(Palm-Print
Photo by Edward F. Palm)

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Forest, Virginia, United States
A long time ago, my sophomore English teacher, Father William Campbell, saw something in my writing and predicted that I would someday become a newspaper columnist. He suggested the perfect title for my column--"Leaves of the Palm." Now that I have a little extra time on my hands I've decided to put Father Campbell's prediction to the test. I'm going to start using this blog site not just to reprint opinion pieces I've published elsewhere but to try to get more of my ideas and opinions out there. Feedback is welcome. To find out more about me, please check out my Web site: www.EdwardFPalm.com (Click on any of the photos below for an enlarged view.)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Small Businesses--A Republican Article of Faith


(One of the small businesses that "fuel" the economy--in this case, with donuts, Pike Place Market, Seattle.)


"How g….d…. dumb do they think we are?”  a friend of mine used to exclaim every time he heard a dubious bit of political rhetoric.
      I couldn’t help but think of that sardonic friend and his favorite rhetorical question Just this morning.  A  Republican pundit on “Meet the Press” was warning that Obama’s health care plan would hurt small businesses and that we have to depend on small businesses to fuel our economy by creating jobs.
      This, of course, has been a Republican article of faith ever since the reign of Ronald Reagan.  I don’t understand why the opposition never seems to challenge the Republicans on this point.  In my experience, those same small businesses are the ones that typically pay the minimum wage and offer no benefits.   How can that fuel the economy?
      Here in the Northwest, for instance, Microsoft just announced that they will be cutting another 5,000 jobs.  Will the victims of this round of layoffs be able to support their families by going to work for these fabled “small businesses”? 
      So again, “How g….d…. dumb do they think we are?”  Pretty damned dumb, I guess.  --EFP

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