A Message From The Boss

I got this in a email, It makes some very good points:


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 me park my Mercedes outside.
You've seen my big home at last yearʼs 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 discount 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 for
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, I 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 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'll fire you. I'll 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 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.

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 me sitting on a
beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....

Signed, THE BOSS

A response to "the boss chain letter".....


Dear "The Boss",

You are a liar. Your lies begin in the very first line of your open letter, when you use the phrase "My valued employees". Clearly someone who truly values his or her employees would not threaten them with the loss of a job just because Democrats won the national election. You can't pretend that the mandate given to the Democratic Party by U.S. voters, no doubt including some of your employees, is not what prompted your letter. I do not know you personally, but I sure know your type. I listen to them rant and rave every day as they call in to radio talk shows to which I listen, and I work with a few as well. Your letter drips with bitterness, fear, and spite. You may have been a wonderful person once, but you have been seduced and suckered by the right wing's politics of resentment. It is a strategy that speaks to our most basic fears of an "other" taking what is rightfully ours. Back when it was known as the "Southern Strategy", the thieves supposedly stealing from real Americans were lazy, shiftless, black welfare mothers. Nowadays the rhetoric is a little more P.C., though Latinos might beg to differ.

You also lie when you say the economy does not pose a threat to your employees. You do this because you won't own up to the fact that the deregulation, secrecy, and systemic, sanctioned corruption you have endorsed as a member of the dittocracy have caused the crisis we now face. The politics of resentment are all about avoiding personal responsibility, despite what your talk show idols may pretend. Now that things have gotten really bad, you won't admit that the conservative rule you sought has been an abysmal failure, you'll just say that George W. Bush wasn't a real conservative, even though almost the entire conservative movement backed him for seven of his eight years. At least Alan Greenspan, conservative/establishment icon and one of the architects of our debacle, had the cojones to admit that his free market fundamentalist ideology was "flawed".
You've probably got it in your head that today's economic crisis was created by banks being forced by liberal Democrats to lend to people who had no chance of paying their mortgages, and this somehow took down our entire economic system. Sure fits neatly into the aforementioned narrative of leeches sucking off the public trough causing all our woes, doesn't it? It's mostly crap, of course, as any economist not bankrolled by the banking lobby will tell you. Subprime mortgages made up only a small portion of the huge real estate bubble that conservatives continued to deny even as it was exploding. Economists who warned of the impending disaster were labeled lunatics or deranged Bush-haters by your conservative heroes.

Let's talk about what's really killing business in America-the fact that our health care system, the greatest in the world we are told, only works for those who can afford it, like you. "Let the market work," your kind said, "and all will be well." Well we tried that, friend, and guess what? It didn't work, and now health care costs are sucking the life out of American companies who have to compete against businesses in all other advanced nations, where health care is deemed a right and not a privilege. U.S. voters have spoken, and they want a health care system that works for all people. But you won't have that. No, you'll punish your employees if the government tries to help them out in such a way. You're afraid you might get "taxed to death" and have to trade in your Mercedes for a Cadillac. Boo hoo hoo. Tell that to the people who need expensive life-saving treatment but can't get it because health insurers won't cover their preexisting condition. To them, death means DEATH, and it is coming sooner than it needs to, thanks to you.

"Boss", you act as if you alone can turn the economy around. What you don't seem to understand is that no business can thrive without consumers. Whether directly or indirectly, those lower class "slackers" you so despise pay your salary, and the salaries of all your employees. If no one can afford your goods or services, that tax cut you desire won't mean a thing. People are hurting outside your little bubble, friend. Many can't find a job, can't afford the basic amenities. One thing you and the powers that be have forgotten is that labor is the engine that drives our economy, not capital. It is so ironic that conservatives look to the 1950s as the high point of American prosperity and "family values". Families were so healthy in the fifties because we had a strong, secure, unionized middle class. Workers were valued as people instead of "human resources" to be used up and tossed away like peanut shells. A family could live reasonably well on a single salary. No more. Profit-obsessed business practices and conservative economic policies have done more to hurt families than gay marriage ever could.

Instead of shutting down your company, why don't you sell it to someone who truly values his labor force. Your petty and spiteful threats are a danger to the economic security of your employees. Then go and find that beach for which you long. We are trying to move this nation forward toward a new, more prosperous path, and we could do without your delusional denial of the cause of and solutions to our country's serious economic problems.

Sincerely,
A Real American Employee

Dear "Real"American Employee,, Go get in line for your hand out with the rest of the dead beats.. Or better yet start your own company and I'll work for you.. But you just want what I worked hard for to be given you... Get a life chump...

Gringa, your response doesn't fit the Boss's Letter. Rather real or not, it's a company that employs 14 people. Small companies are going to be affected in the manner described and these people did work their tail off to have their own company and provide jobs for people. They have sacrificed while others didn't and it paid dividends for them. The response letter you posted is an example of the class envy that Obama has peddled.

Class envy at it's finest... Attitudes like real employee and others like him/her who think the same way will never get ahead.. Just always want something for nothing.. And what do you get for nothing... Oh yeah, Obama is going to take care of the dead beats.. Dream on..

Dear "Real"American Employee. There are a few countries that you can move to where you would be much happier. It's obvious this one will never fit your needs. Pick one and buy a ticket. A one-way ticket.

SKINNYPIG wrote:

Dear "Real"American Employee. There are a few countries that you can move to where you would be much happier. It's obvious this one will never fit your needs. Pick one and buy a ticket. A one-way ticket.

Wow, way to love fellow Americans there. Seems I remember a bunch of people from the republican side telling people who didn't like Bush to leave the country. And then when they said if Obama wins they would leave. What's keepin' ya'll? Maybe your boss can put you up at his island paradise? ha ha ha, yeah right. Like he cares about his employees. He'd call security and have you jailed.

There is no class envy here. I'm looking for some equal treatment. Not everybody has drone mentalities.

To get equal treatment one needs to work equally as hard..

Wow, way to love fellow Americans there.

Aren't the rich and small business owners our fellow Americans also?? Or is being American just for the entitlement crowd who want something for nothing??

Lucas McCain wrote:

Wow, way to love fellow Americans there.

Aren't the rich and small business owners our fellow Americans also?? Or is being American just for the entitlement crowd who want something for nothing??

He wasn't telling the bosses to leave, was he?

gringaloca wrote:

Lucas McCain wrote:

Wow, way to love fellow Americans there.

Aren't the rich and small business owners our fellow Americans also?? Or is being American just for the entitlement crowd who want something for nothing??

He wasn't telling the bosses to leave, was he?

That's because without the boss, he has no job either.