new source of income will dry up quickly.

    Daley recently raised parking rates in Chicago in a way that makes living in the city much more irritating. Business owners are complaining. At some point, the Daley Machine will have to become more business friendly or Chicago will die like it almost did when manufacturing moved out.

    I’m probably rambling here, but my point is that actions have consequences, and even corrupt politicians have to be concerned about jobs and taxpayers. We can’t all live on welfare.

  14. BTW, at the social gathering I mentioned in my 4:16 post, a lot of those people who think Obama is so great but the economy is bad have already cut back on their travel plans.

    Surely the travel industry has many business organizations that should be lobbying against all this crazy anti-business lawmaking.

  15. I did not vote for Obama. However, I would bet a lot of these business people did. Who did they think he was?

    I am not sure Obama is trying to wreck the economy. I think he realizes that could lead to political ruin for him and his party. I think that they are deluded.

    For instance Warren Buffet was saying recently that this could go on for years, etc…but once again who did this billionare vote for?

    Did he think he would be spared?

  16. That one I didn’t get either.

    Bill Gates and Warren Buffet seem to misunderstand macro-economics yet they are personally wealthy.

    Yet – do they understand micro-economics either??

    I’m almost positive that if I were in Bill Gates shoes I could be building a better business (if the USA let me)

  17. Terrye–Useful idiots always think that Dear Leader will be grateful for the valuable services they have performed in enabling him to come to power and that, as their reward, they will be on the top of the heap and spared.

  18. Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a “chilling effect” on speech that might hurt someone’s feelings. He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them.

    http://www.nypost.com/seven/07112009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/gag_the_internet__178749.htm?page=0

  19. Aren’t there businessmen’s organizations that can lobby for better laws and more understanding?

    And all it would take would be one photo of all the middle-aged paunchy, unfashionable white guys on the cover of the NY Times to discredit such a thing forever.

    I can’t believe we’re so far gone that all these business groups don’t have any influence.

    Hahahahahahaha! Business groups?! Maybe they could fly to a meeting in their corporate jets!

    “How many divisions does the International Brotherhood of Elks have?”

    OK, now that I am done making fun of your statement for my own amusement, I’ll answer it seriously:

    Aren’t there businessmen’s organizations that can lobby for better laws and more understanding?

    How can any organization with the word “Business” or “Men” in it have any influence in 2009 America?

    The majority of Americans (52%) despise both.

  20. I have a friend who runs a small business. He recently told me that he is unable to plan ahead like he normally does. He always had a two year plan, a five year plan and a ten year plan, which he updated each year. He says he just doesn’t know what is ahead so he is hunkering down. No improvements, no new employees, no expansion plans. Multiply him by the millions who are small businessmen. No wonder the economy is in a slump.

    I do not believe the Obama team is truly trying to destroy the economy. I believe they just don’t have a clue how destructive their policies are even if they are just in the planning and debating stage. Look at the turmoil in the health care industry that has been brought about by the debate over health care reform. They just do not understand how damaging their anti-business stance is out in the real world. Most of them are academics. They have no idea what it’s like to be a small business person.

    Gates is a rough, tough businessman who, because he lives in a culture of liberals here in the People’s Republic of Puget Sound, has been guilted into endorsing liberal politicians. He is ruthless with his competitors, but makes nice with the lefties he is surrounded by up here.

  21. I think physicsguy has it right.

    The elites have theirs, and the little guys must be busted down to a sustainable world level.

    They are no longer Americans, but rather world citizens, and they are conducting nothing less than a war on prosperity.

  22. It’s the uncertainty that is really messing up the economy. Democrats in congress have shown no sense at all at the clauses and wherefores they stick into the hundreds of pages of bills that nobody reads.

    Will the administration raise taxes, somehow make their business illegal, take over their business, retaliate against disapproving comments? Look at the auto dealers — private businesses whose only connection to the failing auto companies is that they buy their cars from an auto company — and the administration orders them shut down. Too bad.

    Congress is attempting to undo that, but it doesn’t make for an economy in which anyone is apt to take a risk — nobody knows what to expect, or whether they can trust the legal system anymore. There has never been such uncertainty, and those creating it seem blissfully unaware.

