Whew. As I type still waiting for a House vote on the debt ceiling. Am I going to take a victory lap for correctly saying on Monday that Boehner did not have the votes? Nope -- it is really too disheartening for words, as we still hurtle towards chaos. DC loves its summer dramas, but after all this hot air, if they can pass a debt ceiling anything by Tuesday, the greatest tragedy will be that I have hardly heard the word JOBS at all out of a politician's mouth in weeks. How this whole foofarawl (new word!) does anything but hurt the economy or the job market is beyond me.
I've spent the summer trying to purchase a second business; the phone bank that has done most of my calling for polls for the last 22 years. And reluctantly, it dawns on me that I'm one of those saintly "job creators" the Republicans keep yammering about, so I may as well blog my experience as such:
- I don't have a private jet or an oil company, so I fail to see how cutting those business tax loopholes matters to most small entrepreneurs like myself.
- I need a loan for the purchase amount, was turned down by the 1st megabank because I don't have enough equity in my home according to their now too-depressed and austere evaluations -- but hey, I can prove them wrong by selling my house, except I don't want to do that...
- Got a bank loan from 2nd megabank because I got an SBA guarantee backing the loan -- meaning that the full faith and credit of the United States (soon to be seen only in history books) pledges to make good on my loan -- thank god for big gov't programs like the Small Business Administration, because banks still ain't lending money, unless you already have a lot.
- I am buying this business because they are simply the best vendor I've ever worked with, and with the owner retiring, I'd rather take the big leap and buy the means of production for my research rather than risk the sub-standard quality product I get elsewhere -- but for 17 people, it means they won't lose their jobs in a depressed economy.
- I have gotten tremendous amounts of help in this venture from the state's SBDC (small business development center), a conglomeration of state, local, and federal government resources that helps people go from a business plan to ya know, being a job creator and success so I can complain about how high my taxes are.
- I am racing to close the loan before interest rates go up. I'm assessing how many employees I need, both for the phone bank and for Victoria Research. Like many job creators, I am hedging my bets, trying not to pay idle employees until I see work coming in, but wanting to get people in for training and stability, and maybe even make enough money to pay better benefits. But I'm clutching money to my chest because I fear default and the economy getting worse, and when it looks like your government leaders need a preschool style timeout, confidence is not high. This is the primary problem for job creators -- the worry that I'll have to pay the true cost of owning my own corporate jet someday if Democrats "win?" Nope, not worried about that so much.