letter from the boss

Many of you have probably seen this letter that has been bouncing around on the Internet lately. I converted it from what ever format it was in as an attachment to be able to post here and thought that some of you might enjoy reading it. If you do, then please copy it and pass it along. If you don't and disagree please tell me what part you don't see as viable.

Your friend, Jack

******************

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your jobs. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this:

The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story.

This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by that you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside.

You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don't see is the back story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes.

Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button or me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day.

There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour.

Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made.

Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole,would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it.

Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and as far as I am concerned, this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire.

You see, I'm close to being done.

I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....

Signed, Your boss

Jack,then i guess you support President Obama's proposal's as out-lined in his address last night,remember the last eight years cant be denied and helped put us were we are today

slywelder Wrote:

Absolutely Steve. Blame should be HEAPED on the previous administration for not having the oversight and control that it should have exerted.

GW was not the best of leaders in all areas, but that doesn't mean that we should jump directly into the fire just because the pan is getting a little warm.

Correction of the flame temp would have been more reasonable, but now we are toast.

Mark my words. :-(

As far as the "letter from the boss" is concerned it is undeniable under any circumstances with the exception that the new folks might pass some sort of law that prohibits private enterprise from going out of business. The government will then come in and take over that business operation. Duh! What is already happening to some degree with the banks? When, not if, that happens for the rest of the system please read Atlas Shrugged. LOL

Jack

..twig....you can guess my opinion..........thanks.

You know what I am finding rather amusing in all of this, and that is not to say that I am laughing by any means, is I remember quite vividly the heated and drawn out arguments that went on at work (that is, when I was still employed) about the stupidity and ineptness of the then ruling "king" GWB. I thought that he was a moron then and still do. But now the very same individuals that blindly, for whatever reason they had, took GWB to be all-knowing and a great leader are blasting the man and questioning the direction that he took this country in. And lets us not forget the proven lies that we were told regarding a number of topics. Now it seems that the new regime is attempting a solution to a problem and this man is getting reamed even before anything has happened. If we had only done this back in the GWB days, perhaps we would not be in this predicament.

GERONIMO Wrote:

slywelder Wrote:

That letter pretty much sums it up from a business owner's perspective. You get that warm feeling of contributing to the ecomony when you are behind a well dressed woman buying 12 cases of Coca-Cola and 15 bags of chips (I counted), pulling out the green welfare card issued by the state and paying for it. Then watch her load it into a new Expedition.

Warm and fuzzy to the point of wanting to rush out and help her get the stuff into the car.

See my insurance up date thread above.

Jack

..jim barker...then name names....GWB got the chit kicked out of him and accused of stealing the election before he ever took office.... now top that. I am no fan of Bush's, said so for ever, and stated who I wanted in the2000 primarys, but to say that the critisism of Obama is unfair just aint gonna wash....we all saw the media swoon during the campaign and his freakin coronation, to say we didn't defies belief......but besides that point, he was the most leftist senator we had, and he said what he would do if elected, now he is trying do do just that.....and we think it stinks....or we would have voted for him. So far his first few weeks have been a clown act, and not one conservative had a thing to do with it.

I am concerned with the people who seem to be OK with what is happening only because it is someone else making it happen. I listened to the Secretary of the Treasury this morning. He is winging it and has put the taxpayer on the hook for the future based on what he hopes will work. The only part of this plan that makes sense is the $500 billion to place the troubled loans and debt off balance sheet and into a trust. All the rest is politics and is a very bad idea.

But you are OK because it is Obama saying it. What do you do after the economy is ruined because of a very short sighted plan. They don't know what they are going to do in 24 months.

Their heroes are FDR and LBJ. It is as if they are looking at what FDR did by paying for WWII with tremendous debt and putting people to work with no backing. But they don't have a war so they are spending it on sidewalks.

What they don't seem to be adding in is what we have done to ourselves using the FDR New Deal and LBJ Great Society doctrines. There isn't anything left to grow the Government has taken all the wind out of the sails.

wyatt Wrote:

"If we had only done this back in the GWB days, perhaps we would not be in this predicament. "

and we may have been even better off had it been done in the days of Clinton too.

Bush inherited a mess, including a deficit that has since been admitted by Bill, and a problem with Terrorists (given and easy time of it during Clinton's reign). Did GWB always do the right thing?? Heck no, but then who of us does?? He did try to do what appeared right at the time, and love or hate him, we should give him credit for that - same as I would for Obama in similar circumstances.

As for the letter from the boss, it brings to mind something I have noticed here and back in Australia, and that is although the "bosses" make more money and have generally a higher income level than their employees, why do they, and the government, seem to think that the lower income people should pay a higher percentage of their earned income than the higher paid employer?? I do not know the exact figures now, but when I last worked in Australia the average person was paying around 30% taxes, and yet people in higher income brackets paid only 20% or less??

Maybe,as somebody mentioned in another thread, a flat rate tax (say 25%) would be better for all.


BTW, I have run my own business and suffered the run of payroll tax, sales tax etc, but always kept it in mind that they were BUSINESS taxes and not MY taxes.

...ya Geronimo.....didn't mean to be so hard on ya............been ornery since the first of the year.......:.

It's all probably futile at best now, and will within a couple of years, come crashing down around us....I do not see a rosy picture, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; but gloom and doom and chaos surrounding us soon....It will be "dog eat dog" and every man for himself....It's time to prepare....
God save us all....

Nicely put James. And Gently I might add when compared to what really should be said.

Jack

Any less gently and you are a fanatical doomsayer with survivalist mentality...

Wyatt, I understand man and no harm, no foul. It has been kind of a shi**y six or seven months for certain, but here we are all in it together. Peace :)

showroomgarage Wrote:

don4975 Wrote:

BINGO!
That means I agree.

Now take a look at this.
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

I realize that liberals won't like this in spite of it being non-partisan.
The like a progressvie income tax to 'Control the Great Un-washed'



Simon Wrote: