Laying People Off -- Tearfully

This has some areas of insensitivity that fail to recognize that an otherwise sound business, doing right by its employees, can be brought down by outside economic forces. These are beyond the control of small businesses.



Only a government can "watch out" for us in an umbrella fashion. When I say "watch out" I don't mean pay us to succeed. I mean keep an eye on what is going on over-all, adjust for problems and regulate to prevent certain kinds of abuse that can have an adverse impact on the over all economy. Don't let corporate greed damage honest enterprise.



I own a small ( very ) business and I don't want or expect government to protect me. But when the surrounding economy proceeds in the dark, an unexpected turn out of my sight and out of my control could take my business under.



All business survive because the economy can support our goods and services. If the people have no money to spend, many businesses, through no fault of their own, have to sacrifice or close.



Only government can monitor the BIG PICTURE. That's all I want of them. Keep us all safe by keeping the over all economy safe, not by letting it fall apart then trying to buy us all out of the hole.

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About Fashion
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Geithner's Plan Will Tax Main Street to Make Wall Street Richer

I still support Obama. People don't seem to understand how our system works. ( I blame that on today's education system which does a poor job teaching civics, if they teach it at all )



Bush simplified things. He did what ever he darn well pleased and said F&%$ you to Congress and the courts. He got stuff done but not the right stuff and not constitutionally.



Obama is trying to take America back to the system that made us great in the past and can make us great again. But part of this journey may mean us replacing a lot of the good old boys in Congress. Working with the system means a president has to work with congress and so far, we still have a petty, greedy self-centered, partisan congress. It is a system of compromise but when you are trying to form a compromise with a house of fools, you can't always do what you want.



We the People need to keep pressure on, not just Obama but on every member of congress.



No one can get everything they want...we need to try to aim for what we can get from everyone.



Help work toward compromise at http://www.joethevoter.org
About Economy
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Geithner's Plan Will Tax Main Street to Make Wall Street Richer

My cousin is an FBI agent and has a secure job. She has bank approval for money to buy a home. She found one with a for sale sign that is bank owned as a result of a foreclosure.



Here is the rub. The bank that owns the property won't even respond to her offers. It appears that banks that foreclose may not even be interested in selling these to qualified buyers.



Could this be part of the issue if banks are intentionally refusing to sell these houses in order to keep them on their books at inflated values just so they can beg for more bail out money?



Congress needs to attach more stings to the cash. If a bank has an asset they can sell then they MUST sell it. No sitting on foreclosed homes either as a means of real estate speculation or as a means to bloat their bad assets. An asset you have a willing buyer for is not a bad asset.



Is anyone paying any attention ??
About Economy
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Announcing the Launch of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund

SUGGESTED ITEM TO INVESTIGATE:



While speaking with a political candidate, the subject turned to WalMart. I was told of cases where WalMart would not pay state property taxes on the value of their properties. In many cases WalMart had already received a tax break from locals to build. Then when they were called on to pay their property taxes, they have been known to refuse, let the state file suit and hold up the cases in courts for a long time, all while paying NO taxes at all.
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Announcing the Launch of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund

Will HuffPost be providing a "tips hotline" on line for people to post suggestions for investigation?



If so please offer two options for "tipsters" (1) post with name and number and (2) place system that strips IP address and any identifiers from those tips to be posted as "anonymous".



Paul
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Announcing the Launch of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund

It will also become very important to block suggested legislation that would strip all but full time journalists from the protections agains being forced to reveal confidential resources.



Journalism should not be defined by how much the writer makes or if they are paid at all. Journalism should be defined by the art, not by any SIC code. With the decline of printed media and the explosion of digital news, all of the First Amendment protections journalists have enjoyed while working for "corporate media" need to be codified and protected in the federal statues> These must make it clear that anyone who writes and in so doing, uses a confidential source to expose wrong-doing, is afforded the same protections as would any journalist regardless of their pay or employment status.



Freedom of Speech and the public's right to know is protected by this right and our freedoms apply equally to all.
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Everyone Gets a Bonus from Obama's Net Neutrality Plan

AMEN ! I wish I could increase and bold the font here !



As a small internet company, Net Neutrality protects my business from the giants who would trample me and leave me with no income so they could line their already bursting pockets.



If either I or my web customers found themselves and their web sites shoved off to the side to make way for the big companies who can afford to pay the "tolls" some ISP's have contemplated, it would spell the end of entrepreneurs on the internet.



Content that could not be seen would vanish. The content on the internet would decrease and the choices we have now would decline. What we would see would be more biased and controlled just as many media outlets are under individual rule.



Public decent and political opinions would find it hard to be heard if they were relegated to the slow, hidden backwoods of the internet, leaving only corporate sanctioned comments easily available.



It would contribute to the dumbing down of America..and we are already doing that well enough, thank you.



Only a free interenet is a valuable internet...to us.
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