The people inside the Beltway and on Wall Street have no understanding of what is going on with Main Street USA today.  Karl Rove, the legendary Republican strategist, is outraged and critical of the primary victory of Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell over the incumbent Republican, Mike Castle.  The reason that this primary is so significant is that, for the first time in my lifetime, Main Street USA, you and me, average citizens and entrepreneurs, the people who generate the jobs in the country, the people who pay their taxes every year, the innovators and creators of products and services that are valuable in the worldwide marketplace, are angry.  We are angry because we don’t believe that more government is better.  We don’t believe that sending more tax dollars to Washington is a good thing, and we don’t believe that they will spend those tax dollars responsibly.  In fact, it is an absolute certainty that they won’t.  They never have!

We are fed up with the Democrats and the Republicans, and with the establishment of big government.  And we are not asking anymore – we are demanding.  We are demanding with our voices and with our votes.  We want smaller government.  We want the debt slashed.  We want Washington to stop this crazy spending. 

We, as individuals and as small business owners, have made sacrifices and cutbacks because we have had to.  The US government has not cut one program.  There has been no reduction of expenses and not one sacrifice, and yet they want to raise taxes on the top 2% income earners.  This will have very little impact on the mega-billionaires and mega-millionaires, but the majority of people in that 2% are small business entrepreneurs, people like you and me, who already pay taxes in the 50-60% range. 

We are tired of supporting the government’s waste.  The Tea Party movement’s phenomenon is driven by the small business entrepreneur, and it will knock out Republicans as well as Democrats.  We need our voices to be heard.  We need to stand together and demand that our government get back on track.  We must hold our government accountable for their actions, and work towards a fairer tax system for every citizen.  These are problems that cannot be fixed with Band-Aids.  We need to elect candidates who share our values and our belief in smaller government and less taxation.  And we need it now!

This election in November is our time to make our voices heard.  We cannot sit on the sidelines any longer.  Change is only ever possible with a sense of desperation, and that change is happening because people finally have had enough.  We are desperate for our leaders to represent the will of the people, not the Republican or Democratic agenda, but the principles of America.

The engine that built America is obviously the private sector.  We provide the jobs, we provide the innovation and creativity, and we provide the products and services that have value in the marketplace all over the world.  In history, there has never been such a job creating, revenue creating engine. 

The world is both excited and troubled by the rapid growth of China’s economy.  By the way, this growth is not coming from a communist inspired nation but by a nation that has embraced our example of free market capitalism.  In other words, they were smart enough to copy us!  They are on an annual run rate for their GDP at $5 trillion, passing Japan in the process. 

This is a tremendous achievement by a country that just a few years ago was a communist run, communist inspired nation.  However, even in a time in America when we are economically in the tank, and our financial system is near collapse, our run rate for our GDP is $15 trillion, three times that of China, and still bigger than China, Japan and Germany combined. 

Our economy today, by all calculations and according to most every economist you ask, will most likely have a paltry growth rate of one to two percent for the conceivable future.  That being the case, the private sector understands that the only way that we can survive and keep people employed is to operate our businesses more efficiently, and cut out the fat.  And believe me, there is fat in every business, large and small, that serves no productive purpose.  We understand that revenue is important, but profit is more important.  A prime example of that is Wal-Mart. 

Wal-Mart recently reported flat growth in revenue, but an increase of 7% in profitability.  That’s because Wal-Mart, and every other business, looks at their expenses every single day to make sure that we are spending our money wisely, and investing our money to bring the best return so we can keep our businesses robust. 

A rule of thumb is this – the more money you have, the more money you are going to waste.  And no one has or wastes more money than the United States government.  When is the last time you heard of any politician cutting any program that did not work, or eliminating any earmark from any bill, or stopped any pork project that built a bridge to nowhere that served no one?  The answer to that question would be never!

