Future of our country...

On Election night at the bowling alley I had an interesting discussion about the future of our country with one of my teammates.  My teammate felt that our future was in jeopardy because of our relationship with China. This night he did not go into any specific details as to why, but this wasn't the first conversation we have had on the subject. I knew he was referring to the affect their cheap labor has on manufacturing here in our country, and his concern about the fact that China holds a considerable amount our countries debt. I agreed that it was a problem, but instead of just letting it end there where I usually do, I decided to "stir the pot" a little, and see if I get a reaction.  My expectation was that he would just dismiss my question, but he did not.

He said, "Let's suppose you wanted to start a company making T-Shirts, and you wanted to hire Americans. Well the first thing I would do if I were President is give you a grant, then I would give you tax breaks and incentives."

I said, "That sounds good. Lets assume that the company becomes successful, employing lots of people, and I as the owner start making over $250,000 year.  Would you take away the tax breaks, incentives or ask for the grant back?"  He said, "Absolutely not, I would continue the tax breaks to keep the company going."

From previous conversations I knew he was of the "Tax the Rich" philosophy, so then I dropped the proverbial "bomb" on him and asked, "Then why do you support raising taxes the wealthy? They are hiring people and creating jobs, just like this fictional businessman you and I are talking about."  He responded by saying that "those wealthy" people are building their business by buying stuff from China, and have outsourced their workforce.

I am not sure how he knows that all of the existing people with money are spending all of their money out of this country, and how he knows that this new fictional business would not. My guess is he must have some inside information from the Democratic party that tells him that all of the people today built their companies without government tax breaks or grants, and they ALL spend their money by hiring people from outside the country, or buying foreign made supplies/parts.  Not being a member of the Democratic party means I do not have access to that inside information.

So he agrees with giving tax breaks to the "rich" as long as they run the business as he prescribes... He went on to support this stance by saying that if they do not run their business the right way, (i.e spend their money on US employees and materials) that he "as President" would nationalize their business because "that would teach them a lesson, and they would never do that again."


Both he and I have jobs. Those jobs are with companies where the owners are wealthy. These owners are spending their money keeping both of us employed. Common sense (not inside information) would tell a person that they keep spending their money on the both of us, because we help them make even more money.

I would like them to continue spending their money on me, which means, I hope they have lots of it to spend on me... so I do everything I can to help my boss and his company become successful. I also vote for change in government so he can keep as much of that money as possible to spend on me instead of giving it to the government in taxes so they can in turn give someone else (not me) a grant.  If that happens then the company becomes more successful, hires more people, sells more stuff, and generates more revenue, which in turn... generates more income for everyone, including the government.

I believe in the freedom of a company/person to run their business/life the way they chose and if they fail, then they fail... no bailouts... They pick themselves up after they failed, and learn from their mistakes and start over, or do something different. The most successful people are those that fail more often, and keep trying and keep learning.

Our country's future can not be good if we let the government decide how we should conduct ourselves.  We have over 200 years of proof that freedom to do whatever we want, and to mistakes, makes our country more successful than any other nation in the world. Why should we change that?