  23. Well, Grey . . .

    These 52 percent of Americans can despise businessmen all they like, but they’re going to be hungry soon.

    Are you telling me there’s no place in the U.S. for men? Men are no longer “politically correct”?

  24. These 52 percent of Americans can despise businessmen all they like, but they’re going to be hungry soon.

    Not soon. America is a very rich country. It’ll last through the boomer’s dotage. Then Le Deluge.

    Are you telling me there’s no place in the U.S. for men? Men are no longer “politically correct”?

    To ask the question is to answer it.

  25. In the endless struggle to figure out whether Obama is malevolent or incompetent or what, the best interview I’ve read was with Prof. Richard Epstein, a colleague of Obama at the University of Chicago:

    Obama’s positions are not close to the middle, and so he sees no reason to compromise with Republicans unless and until they can mount a veto threat in the Senate. He is very, very dogmatic about his substantive positions. He knows what he believes and he knows why he believes it, and it is extremely difficult for people on the outside to change his mind.

    The fundamental mistake of his entire world view is that he treats contracts as devices for exploitation and not as devices for mutual gain, and he assumes that redistribution can take place without any negative impact upon production.

    If you live in that kind of a fairy land, which I think he does, every one of his major social and economic initiatives are going to misfire. And, if they succeed, God forbid, in getting through, they are going to intensify the downturn that we have already experienced. He is the wrong guy for the job based on his intellectual format. The question is whether you can force him back.

    Prof. Richard Epstein Discusses Barack Obama

  26. “It simply does not report the big picture. We might as well live in the Soviet Union.”

    You’re absolutely right, Promethea. My niece, a 22-year-old art college student in Atlanta, and a registered democrat, voted for McCain because she did enough research on her own to realize that the Zed was a socialist, and bad for the country. She also realized that most of her generation “are stupid; they’re just voting for him because he’s Popular and Cool.”

    Even she, however, said “I don’t think he’s going to be so bad after all — nothing really has happened since he’s been elected.” [!!!!!]

    I printed out two short articles from the Net laying out how he’s engineering a state takeover of the key sectors of the economy, soviet-style. And mentioned a few other things. She was surprised, having heard NONE of it from the mainslime media.

    There is good news, though: she said that after the election, she was with a bunch of her art college friends, and someone asked her if she voted. “Yes, I voted.” “For who?” “. . . McCain.” Then, one by one, nearly all her friends “admitted” they, too, voted for McCain.

    This is damned encouraging. Even after a generation of Liberal Brainwashing, they can think. For themselves.

  27. I do not believe the Obama team is truly trying to destroy the economy. I believe they just don’t have a clue how destructive their policies are even if they are just in the planning and debating stage.

    I agree with Jim G. on this. If for no other reason than that is not in Team Obama’s self-interest.

    If the economy and jobs remain screwed, they will not be able to push their agenda through. Already the climate change legislation is being shelved and health care looks increasingly difficult. There are too many blue dog Dems who know that they are in deep trouble given the current environment.

    Apparently Obama’s people are reluctantly noticing. See Desperation from a fine, but neglected blog, Blue Crab Boulevard.

    This is a sign of sheer desperation on the part of Obama and his “best and brightest”. (I use that term loosely.) They are now floating a trial balloon that would divert millions of dollars in TARP funds to small businesses in a frantic attempt to create some – any – jobs.

  28. Eyewitness to the Ayers Revolution
    pajamasmedia.com/blog/eyewitness-to-the-ayers-revolution/2/

    Larry Grathwohl on Ayers’ plan for American re-education camps and the need to kill millions
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWMIwziGrAQ

    John Holdren who wrote ecoscience with paul and anne ehrlich, is now our science czar…

    in his book he covers…
    forced abortions

    Government confiscation of babies (major feminist goal women have been supporting without believing or reading the leaders)

    Targeted Involuntary sterlizations
    mass involuntary sterilization
    government dictating family size
    surrendering national sovereignty

    The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries’ shares within their regional limits.

