Barry on Business
Jul 12 • Categorized as Asset Protectionby Adam Wolf, Director of US Operations, Global Wealth Protection
I can’t stop thinking about what Barack Obama recently said about business owners not being responsible for their success.
As I’m sure you’ve seen or heard by now, Obama delivered a campaign speech in Roanoke, Virginia in which he said:
“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen,”
When I first heard this diarrhea spewing out of his mouthhole, I was dumbfounded and I nearly had a wreck, as I could not believe the drivel that was coming through my truck radio.
The next day it hit me, again while in the truck (I do a lot of thinking in my truck); we all have access to the same tools in the American toolbox, and they are the three fundamental ingredients for success: labor, creativity, and risk.
If you work your ass off, creatively, and take significant risk to your personal and professional well-being, then maybe, just maybe, you will be successful.
In other words, success might come when those three ingredients are combined in just the right amount, and there are no guarantees that success will come at all.
Have you ever heard of Thomas Edison’s metal book that he invented in 1911? I rest my case.
There’s no guarantee of success, and that’s the American way!
Americans believe in equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. There will always be the haves and have nots. There will always be success stories, and there will always be miserable failures. There will always be rich people and there will always be poor people.
When the “War on Poverty” began in 1968 under the misguided leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson, the poverty rate was 12.8%. Nearly 45 years and $17,000,000,000,000 later (that’s seventeen trillion dollars!), the poverty rate is still about 12.3%.
The point is that government does not create prosperity, wealth, or anything of value. Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Government does not lift people out of poverty. Government does not create successful businesses or successful entrepreneurs. When Obama says that someone else (read: government) is responsible for your success, what he is trying to do is completely redefine the American way of life.
He thinks all labor is equally valuable: “Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.”
He thinks all labor is equally creative (smart): “There are a lot of smart people out there.”
He thinks all labor should be without risk: “If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get their on your own.”
Those three ingredients, labor, creativity, and risk, are the three legs of the economic productivity stool; when you remove any one of them, the stool collapses. If you don’t work (labor), you can’t be successful. If the work you do is simply digging a hole and filling it in again (non-creative labor), you won’t be successful. If there is zero risk, there will be zero reward. (Eliminating risks by guaranteeing loans and providing bailouts may generate rewards for a short time through the creation of a bubble, but that bubble will always, eventually, pop.)
A few days after his Roanoke debacle and at another campaign stop, Obama was patting himself on the back about the success of his economic policies and his bailout of a select few domestic auto makers when he said:
“We tried our plan — and it worked.”
Then…
“I refused to turn my back on a great industry and American workers,” he said. “Three years later, the American auto industry has come roaring back.”
How does this make any sense to anybody?
Do you think he honestly believes what he’s saying? Seriously. Do you?
Deep down in the marrow of his bones, do you think he really believes this stuff?
By every conceivable metric, the U.S. economy is in worse shape than it was four years ago. Every one. Putting politics aside and knowing that everything that comes out of a politician’s mouth is spin, how is it possible to say that the U.S. economy is doing better now than it was before Obama took office? How has his economic plan worked?
There’s no two ways about it. Every time the Imbecile in Chief opens his mouth, he provides incontrovertible evidence that he is economically illiterate and has no business running a country.
Editors Note: For additional information on this and similar topics, please see www.premieroffshore.com
What a biased load of crap you have spewed, Mr. Wolf. Rather than attempting to present a truthful perspective which might even bring potential investors to your company, you have chosen to falsely relate what was said by the President. Your biased and hate filled perspective (“imbecile in chief”?) belongs on a right-wing website. Get a life and a dog; you might get some perspective in the process. What a waste of bytes your article is! wbf
You lost me too. What a trashy editorial. You don’t have to use that tone to disagree. Not all of us who have assets are of a like mind with you. I DO agree with what he said.
I love it! Thanks for making this article one of the most read and highly commented-on articles ever! What an honor. Maybe they’ll give me a raise.
Disagreeing with Obama does not make me a racist. Your accusations only prove your own bigotry and ignorance.
