Cool Blast Lemonade: Why I Still Believe in American Greatness [Reader Post]

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I remember my first lemonade stand.  Lost money, but learned a lot about hard work.

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Now, with Obama declaring war on small business, I wonder how long it will take the Sutton family tykes to be targeted, based on this Fox News article.

Clara Sutton talks about what she has learned so far:

You learn how to make change.  We learned about customer service — that we should always be nice to customers. We learned how to advertise.

We donate some of the money to charity to help other people out.  We use the rest for supplies. We might buy a gift for our brother since he’s our employee.

Wait until you learn about city permits, sales tax, unemployment tax, income tax, and property tax, not to mention health regulations, workers comp, insurance, audits, ADA, and health care.  Not so cute anymore.

Obama has declared war on small business, making it official actually, because the bureaucrats have been targeting small business for years.  Andrew Sutton, a small business owner himself, had something to say about President Obama’s take on the debt business owners owe to the government, :

It was not very presidential. A leader should lead by being more positive. [Obama] should of said, “you guys should be the backbone of the economy.”

Obama entered the his term knowing the economy was in crisis.  Little remembered is how active Obama was even before he assumed office.  In fact, the second half of TARP spending was at Obama’s request, before he assumed office.  Bush agreed to take the fall for it.  Ann Coulter covers this tidbit:

The theory is that a new resident is stuck with the budget of his predecessor, so the entire 2009 fiscal year should be attributed to Bush.

But Obama didn’t come in and live with the budget Bush had approved. He immediately signed off on enormous spending programs that had been specifically rejected by Bush. This included a $410 billion spending bill that Bush had refused to sign before he left office. Obama signed it on March 10, 2009. Bush had been chopping brush in Texas for two months at that point. Marketwatch’s Nutting says that’s Bush’s spending.

Obama also spent the second half of the Troubled Asset Relief Fund (TARP). These were discretionary funds meant to prevent a market meltdown after Lehman Brothers collapsed. By the end of 2008, it was clear the panic had passed, and Bush announced that he wouldn’t need to spend the second half of the TARP money.

But on Jan. 12, 2009, Obama asked Bush to release the remaining TARP funds for Obama to spend as soon as he took office. By Oct. 1, Obama had spent another $200 billion in TARP money. That, too, gets credited to Bush, according to the creative accounting of Rex Nutting.

After taking office, and facing what was, in his own words, “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” what was the game plan he and his staff came up with?  Their priorities were as follows:

I could go on.  I do not care how big a supporter of Obama you are, you cannot possibly consider the above list as actions by someone intending to repair the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”  These actions are done by someone who intends to change the economy, not fix it.  The bad kind of change, not the good kind.

Hey Obamites? Want me to give him the benefit of the doubt?  Want me to assume he intended to fix the economy, not break it further?  Fine, for the sake of argument, let’s play that game.  Assuming Obama wanted to fix the economy, has he succeeded?  No.  Period.  Worst recovery from a recession ever.  More jobs?  No. Longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression.

I could go on.  The Obamite response?  It’s Bush’s fault.  It’s ATM’s fault.  It’s rich people, a tsunami, locusts.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvujknrBuE[/youtube]

Not my fault

Basically, Obama wants to blame anyone or anything for the problems we still face.  But he NEVER accepts responsibility for the things he has done – the things that failed to work.

And some day, some little girl selling lemonade is going to be out of business because Obama declared war on small business.

Crossposted from Blog Of America

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I am surprised that the kids’ stand wasn’t shut down by the local government and slapped the parents a fine for not having permits. It has happened all over the Nation last year with some (Maryland) slapping a 500 dollar fine on such stands by kids. Sickening how far some in government go.

@Mr. Irons:

It has happened all over the Nation last year with some (Maryland) slapping a 500 dollar fine on such stands by kids. Sickening how far some in government go.

That’s all part of the government “helping” those young entrepreneurs succeed that Obama yammers on about.


I remember my first lemonade stand. Lost money, but learned a lot about hard work

Were the costs of the lemons underwritten by federal farm subsidies? Were you able to carry over your capitol losses against next year’s income? Did Bain Capital stop buy with any interesting offers involving leveraging capital assets?