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is trying to cut fat from our military budget, and make it operate more efficiently, but he is running into stiff opposition.  There are Republicans and Democrats who are not interested in streamlining the military and eliminating inefficient operations.  They are primarily concerned with losing programs, as bad as they may be, that provide income for their constituencies.  These politicians need to go!  These are not political issues.  They are not Republican or Democratic issues.  These are American issues.  If we are going to make changes in our government and demand that they stop the waste and cut the deficit, we are going to have to have the same resolve—as a country – as our forefathers had in fighting World War II.  President Roosevelt did not commit the United States to the war until he was sure that this country had the resolve to stand together, committed to end the tyranny of Nazi control.  Pearl Harbor served as the catalyst. 

We, as Americans, have had a wake-up call in the last two years with the near collapse of our financial system and the ongoing problems of our brothers and sisters losing their jobs and facing months, even years, of unemployment and seeing their benefits exhausted.  Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke, and other “financial geniuses” cannot solve these problems, and government hand-outs will not be the silver bullet to solve these problems.  There isn’t one silver bullet in the world that will be the solution to the financial crisis we find ourselves in.  But the first thing we must do as Americans is find the resolve to stop the craziness in Washington, which did not start with the current administration or with the current Congress.  This started a long time ago.  But we – the American people – have let it go on long enough.  We – the private sector, private citizens –are the customers of the United States government.  We make the United States government possible.  Our tax dollars run the country. 

We have to demand accountability and results from whoever is in Washington, and we have to do it now.

If you agree with this message, please pass it on to everyone you can.  We need to take our country back and make it great once more. 

Fran Tarkenton

Link:  http://www.frantarkenton.com/

August 27, 2010

I have a very diverse group of friends.  I love them all, and I relish their diversity.  I am hearing strange rumblings from my liberal friends lately that they, and their liberal friends, are beginning to abandon Obama. 

One such friend was on vacation for the summer, and he told me that he and his friends, who were main financial supporters of Obama, were now feeling embarrassed that they had put their support and money behind Obama.  I’m quoting here – he said, “Tell all of your friends to go vote in this election!” 

My friends come from all walks of life – all religions, all economic levels, different political parties.  I talk to all of them, and I listen to all of them.  And I am now hearing a panic in my liberal friends about the direction that this country is going in.  It is a panic I expect to hear from my conservative friends, but from my liberal friends, I find it shocking. 

But I also find it hopeful, that maybe the tide is turning, and people are finally seeing the signs.  If that is the case, then maybe this country has a chance

I just got back from a week in Pebble Beach.  There’s no place in the world more beautiful, and it is America!  We played golf at Pebble Beach, and stayed right there at the Inn at Spanish Bay, but within a 30 mile radius, there is so much more to do than just play the greatest golf course in the world.  The high temperature was 62, low about 52. 

One of my favorite lunch spots was the Stillwater Café at the Pebble Beach Lodge, which overlooks the 18^th green and the Stillwater Cove on the Pacific Ocean.  It is an amazing place, but the food and wine is even more amazing.   In Carmel, my favorite restaurants are Christopher’s, Bouchee, and Flaherty’s. 

If you are visiting Monterey Wharf, don’t miss Café Fina.  My Italian friend, Dominick, who is partners with John Madden, is a longtime owner of restaurants on the Monterey Wharf.  It’s fabulous, and the food is so fresh!  Carmel Valley has a wonderful inn and outdoor restaurant called Bernardus.  It sits right in the middle of their own vineyard, and they make a great, great chardonnay.  There is no place in Europe that is any more beautiful than Bernardus, and the food and wine is world class! 

We also had drinks at Clint Eastwood’s Mission Ranch Inn.   The place is about 150 years old and sits in a marsh-type area that opens up to the Pacific Ocean.  You can eat, have drinks, it’s very old fashioned, very charming and different. 

We went to Big Sur twice while we were there – once for lunch and once for dinner.  We left Pebble Beach in the fog and 60 degrees, and arrived in Big Sur to 80 degrees and bright sunshine!  We had lunch at the Post Ranch Inn, which sits about 1,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, with the most stunning views I’ve ever seen. 

While our lunch was five-star, the ambience and view were 10-star!  We went back to Big Sur a couple of days later for dinner at Ventana, which is something I have been doing for 30 years.  We eat outside in front of their big fireplace, and watch the sun set over the Pacific.  Behind us to the east, so close it seems like we can touch them, are the golden hills that are so unique to California.  It’s a spectacular place to spend an evening with friends.

