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Kimlynn
I take no offense to someone disagreeing with me, as long as they are polite about as you were. You came in, stated your opinions and views and backed them up with the 'whys' of it all. You would be surprised at how many people can not do that. instead they come in and say 'you don't know what you are talking about,' and leave it at that.
If we are headed in such a direction, then why is the class gap widening? The poor are becoming poorer while the rich become richer. You still need a certain level of financial wealth and freedom to begin with before you can achieve the 'internet millionaire' status. Bush has taken away from programs that are suppose to help those who do not have such wealth to begin with, making it even harder for the working class to get started on such a path.
I have done the research on this and I do know that right now is not a good item to start up a business. I do hope to open my own store in the not too distant future, but since it is next to impossible to get any aid in that and with the economy in such flux (Which is very much is) banks are not wanting to do such high risk loans (My brother in-law is a banker and he has been told to not give loans out that he thought looked good because his bank is playing it very safe right now).
As for the internet, that is also a very risky area right now. For everyone who makes it big, there are at least a dozen or more who fall flat on their faces. With the present attitude towards small business from the government, it is very hard if not impossible to really get going. Which is the real trick. Also, with the uncertainty of what will happen here with Iran and such, people are starting to play it even safer.
As I said in the post, greed rules right now. Big Business has screwed things up for the little guy by doing all they can to make it harder for the little guy to make it. The legislation passed by congress very much favors the big guy. Those tax breaks helped medium and big business and actually has hurt the small business by making it so they do not have any aid, which is greatly needed for them right now. I know a guy who opened his own store and it is under performing right now and his store does not make enough to gain from any kind of tax breaks.
While drive does play a large part in getting to the first step, the problem right now is that the steps are being moved into an area where you have to be wealthy to start with to enter.
posted by
kooka_lives
on May 28, 2006 at 6:43 PM
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Can I disagree without offending?
I really do understand the feelings and ideas stated. I am For the American Dream too! Small business has been the lifeblood for the American Dream, right? What might be your opinions on this perspective......?
Corporate America today is not providing the security and prosperity that so many have trusted in and sought after in the Industrial Age. With common phrases like downsizing, buy outs, and cost cutting, along with the weakening and phasing out of pension plans, 401K, and the warnings that S. Security is failing, more people are turning to Home Business than ever before. With the growing popularity and power of the Internet, the average person has access to the kind of leverage and wealth that was once reserved for large corporations and families of wealth's distinction. It has even been said that we are entering The Age of the Entrepeneur and that Home business is the largest and fastest growing sector in the US.
While to the average economy, things may appear grim, there are those who see this present day technological gap as a time of the largest transfer of wealth in US history. Some say that we are not in recession but in a "gap," where all that's really happening is technology is changing the economy, the way business is being done. Many predict that in place of few Billionaire Corporations we are on the brink of producing hundreds of individual and smaller company Millionaires. The number of Millionaires in the US has already increased more than ever over just the last 10 years. And this is due to Home Business.
While it's common for us to blame the Rich for hoarding the wealth, we are living in a day where unlimited wealth is available to anyone. I don't see that there's a lack of money but moreso a lack of the kind of drive and guts that propel people out of conditioned complaceny in this society that is conditioned to understand and believe in being paid a 1$ for an hours work, while trusting in the comfort of America to always provide in the face of decreased effort, excellence, and willingness to Change!
The Industrial Age is fading, and instead of blaming society for the changes we bring through our technological advances, those who will prosper will stop clinging to the past Industry and move ahead with the Information Age. Thousands resisted leaving the farms for factories, and this last year GM lost 8 Billion $. Things are again changing! And it's not the Rich who resist change and cling to the ways of the past. but without those who lead the way into the future, we may have no future.
In the competetive corporate world, it appears that wealth is limited, that there will not be enough for everyone, that Don Trump and Bill Gates are hoarding all the money. But there are way more resources than we may be led to believe in the world and in America, and if one source does run out new ones are always being created. I suggest, with the possiblity of being hammered, that our enemies are not the Rich, but our own selves! We have more power to create wealth for ourselves today than at any time in history, but people don't like change! They want to stay in their little boxes and run the race until after 40 years of employment they are either dead, broke, or disabled.
The opportunities are limitless for small business today, and if we are not Rich it's because we are conditioned to work for someone else, to be medically provided for by someone else, and to believe in only what's familiar to us. Today's wealth is not gotten by working for another man, by physical labor, but today holds the greatest opportunities for the individual to get out and carve out his own livlihood in his own business....but it requires Change!
Money is in people, in communities of people. And the American Dream if anything is Alive again and more available than ever in the Industrial Age. What is the American Dream anyway? It's to work for yourself and be financially free. And that doesn't occur with employment where you are paid in relation to time, not effort, and under a ceiling, and where your life is ordered by your employer's pay scale and time schedule. It does occur when people are willing and have a Dream big enough to get off the lazy boy and meet people face to face and gather an army, a community, to create wealth within and share extreme profits like Bill Gates created by being an Entrepeneur instead of an employee.
Please, no offense intented, I'm on your side!
posted by
Kimlynn
on May 28, 2006 at 5:52 PM
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What goes up must come down. Let's see if, for once, we can learn for our mistakes. I'm sorry for not reading this sooner. It must've been disheartening to not get any comments. This is a very important post. You should repost it so that everyone can see it if they didn't before. Good-luck to you Kooka. I'll miss your lessons!
posted by
michellerenee143
on June 26, 2004 at 12:41 AM
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