Many of us are struggling with respect to the upcoming election.
Here is a brief Facebook response to some comments by a very intelligent lady, a previous employee whose friendship I value and for whom I have great deal of respect.
Izzy: “If I was hiring someone to fix my plumbing, and had a choice between someone with extensive plumbing experience but I personally wouldn’t want to have a beer with after a long hard day … And someone with NO plumbing experience and I personally wouldn’t want to have a beer with after a long hard day… Who would I choose??? Maybe neither one are “likable”. Since when was that a qualification? Only one is qualified.”
Izzy, which plumber you pick might depend upon how many houses the experienced plumber has already flooded or burned down. It would also depend upon whether plumbing was actually the problem. My paramount concern (aside from terrorism, which is very unlikely to impact any of us directly) is the economy, which impacts us all.
The massive regulatory misadventures of the current administration have already had a far greater direct impact on you than you realize. You had the misfortune of working for a small business that had renewable loans and for which new regulations mandated foreclosure if the income to expense ratio was not increased. There was about a three year stretch where I was getting intense pressure from a bank that was on the verge of foreclosing on a major property. All of our payments were on time, but our income to expense ratio was too low. The new regulations made it nearly impossible to sell anything that was not a single family. We could not increase income, so we had either to face foreclosures or do everything possible to reduce expenses (three employees now rather than twelve, minimal fringe benefits, no health insurance, etc.). This is true economic insanity, but it is the real world in which I and other small businesses must now operate.
I have written (in vain, because this is boring stuff that sparks very little interest) about what has happened to the small business person as a direct result of congressional mismanagement. (e.g., http://www.lessgovsd.com/?p=3931). Without electing representatives who have at least a basic understanding of the economy and small business, my concern is the Detrotification of the entire country. We are headed in the wrong direction, and only one candidate, deplorable as are many of his comments and some of the things I believe he has done, has the economic experience that gives us a realistic possibility of changing direction.
***Gary A. Howie MSc, PhD*** is business owner/rancher and a Life & Liberty News contributor
