Big Business gets the Engine, Small Business the Shaft

Here are the latest figures from the Congressional Budget Office:

$50B to General Motors

$185B to AIG

$XXXB to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

$2.8T committed to the likes of AIG, BofA, CitiGroup

$3.6T committed to Money Market Funds and TARP

Small Business: $30B Total.  Do the Math.

The funding and finance window for gig business continues to be wide open, to the tune of over $10 TRILLION.   According to the SBA, the 27 million small businesses account for half of our GNP.  HALF.  That works out to roughly .06% of what big business is getting to support the backbone of the economy. 

It's time for voters to wake up and act.  Forget the sound bites, educate yourself  Voting is a right...don't waste it.  If the system continues to fail, it may be time for a major change.

Time for Tea!

BBC ran an article on the recent 'harsh' edicts laid down by the administration. The article finished by asking for a response from anyone affected by the content of the article. My response:

Everyone who drives and pays taxes has been affected by the continued practice of treating the symptom, not the cause.

The US, with its lack of functional mass transit due to the expanses of our work/live/play model, makes us tied to our autos. Autos continue to be tied, due to the outdated internal combustion engine, to fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are predominantly tied to Petro-Terrorist states our government continues to cowtow to. A no-win cycle for our economy and our environment.

Let us nor forget the biggest problem with US manufacturing: the union. The union continues to keep us uncompetitive with its antiquated collective bargaining (as relavent today as the electoral college!). Their tactics, nothing short of extortion, have artificially driven up costs on every product involving union trade. Like the combustion engine, it's time for unions to go the way of the Model T (Ford's orginal models were not internal combustion).Yes, it affects us all greatly.

Our hard-earned money, given with such eagerness to poorly run institutions, whilst the true backbone of the economy, the small businessperson, continues to go without.

Tea, anyone!