    Don’t want to kill your baby? Then you’re a racist:

    Another related issue that seems to encourage a pronatalist attitude in many people is the question of the differential reproduction of social or ethnic groups. Many people seem to be possessed by fear that their group may be outbred by other groups. … Obviously, if everyone tries to outbreed everyone else, the result will be catastrophe for all.

    of course women have been supporting margaret sangers ‘negro project’, whose goals are or were pretty much the same.

    nice job ladies… like in germany the majority voting for that austrian dude were the young and the women (who the oppressive weimar republic granted voting rights).

    sotomayer basically painting latina women as better and smarter than white males (in general i guess).

    this weekend someone jumped a spanish man on a bike and beat him to death. police have video and they describe that the assailant took off his shirt, but they refuse to describe the assailant.

    so be on the lookout for a man in the city

    same day, also in harlem, driver shot in head while driving, car crashes… again, no description of shooter.

    ohio family (fishy story), is attacked fourth of july by crowd of people of another race. father put in critical care for a few days.

    things are starting to boil. the nasty stuff started in germany when the actions of the new leader didnt work. which is what necessitated economy through expansion and theft from dissafected groups.

    its when most realize and want things to go back that the nasty stuff starts. thats when those wishing to reverse the changes and return to the old ways, will be branded counter revolutionaries and enemies of the people.

    we already have a lot of fear, but by the time they are done, we will be living like paranoid rodents who cant show it or discuss it with anyone (not even their doctors. especially not their doctors).

    oh.. i sure hope Holdren and Planka havent met.

  29. Promethea Says:

    July 11th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    Rat Patrol? Do you seriously have a Rat Patrol? Government agency? LOL. I thought things were bad in LA. I’m never moving to Chicago.

  30. Circa 1870, an English gentleman was touring the American West. After meeting a cowboy and talking with him for a moment, he asked:

    “And where is your master, my man?”

    Cowboy replied: “Son of a bitch ain’t been born yet.”

    I think the core Obama-ites are truly troubled by the idea of masterless men, and this is a major factor behind their hostility toward small business.

  31. Artfldgr Says:

    July 11th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    That is not the half of it! Did you see this new science czar, Holdren or whatever his name is. Yikes. Right out of the Third Reich.

    Also, did you see R.B.Ginsburg’s statements recently? I’m paraphrasing, but she basically said “Roe v. Wade was unconstitutional, but Ok, because we need to get undesireables out of our society.”

  32. Jim G. Says:

    July 11th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    “I do not believe the Obama team is truly trying to destroy the economy.”

    I disagree. I think it is intentional. They are not dumb. They have a plan.

    By the way, how could your friend have a 10 year plan? The plans in my Company go out 3 years. And even those, we don’t really believe.

    Beyond the next twelve months you are going to be wrong. Probably very wrong.

  33. Art,

    Ooops. I see you already noted Holdren. I spoke too soon.

    I should have known you would get there before me.

    🙂

  34. They regularly dance naked around a pentagram in the basement of White House. Beneath the towering image of Baphomet they conjure the host of Satan to do their bidding – to carry out their nefarious plans for the destruction of America and what American’s hold dear.

    Or, so it would seem.

    😉

  35. I also quoted holdrens book… if you read past the begining… i put it together towards a kind of unbroken thread from the days of origination to show that all that has changed is the masses opinion of what it is, which is not close to the truth at all.

  36. prag replace democracy with freedom and i think that would be more accurate since we are a republic and russia refers to itself as a soveriegn democracy.

  37. sorry i should have added that all through his public existence has been the strong theme of sacrifice parts of our lives to what they define as their greater cause… its been like air, and we didnt notice it even though we felt the breeze.

  38. Miike L. said,
    “I disagree. I think it is intentional. They are not dumb. They have a plan”

    I know a few of these people. They are mostly people who have a very deep commitment to “fairness and equality of outcomes.” They are blind to the facts that, in the past, legislated fairness and equality of outcomes has always led to equality of misery. They truly believe that it just hasn’t been done correctly in the past. This time it will be different is their motto. It is hard to accept, I know, but they actually believe those things with an abiding faith. It is their religion.

