The following post was taken from an Ol' Broad and edited for content:
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. 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 what you see and hear. Sure, you see us as free and self-employed. You’ve imagine us in a big house; dining out with our children. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about our life.
However, what you don’t see is the back story.
We started this company 10 years ago. At that time, We lived in a run down apartment, someone's basement where, as my 8 month pregnant wife and I laid on our mattress on the floor, we could hear the tinkle of everyone in the toilet over our heads, and an unkempt friend's rental for 5 years. More than half of our living room was converted into an office so we could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you at a wage of WELL OVER the minimum.
Our diet consisted of Macaroni and cheese on Monday, white rice on Tuesday, white rice with beef bullion on Wednesday, white rice with chicken bullion on Thursday, Spaghetti on Friday and leftovers on the weekends because every dollar we made went right back into this company. If we had any meat to eat, it came from the food pantry in town. We drove broken down, third hand cars with defective transmissions & may-pop tires. Our children sacrificed time with their parents. We didn’t have money to go out. Often times, we stayed home on weekends, while our friends went out to the movies and dinners. While everyone else was secure in their HMO coverage, we depended solely upon the Mercy of God and favor of man.
We lived our business - hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. You can not POSSIBLY tell us how difficult it is to make ends meet. Do not even try.
Meanwhile, our friends and relatives got jobs. They worked 40+ hours a week and made a modest $100K plus a year and spent every dime they earned. They enjoyed good health coverage. 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, we were trolling through the clearance racks at Wal-Mart extracting any clothing item that would fit our children. Our own clothes we never bought, but depended on the kindness of wealthier clients to give us their hand-me-downs. Our friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. We, however, did not even own our own home until recently. We put a lot of time, money, and our life into a business with a vision so that eventually, some day, we too, would be able to afford these luxuries our friends supposedly enjoyed.
So, while you physically arrive at to work at 7am, mentally check in at about 11, and then leave at 2pm, we don’t. There is no “off” button for us. When you go home, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. We unfortunately do not have the freedom. We 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 our family like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden - the house, the cars, the trips … you never realize the back story and the sacrifices we’ve made. But we wouldn't have had it any other way. It was our dream; our vision for our family's future.
Now, the economy is falling apart and we, the couple that made all the right decisions and saved our 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 we earned and sacrificed a decade of our life for.
Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price we’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:
We are being taxed to the brink and the government thinks we don’t pay enough. We have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. We 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. Sometime between now and April 15th, I will clench my teeth as I find out if I can even break even with our personal taxes or will we have to pay even more.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Us, the couple who has provided all of you good people with good paying jobs servicing homes and offices in 2 states and 9 counties 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 us that we didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing over $100,000 into the Washington black-hole, we would spend it, hiring more employees, start new business outlets and ventures and generate substantial economic growth. Our employees would 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 new 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 this is the type of change you you will get.
So where are we going with all of this? It’s quite simple.
If any new taxes are levied on us, or our company, our reaction will be swift and simple. We will sell off our business assets. We will fire you. We will 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 our problem any more.
Then, we will close this company down, sell most of out possessions and move to another country, do mission work and eventually retire. You see, we're done. We're done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. Our motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, the dream we worked so hard to achieve.
So, 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 us teaching some foreign children the Word of God, being appreciated simply because of what we have to offer and not the tax base we can provide, and with no employees to worry about …
Signed,
your employers.
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