@Mr. Irons:

Ok, so I have to either take credit for, or admit failure over, the fact that the post does not fulfill the premise of the title. I think I need an update. That is the downside of having so many other demands on my time that I can’t put as much effort here as I really want to.

When I started this post, I intended to wrap it back to the point that little kids starting lemonade stands is really a reason to cheer for America. It devolved into the reality of how awful and intrusive government has become. So, my post can be considered ironic in extreme, but it actually was not intended to be.

I really do believe in the future of America. I really do believe that the lemonade stand is the absolute perfect paradigm for this discussion. We have, as a country, developed a habit of turning out really stupid teenagers – that grow up to be really bright 28 year olds. I think that is the key to understanding my faith in this country.

We coddle our kids. Duh.

We tell them they can be President. (Certainly, if Obama can become President, ANYONE can).

We tell them they are talented, smart, and special. We build their little egos as much as we can. Then, when they are teenagers, we drop The Rules on them. And we freak out when they rebel. Duh.

Eventually, they take the ego boosts and the belief that they can do anything (in this the best country ever), and they face the reality: the Government is NOT here to help you, people can be idiots, sponges, leaches, or piglets (pick your analogy), and frankly, TANSTAAFL. (Look it up, I won’t link, just so you remember the phrase.)

In summary, when we turn them loose they are angry — because they thought the world was simple and they would just rule.

Then they figured out it wasn’t. And the key to success is hard work and “I got your back”. Those of them that figure this out succeed. Those of them that don’t, work for those of them that did.

This process produces really bright 28 year olds. Who figured it out.

Hence, my belief that the lemonade stand is the core of why I still believe in the Greatness of America.

Spoken as a dad with teenagers (sympathy is accepted), but also as an adept observer of human nature.

@gracie:

Gracie:
I’m pretty sure the failure of my first lemonade stand was not government, it was simple business. We tried lemonade flavored koolaid and no one like it. That was also an important lesson.
Ask me sometime as to why I hate grape koolaid.

It wasn’t a slam on your article, Chip. Have you seen the news from last year? A lot of stands were shut down and parents fined about 500 dollars for lack of permits.

Lemonade Flavored Koolaide sounds like the Obama Syndrome, no one likes it. No wonder you went belly-up. You need a decent product to stay in business.

The young Capitalists in the photo look like they are wired together with a sound business plan. That’s what will restore the country, kids with a sound business plan, not brain dead Bolsheviks a sure fire plan for failure.

@Skook:

You are wrong, Skook. Haven’t you heard? All you need is the right government agency to subsidize your business, or the right bank to give you the government-backed loan, or the right government funded roadway to pass by your house, and you too can be successful no matter how bad your product is. And if you still fail in business, Obama will come by with a truckload of Obama dollars to ensure that you still get your piece of the pie. Isn’t this country great?

JG, you mean you can build a state of the art factory with robots rolling through the halls singing Disney Tunes on some of the most expensive real estate in the world and manufacture a fairly cheap product priced several dollars more than your competitors product per unit and Obama will give you hundreds of millions; at least, if you were a big time bundler for his campaign. I don’t know if I can throw away my integrity for tens of millions John, it just doesn’t seem worth it to be considered a miserable low-life Chicago type thug to collect just to collect millions from the Obama stash. I think I’d rather do something more honorable, like run the towel concession in a New Orleans’ bordello. At least a man could have a legitimate business and look in the mirror in the morning to shave without staring at a cheap gangster and Obama whore.

@Skook:

I think I’d rather do something more honorable, like run the towel concession in a New Orleans’ bordello.

Great line, Skook, and just one example of why I like your writing so much. Thumbs up!

It is said one picture is worth a thousand words. In this example, that old adage holds true:

The Obama Economic Plan For America:

http://obamadidthisonhisown.com

I love the fact that you’re ready to say that you did it yourselves with the help of friends and family and that the government did’t buit it for you. Thank you so much. Nice pictures. You both look very beautiful and your brother is quite handsom. Wishing you the very best and good luck.

You are a completely moronic asshole. Go watch more Fox News, you need more brainwashing.