I hope this gives you a notion of the diversity you can find in a 20 or 30 mile radius of the Monterey Peninsula, the Carmel Valley, Carmel Beach, and Big Sur.  Again, all part of America.  I have no need to travel anywhere else!

If you have the opportunity to visit the Monterey peninsula, I hope you’ll explore it and enjoy it like we do.

FT

Fellow entrepreneurs and business owners,

I believe that you and I –

People who work every day. . .

People who put our hands in the soil…

People who create products and services. . .

People who build businesses. . .

People who pay our taxes. . .

People who don’t create offshore accounts to dodge our responsibilities. . .

Can be silent no longer.  We cannot be a silent majority with no voice! 

I really do believe that Small Business people across America have got to join together with our ideas, our energy, our creativity and our patriotism to bring about the change we need in order to prosper and in fact, survive. 

I need you to be an active participant with me! 

I believe we are headed down a dead end street and from the feedback I am getting, it sounds like Small Businesses like you agree!  Everyone from Ben Bernanke to Billy Bob and Mary Sue know that the spending that started under the Bush administration and is continuing today will drive us into oblivion.  Big Government has never worked, and will never work.  We need some government; we need some laws; and we need some checks and balances. But, what we need more of, is hard working people to be thinkers, creators and innovators. We need Small Business Entrepreneurs to have the freedom to stimulate this country and grow our economy.

Let me define what a Small Business is - it is not a company with 500 or

fewer employees.  A Small Business is really a company with 1 to 20 employees. 

A Small Business is anyone who is self-employed and any home-based business. 

It encompasses all races, all genders, all ages; it is all people.

This is not a political movement; this is a movement about righting the ship.  This is a movement about ensuring a future for our children and our grandchildren. 

As I write this note, I am in the state of California.  California may have the greatest natural resources of any state/nation in the world. The San Joaquin Valley is the breadbasket of the world.  It has the most fertile soil, producing the richest crops anywhere in the world.  The Silicon Valley is the epicenter of innovative technological advances which are the envy of the rest of the world.  With 37 million residents, California’s human assets and natural resources are unparalleled and yet the state is bankrupt because of fiscal irresponsibility.  It has been driven into bankruptcy by unbridled spending on programs which are unsustainable in any economy. 

If California can go bankrupt, America can go bankrupt.  If our nation’s banking  industry can go bankrupt, America can go bankrupt.  We must curtail this spending now!

I have always found that the only way that I can make changes happen is that

I must create a sense of desperation.  At the age of 70, I’m compelled to create a

sense of desperation for this country for all of our sakes.

I believe that you and I –

People who work every day. . .

People who put our hands in the soil . .

People who create products and services. . .

People who build businesses. . .

People who pay our taxes. . .

People who don’t create offshore accounts to dodge our responsibilities. . .can be silent no longer. 

We cannot be a silent majority with no voice! 

We are creating a Small Business movement across this country. 

*         I need your ideas. 

*         I need your partnership. 

*         I need your energy, your goodness, your strength as an American entrepreneur. 

Together, we can make a difference for Small Businesses and in fact, for the future of America!

Visit our Small Business Party page on Facebook to join me today, and feel free to invite your friends, family, and business associates as well!

If you haven’t read what John Linder has sent me about the Fair Tax, now is the time.  You can always find more information at http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

Also,make sure to stop by my Facebook page to see archived Fox interviews, and check out Tarkenton.com to see and share in what we do for small business.

You can also follow me on Twitter to get updates sooner.

Be sure to join me on Fox Business News today, 4/13/10, for more discussion on Small Business and the government.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/index.html

Friends, you know my focus is on creating and supporting small businesses in America.

Here are some points that have come to my attention lately as I research the Fair Tax proposal and its effect on small business.

• 80% of the new jobs created in this country will be created by Small Businesses

• Small Business has no lobby.

• Wall Street has plenty of help.  Main Street has none.