    “By the way, how could your friend have a 10 year plan? The plans in my Company go out 3 years. And even those, we don’t really believe.”

    I don’t dictate what my friend’s planning strategy is, I only report it. He does update all plans yearly so the plans are not cast in stone. He is quite small; ten employees in a service oriented business, but he is committed to the long haul and believes he can grow over time. But he’s paralyzed right now. Worried about what’s coming down the pike. He’s in defensive mode and hunkered down. As are most small and large businesses.

  39. MikeLL, Matsushita (spelling?) [Panasonic] has a 200 year plan. WWII was but a battle to the Japanese. And in the greater scheme of things, I’d say they’re right.
    Consider they’re out of land and have no natural resources of their own. What to do, walk into the sea?

    The American way (up to now that is) is the least destructive over the long term. Let people govern themselves, let ownership be private. And stay vigilant.
    It is best that an individual be forced off his own ass, and get out there and be somebody. You know, idle hands and all…..

  40. I’d say if there was one major, all important, crippling fault American politicians, indeed, Americans in general have today, it is that we are focused on the short term and on immediate results —in chess the signal error of focusing on the opening game–develop your pieces, control the center squares, castle–without thinking about or taking into account what kind of position your opening moves will leave you in, in the middle and end parts of the game.

    When we are up against international players i.e. nations, who think longer term and have more patience and persistence than we do, and not only think in terms of tactics but of overarching, long-term strategy–China comes to mind, we can be in big trouble.

  41. Pingback:Amused Cynic » Blog Archive » The end of “full faith and credit” for the United States…We’re all out of both…

  42. br549 Says:

    “July 12th, 2009 at 2:09 pmThe American way (up to now that is) is the least destructive over the long term. Let people govern themselves, let ownership be private. And stay vigilant.”

    Truth! Now, how to instuct Obama zombies.

  43. I live in California. My once great and beautiful state is now pillaged and bankrupt.

    (cry)

    And this is the model that Obama wants for our nation?

  44. You could only bankrupt CA if you tried purposely.

    Such great weather and scenery and (not talking about LA) things to do.

    It’s where people came.

    Intel and Apple expand (these are their home state) they expand elsewhere.

    And yet Democrats continue to misunderstand economics, create ways to punish people who work hard and penalize success and subsidize people who make poor choices……

    Because they ‘care’.

    They don’t know the meaning of ‘care’

  45. BTW, I have a small business since 2003.

    As soon as I can I’m becoming a state employee. I’ve had it.

  46. I’ve already passed the exam in the top rank for my job. I’ve already been mailed job announcements. I’ve turned down the ones I’ve received.

    Such an archaic system they have here. Instead of you applying for a position. You get mailed each and every position that is open. omg

  47. I have been arguing here that most of us in the U.S. are applying the old, traditional, and fatally wrong template, the calculus of the usual and the expected, of our past history, the calculus that just assumes a President’s good faith, respect for and adherence to Democracy and the Constitution to Obama and his presidency–and, by doing so, can make little sense of his startling and rapid actions–and that to really understand his actions, we need to apply a new template, one that, unfortunately for us, fits much better, the template of Tyranny, of Dictatorship and of Socialism, Fascism or Marxism for, if we do this, Obama’s actions then become all too understandable, and very ominous; a reality calling for a totally different response from us than usual.

    A family story to illustrate the consequences of understanding and acting based on the wrong template:

    Various members of my wife’s family emigrated/escaped from Eastern Europe to the U.S. during the course of a few generations, in the time span from WWI onward; many who remained in Eastern Europe “disappeared” during WWII, courtesy of the Nazis, but some survived in what was then part of the U.S.S.R. Family members here were in slow, sporadic communication by letter with a few of their remaining relatives in the Communist sphere of influence, and wanted to make it easier for the main correspondent in the old country to correspond with them, so, apparently unbeknownst to him, they found a typewriter that typed the old language and shipped this “present” to the correspondent and, he, too, “disappeared.”