I voted for a real black guy in the last TWO elections, so you pathetic race baiters can stick it in your ear.
http://loyaltoliberty.com/
Cries of racism are the sure sign that you’ve just lost whatever argument you’re in and you have no more logical responses. So thanks again, I win.
I would encourage each of you to spend some time on Dr. Keyes’ site, especially this section about America’s Real Party System. http://loyaltoliberty.com/?cat=1271
I don’t know what else I have to do to prove to some of you dear readers that I’m not a “party guy.”
I’m not a Republican! And since the last election, I have gone round the hyper-libertarian/an-cap bend, so I don’t imagine I’ll be participating in the phony electoral process any longer.
All the pap about voting for the most qualified candidate also just proves that those voters have no moral or ideological compass. If you say you vote for whoever is the most qualified, you’ve instantly proven that you really have no business voting in the first place. And if you voted for Obama, you can’t also claim that you voted for the most qualified candidate. Both of those things can’t be true. Obama’s the least qualified person in any room he walks into.
Look, we can go back and forth till the cows come home about the merits and demerits of Barack Obama, but he’s small potatoes. The issues at hand are much bigger, and he will shuffle off to the dustbin of history eventually and we will still be left with some fundamental issues that need to be debated.
At the end of the day, it comes down to liberty. Pick any issue and if you keep drilling down to the heart of the problem, it always comes down to liberty and whether or not the decision at hand will promote/protect liberty or if it will retard/restrict liberty.
I believe the world is a better place when people have more liberty. When governments restrict liberty, either through the criminalization of everything or confiscatory taxation (sound familiar Americans?), bad things happen.
When people are left to their own devices and are allowed to keep the fruits of their labor, the resulting rising tide lifts all boats.
So by all means, if you believe that different flavors of socialism or fascism (aka, crony capitalism) are good things; if you believe in the sanctity of the social welfare state; if you believe it is ok for the government to steal from some people so that it can give those ill-gotten gains to other people; if you believe that government creates jobs, prosperity, and wealth; if you believe that Mao, Lenin, Marx, Stalin, Chavez, and Castro are simply misunderstood; if you think that Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Jimmy Carter, LBJ, and Obama were great presidents, then please…please, I’m begging you…please unsubscribe.
I don’t want to associate with you. I don’t ever want your money. And I wouldn’t do business with you even if you asked.
Adam Wolf
I can’t believe this right wing propaganda on the escape artist …that is the reason I escaped because of idiots like you and you idiot Pres. Bush under whom our economy collapsed. And I am not a lefty … if you want to place a label on me then label me a proud American Army Veteran . How many foxholes have you slept in? I have respected every commander in chief that I have served under so since you admit you wanted to be disrespectful and have such hatred for our President, and I quote not even his white side… (and of course you deny being a racist … they always do … it would take to much courage to admit that you are what you are, courage that all racist and fascist lack … they (you) can’t even be honest with yourself, not even the white side.
You sound like a complete idiot. Who built the roads, bridges and tunnels? Who took a 4 year surplus and gave us trillions of dollars in deficits? You failed to disclose that I am Mitt Romney and I approve this message. Republicans have sent this once great country and economy to h3ll. It is the brain dead people like yourself that can’t possibly believe the garbage dripping off of your lips that has destroyed this nation.Go outsource you opinions to India or China …. you are truely disgusting …. or at least your article is.
Count me in as as an “unsubscriber”. You have totally misled your readers by twisitng President Obama’s words. Shame on you for such an uninformed (and poorly written, I might add) rant. And your response just confirmed your horrible (and very frightening) ignorance.
In depth coverage of who Obama REALLY is. Take a few minutes to see the background of your president…
I think you should go to http://www.infowars.com to discover who your president really is and the corruption in your government.
He was referring to infrastructure (i.e. roads) you idiot.
how do I unsubscribe? I became a subscriber of EscapeArtist not to listen to right wing hate speech.