• Most all of the innovation – energy, technology, consumer – will come from Small Businesses

If you are a Small Business person, you automatically belong to the Small Business Party.  If you are one, you are in it.  Small Businesses hold communities together.  70% of all businesses are sole proprietors.  Small Businesses have prospered with no help from the government.  Big government, politicians, big corporations, our top ranked business schools such as Harvard and Stanford have no clue about this movement.  Most Harvard and Stanford business school graduates become consultants to big businesses, and consultants to Presidential administrations.  Many of these graduates were at the center of Wall Street financial institutions that caused the collapse of this country’s economy.  Ten out of 15 of this Presidential Administration’s cabinet members are lawyers.  Nine of the 15 went to Ivy League schools.  What in the world do these people know about Main Street America?  Most small business entrepreneurs are not members of the green jacket membership of the Augusta National Golf Club.  Our people are not cool enough to be invited to the major social and political events across the country.  But we are the people who will produce 80% of the new jobs in country, who will inspire most of the creativity and innovation that separates this country from rest of world.  We are pillars of our community.  We pay our taxes which means we pay for all the ear-mark programs that get attached to most every bill that Congress passes.  We are the heart and soul of this country but we have no voice.

The WSJ Poll done around the first of the year showed that the Tea Party has more favorability among the American people (41%) than the Democrats (35%) or Republicans (28%). 

Twice as many Americans say the Tea Party is closer to their views than Congress (even though only a little more than 10% of the people say they are in the Tea Party). 

• Most people have lost faith in government to solve the problems facing our nation.  Do you feel that way?

• We are dividing into a nation of those who are self-reliant and those who are government-reliant.  Unfortunately, we are doing so in a terrible recession, in which more than 10% of our people are unemployed.  These are very tough times.  And even more unfortunately, this is happening at a time when our current government would like more people to be more reliant on government … on them.  Which are you … and which do you want your kids to be: self-reliant or government-reliant?

• Obviously, more people want to be self-reliant; the number of people who are self-employed and self-reliant are growing at almost double the rate of population increase.  Are you one of them? 

• So it’s time for a party that represents the self-reliant.  Those who believe talent and invention and hard work is what it will take to make their lives better … not a government program.   They believe those values will make our country better.  Do you? 

• That’s obviously not the current Democratic Party.  That’s the party of big government, Big Labor and the party of the government-reliant.  It’s probably not the Republican Party … which has recently been the party of Big Business.  It may be the Tea Party … whatever they stand for.  But I believe it’s time for a Small Business Party – people who are self-employed and self-reliant are actually growing at a rate that’s double the growth of population.  This is the heart of American Exceptionalism and the hope of our future.  They pay their taxes, pay their bills, pay their health care and still create 80% of the new jobs in this country.  Small business people – young and old, Black and White, Hispanic, Asian; Americans of every stripe – will lead us out of this Recession.  Do you agree?

• This is not about building political power.  Small business people are too independent and too ornery for that.  But it is about winning the freedom to continue to build the American dream and pass it on to the next and the next generation. 

• We’re not asking for more … we’re actually asking for less … less taxes, less regulations and less government intrusion into every aspect of our businesses.  We want the freedom to grow and prosper and help provide for our families and those of our employees and strengthen our communities and provide the life blood of our national economy. 

• It’s time for a Small Business Party in America. 

Fran is going to be a guest on The Fred Thompson Radio Show, a national talk radio program, today at 1:45 PM ET.  The show will be guest-hosted by Dom Giordano, a Philadelphia media personality, and they will be discussing current events as they pertain to small business.

Click on the link below to see the Station Finder:

site

The thing I love most about America is that there’s always somebody who doesn’t get the word — somebody who doesn’t understand that in a Great Recession you’re supposed to hunker down, downsize and just hold on for dear life. I have a couple of friends who fit that bill, who think a recession is a dandy time to try to discover better and cheaper ways to do things. They both happen to be Indian-Americans — one a son of the Himalayas, who came to America on a scholarship and went to work for NASA to try to find a way to Mars; the other a son of New Delhi, who came here and found the Sun, Sun Microsystems. Both are serial innovators. Both are now shepherding clean-tech start-ups that have the potential to be disruptive game changers. They don’t know from hunkering down. They just didn’t get the word.   View Full Story