    One of my areas of specialty is Communism, so when I was first told this story, it was immediately apparent to me that this typewriter was quite possibly that relative’s death sentence. Relatives here–having experienced neither life under the Nazis, nor life under the Communists–just could not imagine, had no comprehension, that anyone who possessed a means of more quickly and easily disseminating ideas, and, moreover, making multiple copies, such as a typewriter–in some Eastern bloc countries you had to have a permit to even own a typewriter, which were few in number and heavily controlled–would come under immediate suspicion in a Communist dictatorship, particularly if that typewriter come from outside the Communist bloc.

    That is why I say that we need to very carefully pay attention to and listen to what people who have escaped from dictatorships and Communism–and who have, based on their experience of dictatorship and totalitarianism, a very different and urgently needed template–have to say about contemporary developments here in the U.S., especially when they say that things starting to happen here in America are the same kinds of things that led to the establishment of dictatorships in the countries they fled.

    We urgently need to listen to these escapees, these survivors, so that we do not continue to use a superseded template in judging Obama, his intentions and his actions and, in doing so, make a fatal mistake.

  48. Just saw this well argued, well written article titled, “The War Against the Producers,” by Victor David Hanson, that is exactly on the subject of this thread and well worth reading (http://tinyurl.com/mmat5p0.

  49. “I’d say if there was one major, all important, crippling fault American politicians, indeed, Americans in general have today, it is that we are focused on the short term and on immediate results —in chess the signal error of focusing on the opening game–develop your piec”

    Yep. I would agree. So why does that happen? It is not a democrat/republican thing. They all do the same thing.

  50. MikeLL–I think the conventional wisdom is that some of the reasons are, that we are too young a country, too brash, have too little of history under our belts, have experienced too little, are too idealistic and sentimental, have too many weapons to choose from and too few limitations yet, have had too few defeats and have a basic philosophy and outlook that is not conducive to developing the necessary long view, patience, flexibility and treachery to play the game well.

    We are winners, so far, and the long view, patience, flexibility and treachery are tools more suited to those who have fewer options, and have much experience of defeat.

  51. how would small businesses do if the world currency changes?

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeFVNYQpByU4

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a “united future world currency.”

    The coin, which bears the words “unity in diversity,” was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.

  52. David Foster said” I think the core Obama-ites are truly troubled by the idea of a masterless men.”

    I think that hits it out of the park.

    Does one own his own person, his work, its products and rewards, his property? Capitalism is the only economic system that says yes. Or is one born indentured to the service of the state?

    That’s why I believe we’re seeing the all out war on prosperity, and by extention capitalism and small business.

  53. There is one change in our political process I have never agreed with… the right for those without property being able to vote.

    I strongly agree that all men, women, minorities and anyone qualified should be able to vote, however allowing those not having a stake in the system to vote is just a recipe for the kind of political exploitation we see going on now.

    There, I have said it. The above statement has inspired certain liberals to call me an angry white bigot (and worse), however to me it is practical common sense.

  54. By the way as a follow up to my above statement, I haven’t always owned property either.

  55. I think huxley’s link to the interview with Dr. epstein is excellent. Thats here:

    http://easyopinions.blogspot.com/2009/04/richard-epstein-discusses-barack-obama.html

    Inside there is another interesting article from mr. Epstein on Obama, published in Forbes magazine in october 2008. Thats here:

    http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/20/obama-chicago-election-oped-cx_re_1021epstein.html

    Theres also this excellent article from Canada’s Globe and Mail ., here:

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/obama-on-the-flying-trapeze/article1214507/

    Money quote from the Globe and Mail article:


    “We’ve seen him in action for a bit more than six months. What we can say with confidence, now that we have the evidence of his actions, is that had he run on (a) transforming the U.S. economy by massive federal government intervention, (b) taking an owner’s stake in the automobile industry, (c) transforming the rules of America’s energy economy, (d) instituting a national health-care system – all of these simultaneously and in the centre of a financial meltdown – Barack Obama wouldn’t merely have lost the election, he wouldn’t have got as many votes as gnarly old Ross Perot did in an election long past. He wouldn’t, in other words, have beaten a bad-tempered, egotistical spoiler.