Lets be fair its not all Barry’s fault, It goes back to FDR, Truman, LBJ, Nixon, GW Bush. Barry just took it over the edge. Adam’s article is right on the money and gets to the point.
Johnny
Am dissapoited that you heap abusive words on your president without just cause. It shows how naïve you are on interpretation of speeches. I can not agree with others less. Your article is not what reading . Good riddance of bad rubbish
I am unsubscribing. Your article was highly offensive.
I’m not going to take the time to respond to each and every one of the comments, but I truly appreciate each and every one. Seriously. Debate is good. Disagreement is good. I would never consider shouting any of you lefties down because you disagree with me.
Of course I have an opinion. That’s why I’m paid the big bucks. And yes, I was being deliberately disrespectful. That was also the point.
President Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro, has done nothing to earn my respect. I respect the OFFICE of the Presidency more than he does, and I’m not even a party guy. Have you seen all the pictures of him with his feet up on the desk in the Oval Office?
This guy is an idiot and I repeat my charge that he is economically illiterate. And don’t for one second think my dislike of Obama is because I’m a racist. I don’t like his white half either.
Whether you think the Prez was talking about your successful small business, or the infrastructure that enables customers and products to reach you, when he said “you didn’t build that,” either way he’s wrong and so are you.
The government didn’t build the roads. That’s one of the biggest myths ever. Government first confiscates money from its citizens then pays someone else to build the roads. Does anyone think there would not be roads and bridges if it wasn’t for the benevolent gifts of government? Hogwash!
All the partisan cries directed at me that I’m some kind of rabid right-wing Republican or Fox News sycophant do more to prove your ignorance than hurt me. I am an anarchocapitalist. I reject the government-mandated “party” paradigm entirely. It, too, especially in American politics, is a myth. The choice we’re given by our controllers is between two sides of the same statist coin. Well, you can keep that coin. It’s not worth anything to me.
Now get back out there and get to work! The government needs your money.
Cheers,
Adam
The presidents point was that your business did not starting the wood, the desert, or out in the middle no where. There is infrastructure around you. As well you did get help from someone. Unless you built that business from a start as a vagrant in the street with 0.00 I your hand.
Stop being an arse.
Who would guess you drive a truck??? Go figure.
Looks like a few of the “Mob” showed up to worship at the altar of big Gov’t today! I truly wonder what exactly it will ultimately take to awaken themselves to the realities of the oppression that they live under every single day. But even in the face of multi decade high unemployment, sky rocketing national deficits, and REAL inflation ………..IE Food and Energy Costs not bullshit CPI numbers……you still scream for the creators of unimaginable destruction to build you another bridge to nowhere!! What a horrendous idea the author is proposing to take personal responsibility for your own destinies and no longer look for any politician or political regime to be your saving grace for your cowardly asses! You throw fire and brimstone at the true creators of wealth and prosperity and then wonder what happened when tax receipts fall every year and you can no longer continue to run your ponzi scheme of subsidies that allow the illusion of “prosperity” to continue. You all make me sick to my fucking stomach.
You missed the author’s point.
I hope Obama is re-elected so that people who vote for him can truly understand “be careful what you wish for”. Then maybe this country can start a real recovery, if there’s anything left to recover.
I read Escape Artist to gain non-political insight into living abroad. Not only is this article overtly biased and caustic, it sounds like a libertarian diatribe from Fox News. it also misses the point that America’s growing economic equality through upward wealth distribution is killing the potential for “equality of opportunity”
BTW, if history is any guide, the government has many times created conditions for great national prosperity through strategic social and infrastructure investments paid for by taxes. The Internet comes to mind. As does the GI Bill, which helped create the middle class that fueled the economic boom of the 50s and 60s.
I agree with TSmith. Mr. Wolf has either missed the point the President was making about how the government funded infrastucture made it possible for business owners to be susccessful, or he is deliberately distorting that point. As a taxpayer, I take that as an insult.
Did you listen to the speech or just listen to Fox News????
