Local Construction Company Says “We Built This”
A local construction company, located in Searcy, Arkansas where I live, has a message for President Obama: “We built our business without ANY government help.” They also included a suggestion for the President:
I contacted Mr. Bill Haynie, the owner of Haynie Construction, and asked him why he had this sign made. He told me he’s upset about Obama’s comments that business owners didn’t build their businesses:
“I’m just tired of Obama trying to say the government has helped small businesses get to where they are. In our 20 years, the only thing government has done is increase taxes–that hurts small businesses. In the past two years, our business is down 50%. It’s time for small businesses to take a stand.”
As Ben Franklin once (sort of) said, “[Small businesses] must all hang together, or they will surely hang separately.” Kudos to Mr. Haynie for hanging in there and standing up.
Hmmm… It sure would be difficult to use that truck in the picture without roads and other infrastructure. You know, the things that the government built that Obama was actually referring to.
We can disagree with policies, but how about you discuss the policies, rather than the political strawmen?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GAGQ_A6dMM&feature=related
Nic, I couldn’t follow that link. Is it a video of Mr. Haynie building the actual roads and bridges that his trucks drive over, and then demonstrating how he only drives on the roads that he himself built? Does it show the private security firm that protects him not only from local criminals but al Qaida? Does it show how he built his own electric grid to this business’ location? In any case, do you see any irony in the fact that you are using the Internet, which was created by the government, to criticize assertions that we benefit from under-appreciated government activity?
The link works for me. Try it again.
How do you think government gets it’s money, Balls?
From taxes. Are you working toward making a point?
And where do taxes come from?
Why, taxes come from taxpayers, Nic. I assumed if you had a point that you would go ahead and make it, so I guess you don’t.
If your point is that Mr. Haynie really didn’t get any help from the government because he paid taxes, this is obviously ridiculous and so I can understand you trying to avoid saying it outright. Let Mr. Haynie try driving those trucks only on the portion of roads that HIS taxes paid for. No, sorry, he’s able to drive his trucks because we ALL paid in. Just like you’re able to have this website because my taxes helped create the Internet. This point is so obvious that I can tell it to you straight without pussyfooting through passive-aggressive questions that don’t add up to a valid point.
You clearly have some hidden animosity toward me–or perhaps just the free market system.
My point is that government only has what it takes from citizens and businesses. You see the government “helping businesses,” but in reality, businesses help government. Government has nothing that it doesn’t first take from a business or citizen. They build roads and provide security services with our money. This is elementary.
You hit it right on the head Nic. We all paid for these roads, and everything else. You’re right “GolfBalls” has a problem with free thinkers. I figure he, or she, is just like most of the other folks who voted for Obama. They deney it in public. Thus the false name.
Ah, now I see your point, Nic: Taxes are a way for businesses to help ONE ANOTHER! By directing their COLLECTIVE resources toward things that might benefit them as a whole. Point taken. I just can’t seem to square that with the sign that says Mr. Haynie got no help at all from other peoples’ taxes. Can you? I wonder how the police in Searcy, who put their lives on the line every day, and the soliders fighting overseas — in wars past and present — feel about Mr. Haynie’s assertion that he got no help from them. It might be enough to engender “animosity,” but not (from me, at least) enough to tell someone to “kiss [my] rear[],” — the level of animosity with which Mr. Haynie started this conversation, and which you cheered on.
I’m afraid you need more help than I can give you (like basic economics lessons). And no, I can’t square those comments with something the sign doesn’t say either. Best wishes.
I wrote, “The sign…says Mr. Haynie got no help at all from other peoples’ taxes.”
The sign says, “We built our business without ANY government help.”
How did I mischaracterize what the sign says? The government doesn’t collect other peoples’ taxes? It doesn’t use that money to build roads and do countless other things that “help” Mr. Haynie’s business to operate? I’m excited to see the “basic economics lesson” that explains this. It’s too bad you’re unable to help with a cogent explanation. Or even to answer my questions after I answered yours.
And it’s pretty brazen of you to claim I mischaracterized what the sign said when you are giving “kudos” to someone for mischaracterizing what the President said — as the first commenter, Eukaryote, pointed out.
You can demagogue and spin all you want. You can’t change what Obama said: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
And you can’t answer any of my questions. Ya got nothin’.
Obama said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” What does the word “that” refer to in that sentence? If you take that one sentence out of context, it’s easier to claim it refers to “a business.” Which is why you didn’t use the whole quote:
“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. The INTERNET didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”
Even if Obama had never said the above, it would still be true, and Haynie’s assertion would still be false. And because you can’t answer a single one of my questions, your only defense is to take the quote out of context again. You have absolutely nothing intelligent to say. You are a total waste of time. I’m done here.
I frankly have better things to do than argue with demagogues. You either don’t understand basic economics or you are willfully twisting reality.