    We have also seen enough to make some observations on the observations of his once and now-no-more mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. You will remember when the ravings of Mr. Wright finally got too much for the candidate, when the more pacific words of the “great speech” on race that he could “no more disown him than I can my white grandmother” were rendered inoperative by Mr. Wright’s persistently obnoxious presence. Mr. Obama pushed him aside.

    The pastor had one last shot of his own about his onetime “son.” That was the line, “He’s a politician; I’m a pastor. He’s got to do what politicians do.” We know what he meant by “politician”: one who is “forced” to say one thing to get elected, and do another; a person who conceals an agenda under cloudy rhetoric, a person whose calling — politics — is implicitly, essentially, deceptive.”

    . . .

    “When he borrowed the phrase “the audacity of hope” from his frightful mentor, most people fastened on the word “hope.” They should have highlighted “audacity.”

  56. rpfree Says:

    July 12th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    LOL. I agree, though many will attack me for it.

    Qualifications for voting:
    1. Must own property (how else would you have a stake in your country and a desire to defend it?)
    2. Must have paid taxes within the last year (in fact all taxes should be paid within one week prior to voting, no more withholdings, estimated payments etc.)
    3. Must be male, or married to a man who consents to your vote (Uh Oh!. I’m going to get killed for this one!)

    LOL.

    This would cut out about 95% of Democrat voters.

  57. Ok. Maybe #3 above is not wise. Especially after seeing the women of Persia stand in the face of tyranny despite the constant threat of beatings/death.

    But the other two I stand by.

  58. “Maybe #3 above is not wise.”

    And considering who our blog host is. LOL. I am so dead now.

    Sorry.

    Neo, if you ever come to California look me up. I’ll make up for that stupid statement.

  59. “Neo, if you ever come to California look me up. I’ll make up for that stupid statement.”

    Sheesh, if you were looking for a way to ask about a date that one was even lame for me (one of the worlds worst in inter-sexual relationships).

  60. Artfldgr Obambi hasn’t finished with you yet just wait until ACORN get busy with the census and the ‘libtard’ Dems change the Constitution , there is no one to stop them . I think my statement will come true.

    Obambi LIED and Democracy DIED will come to pass.

  61. “Sheesh, if you were looking for a way to ask about a date that one was even lame for me”

    Dude, don’t cut in on my action.

  62. How to stage a revolution
    A new mathematical model reveals the tactics that a small number of interlopers can use to seize power
    http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23835/

    How then can a smaller number of left-moving leaders take control of the swarm? At first glance, it looks as if they can’t. But Hai-Tao Zhang and buddies prove otherwise. They identify two new qualities of leadership that determine the result. The first is the ability to distribute a leader’s influence to as many followers within a given time. The second is the ability to be sufficiently persuasive to change and hold the allegiance of followers they can influence.

    When these factors come into play, the balance of power depends on the distribution of leaders. What Hai-Tao Zhang and pals show is that it is possible for power seekers to spread their influence to as many followers as possible in a given time and to accumulate enough power to govern these followers. This allows the power seekers to defeat the dominating leaders solely by optimizing their distribution pattern, even when they are fewer in number than their opposition.

    So the key to seizing power, or at least gaining a significant foothold, is the effective distribution of a small number of leaders within a larger group. “A better distribution pattern has larger influential region and greater clustering factor, which can equip the leaders with the capability of influencing more followers in a given period and strengthening the persuasion power on the followers as well,” says the team.

  63. I know some folks surmise that Obama is intentionally wrecking the economy, but surely some of his close advisors (most of whom are well off) don’t want to sign on to that plan.

    … the Democrats do not understand how delicate our economic balance really is rather than a plot to intentionally do harm.

    I was just reading a post on pajamas media that tried to explain why Jews support Obama, even though he’s clearly an anti-Israel president.

    Ideology always trumps reality.

    Bill Gates and Warren Buffet seem to misunderstand macro-economics yet they are personally wealthy.