Learn to separate your political opinions from business writings aimed toward an expatriate market. What’s next, your religious opinions mixed in with asset protection talk? Frankly, this is grossly immature and a major rookie mistake. It shows you to be a far less trustworthy, experienced professional than one would want to take advice from.
Oh please – why must you take his comments out of context. How naive you are. Of course it takes hard work and determination to be successful, but that doesn’t preclude the benefits we have that help us along the way.
I agree with Smith and Serkey. As a matter of fact, I just unsubscribed. No class.
I think you missed the point of his speech unlike you I think we all have a job to do that contributes to all of us doing our own respective job. In the field I am in and I am a small business owner I could not do my job without the delivery’s that I recieve everyday and how do they reach me? A delivery person drives a truck on a road that hard working Americans help to build! I could go on but suffice it to say some of us value everyone who contributes to our society. Not all of value success the way you do!! Also your article is very angry!
What a load of crap. Adam Wolf is an idiot.
I couldn’t agree more with the other commentators. People who believe that ONLY their own efforts made them successful are somewhere between delusional and megalomaniacal. People of all political persuasions can disagree on how much government is needed for that but not that it is
not true. If I want to read a right wing propaganda rag I can go elsewhere to hear this kind of hate and stupidity.
Adam Wolf not only needs a razz for misunderstanding the President’s remarks, but for spinning them beyond
reason for his own agenda. He is a buggerer and lost me to his wealth pitches.
What a bunch of ignorant ranting in this article. You copied the quote and missed the point. Wow! This article is nothing but a commercial to scare the uniformed and unknowing into purchasing the services of your company, Global Wealth Protection.
Please save your Republican screed for your Republican friends and if you are going to write a piece on “asset protection,” actually give your readers some actual information. “Imbecile in chief?” Give us a break!
Barry,
Watch. Read. Think.
OOPS
Adam Wolf- I didn’t catch at first the disrespectful reference to our president- “Barry”
Read my above comment and look at the link- but I doubt it will change anything- Addie!
The Escape Artist has certainly mistitled your article as Asset Protection.
Your anti-obama stance too has clouded your mind in interpreting “somebody” in the president’s speech as automatically the government. It’s amazing that you quoted his speech in your article and yet completely missed the point.
On the contrary, it appears that he hit the nail on the head. And your knee-jerk defense of Obama speaks volumes. Oh yes, Obama is spelled with a capital “O”.
Absolutely right. I had to write these words of approval simply because your few words were the first I encountered. Thanks.
Tom
Just as a point of information, not a few of us who would like to “EFAM” are motivated to contemplate leaving in no small measure by the mephitic cloud of partisan hatred that has settled over this unhappy land. The impression I’ve drawn from reading your piece is that you are much less interested in promoting your business plan than you are in parading your prejudices and adding to the general atmosphere of mistrust and alienation.
This is not now, and never has been, smart business practice.
Asset protection is a subject that is of crucial interest to people who have saved and invested and have a little something put by that they need to conserve and build on. We are far more likely to trust cool heads and judicious temperaments than we are propagandists with an agenda of hate.
You guys are too funny. Mephitic cloud? Someone found the thesaurus! Parading your prejudices? Ah yes, anyone that disagrees with Obama is prejudiced. Well, at least you didn’t scream “RACIST”. And the icing on the cake? Propagandists with an agenda of hate…… sigh.
Just as a point of information, not a few of us who would like to “EFAM” are motivated to contemplate leaving in no small measure by the mephitic cloud of sycophantic ramblings spewed by those who believe that Obama can do no wrong.
Regardless of what you may think of him personally, the facts are quite damning. Perhaps, instead of leaping to the defense of what can only be described as a nearly complete economic failure; you should examine said facts? It’s just a thought.
The President was merely saying the obvious, that the infrastructure is necessary for the economy to function. He indicated that education in the home and school is the foundation for our character and the basis for our achievements. That doesn’t seem very controversial, yet these conservatives cannot accept the obvious and common sense assertions of Mr. Obama. Truth comes unloved unless it comes from off-stage right holding an unlicensed firearm.
Tom