    I have known some wealthy folks, albeit not as well off as Gates and Buffet. I ran into a wealthy couple, Bud and Pat, the other night I hadn’t seen for years. We used to socialized a bunch; we often talked and philosophized together back in the day. Pat married into Bud’s wealth. I knew her when she was married to her first husband, Gary(who was not poor), and after she married Bud. Gary, Pat and Bud were all liberal then and are all liberal now, I am sure. Over the years Pat has been very active in the local liberal political organizations. She and Bud often appeared in the society pages of the local newspapers and still do.

    What must be realized is that the wealthy either inherit and are good at hanging on to wealth(Bud’s case) or they are good at making wealth. Period. They are not more intelligent, more wise or more anything except they have a knack for hanging on to or making money. They are just as befuddled as the rest of us.

    And it’s all relative, isn’t it? Bud may lose a million in a bad economy but he and Pat will still live in a large home in an exclusive neighborhood, will travel to exotic locales, will drive some ritzy vehicles, will dine well in a trendy restaurant over which I happen to reside(Pat was so surprised to find this out, “You live over our favorite restaurant!”). They will probably always be able to indulge themselves even as the US economic system becomes more socialist. And the power of folks to rationalize can not be overestimated.

    The wealthy will not save us from Obama.

  64. Pingback:Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » The War on Small Business

  65. Sheesh, if you were looking for a way to ask about a date that one was even lame for me

    Dude, don’t cut in on my action.

    The prowess of the grackle with the ladies is legendary. And he goes big-time for the petit birds. You jaybirds are just lucky he already has a nice little starling with which to frolic.

  66. The Technologyreview article linked by the Dodger is extremely interesting. I highly recommend it.

  67. Artfldgr Says:

    “How to stage a revolution”

    Sorta the feudal model. Problem is the narcissistic political class wants more and more centralized power and won’t share real power with a large and dispursed noble / chattering classes. They can offer them lip service and such; but eventually the rubes catch on.

  68. “We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries.”

    David Rockefeller, founder of the Trilateral Commission, in an address to a meeting of The Trilateral Commission, in June, 1991.

  69. To appeal to liberals…

    maybe we should use the word concerns instead of fear

  70. …once the administration begins to lose political momentum, a hundred niggling points will suddenly start to catch on the previous Teflon-coated surface with all the tenacity of velcro, which they can’t let happen. … Unable to slow down to the point where the details become visible and yet unable to fob off questions any longer the administration becomes like a man pursued who dares not ease off on the accelerator while his vehicle is being buffeted to pieces by potholes he can’t avoid because of the speed he traveling at. Slow and you’re doomed; speed up and maybe you’re doomed as well.

    Richard Fernandez, “Belmont Club”

    This past week Rasmussen shows that Obama’s Approval Index has stabilized at a new low of -7, -8. The Democrats have shelved the cap-and-trade bill for now. Pushing through comprehensive health care looks increasingly iffy. They may even have trouble with the Sotomayor nomination. Obama has not even been in office six months and this is the trouble he is facing.

    I agree that Obama is a dangerous president with a radical agenda. He has and will continue to do serious damage to the economy. Nonetheless I don’t see the US sliding into tyranny on his account. It seems to me that Obama is running a credibility Ponzi scheme that is slowing and will soon burst. As Fernandez concludes:

    The problem is whether Barack Obama can survive a demotion from the being the One to just being the plain old 44th President of the United States.

  71. that paragraph by dernandez is what comes just before they claim the protesters are the couter revolutuion and they suppress them.

    the machine doesnt run and fall apart. it bursts from its shell as what it really is, and lands on the people.

    if you cut his narrative off where he did, you can imaging being done in by the incompetence. but its a one way vehicle that they never intend to ride again. so it doesnt matter if it lasts. it only has to get them there.

    then we will do the rest.

    WE enable the end…

    WE are the material that has to act right..

    and huge protests are what they want… not what they want to avoid.

    the very medicine you think will come to help, will be the matador…

    have you ever read the text i put up by the guy who wrote history from the view point of the average person? i bet not.

    i will point out that the forces you think are not how it works.

    like in chess, you can be fouled by your own sides positions.

    failure to know the process, is not to understand and to play into their hands. since the first things you come up with and settle on are by design what they want you to.

    but, as i said, i have known many who have lived through the change, and many who lived after it.

    i even tried to post links to others who wrote. but of course their real history is not to be read. they may actually have some insight that may blow away the ideas of the coffee klatcsh… and then where would discussion go?

    once the roller coaster has left the station, there is no way to stop it.

    and you dont realize whats happening till after its left the station.

    huxley, you and others complained that i was tin hat. but you never knew me before this election!!!! you assumed that i have always had this view of our state. not true, ambiguity kept me from concluding till this election.

    but once this election happened, the rest is a fait accompli.

    you would have had to listen to the leo Scilards and contemplate them in reason, rather than shuttling them off cause their facts cause dissonance.

    right now you and everyone are in no place to prevent things since the election was the event horizon.

    the shock wave takes time to travel from the explosion. just because your too far away to feel it when you see the flash dont mean its not coming.

    you would have had to listen to all us reasonable people who started to sound like tin hatters who had already established themselves.

    so they used the tin hatters to hide the audacity of their moves. as they did in other places.

    and you got suckered.

    the rest of the reasonalbe arguments is as that author historian i put up said.

    you can discuss these things till after eternity ends, but they are only to create the illusion in you that you are acting on some level after the time to act was over.

    oh.. and for fun, ehre is my favorite Szilard quote.

    The physicist Leo Szilard once announced to his friend Hans Bethe that he was thinking of keeping a diary: “I don’t intend to publish. I am merely going to record the facts for the information of God.” “Don’t you think God knows the facts?” Bethe asked. “Yes,” said Szilard. “He knows the facts, but He does not know this version of the facts.”

    and thats why i keep showing the history you diding get taught, the tin hatters, and other things are like weeds cultivated for your distraction.

    you dont know this version of history

    unless you went out to find it.

  72. Obama also utters soothing words every time he does something against the interests of the business world: he’s not really trying to stifle small business. And he’s not really trying to take over (fill in the blank) the banks, the auto companies, whatever. He’s just reacting to the crisis, reluctantly doing what must be done. That’s what he says.

    I don’t want to hit you, but I got it rough right now, money trouble and so. And I’m just reacting to what you do, burning the dinner, reluctantly doing what must be done so you remember not to burn my dinner again

  73. RE Qualifications for voting:
    1. Must own property (Sounds like a Democrat’s dream. Hollywood stars and Soros-like entrepreneurs will lend a hand to give property to certain demographics. Others, not so much. See the Penal Laws of Ireland. Or better yet, consider the wretched policies of the last 20 years which have made it easier for a single mother of two to get a mortgage than a traditional family with 8 kids.)
    2. Must have paid taxes within the last year (Legal immigrants will sue for voting rights, since they can own property and pay taxes.)
    3. Must be male, or married to a man who consents to your vote (You’ve eliminated conservative voters like me and widows with a private pension. Lawmakers will quickly amend this to count lesbians and transgendered as men, plus redefine “marriage” to include up to 5 people.)

    😉

  74. For reasons that would take way too long to explain, I spend a lot of time reading about the bad revolutions. French, Russian, Nazi…

    Since Obama was elected I keep feeling we should pack and leave. I keep thinking of all the families who left till last and were all killed. But d*mn it. This is my country. I can’t just run and let them run wild over it. I can’t. G-d help me, I keep telling myself this is tinfoil stuff and I’m crazy to even think it. And then I wonder if those who were caught and killed in various revolutions spent time telling themselves the same.

    Please tell me I’m just going nuts.

  75. Take a deep breath, Portia. The tide is turning. Our problem is to anticipate their next move and to win control of the new narrative as the “Hope and Change” narrative starts to break down.

    We also need some Republican leaders who aren’t an embarrassment in one way or another. And we need to get busy with the party infrastructure and outreach.

  76. their next move is to allow a lot of social unrest caused by their prior move. and whlie your tryig to handle your life and nieghbors you cant manage a coutner move.

    too many movies with cavalry type endings has trained you to see that there is always an out.

    that is far from true… my first year as a teenage emt taught me that quite graphically

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