A story to tell pro-Bush small business owners

[fugue]

I got a phone call yesterday. It was from the groomer I used to take my dog to.

Like most dog groomers, hers is a small business. She and her employees do excellent work and are well regarded in our community. She's one of the few willing to handle cocker spaniels, notorious biters but with high-maintenance coats, so when she realized it had been over a year since she had seen my cocker she thought she should call.

I told her that shortly after his last visit, I had lost my job. I now have a new one, but it pays only two-thirds of what the old one did. I had to invest in some extra dog-grooming tools and he looks nowhere near as nice as he did when he was getting regular professional fur care, but his coat and skin are healthy. It's just not in the cards for us to come in, no matter how much I would prefer to do so.

The answer obviously astonished her. I was tempted to ask her how she was voting this election, but I thought that perhaps even if she's a Bush supporter, I should just let the reality of the situation soak into her.

Where do Bush-supporting small-business owners think small-business income ultimately comes from if not from the wages of the people in the community? Why are they worrying about what they'll pay in taxes on income they'll never receive because their former customers don't have enough income themselves to hand over any to them?

[Eurobabe]

1. I don't get their skewed logic either

ask them about their healthcare costs and how their IRA/401K is doing these days, that usually opens the conversation up for further discussion.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

4. Ask them about their cadre of corporate lobbyists in Washington...

which they don't have. Ask them if they've incorporated their dog grooming business in Bermuda to avoid taxes. The fact is that the corporate giveaways create an unbalanced playing field tilted against small operators.

[rkc3]

8. Talked to my brother and sister about skewed logic from bush last night.

My sister is for Kerry. My brother is for bush. My sister reads the Economist. My brother doesn't read at all - though he plays a mean NFL 2005.

We talked about the skewed logic of the tax cuts for the wealthy and how they will spur the economy on. The flaw in this argument (for me anyway), is that if you are already making millions of dollars, a few extra hundred thousand coming back to you will not be spent in the economy. It is likely this money would be invested - and not be taxed or passed around to the balance of the economy.

For me, a few extra thousand in tax cuts would go right back into the economy. A new car, new appliances, new roof and flooring for the house could all be purchased. Others would spend the money they earned from my purchases. This is where tax cuts pay off.

A tax cut for the wealthy, who already have the basics covered, are not likely to spend this money. It's likely to be invested, and, therefore, taken out of the economy (except for the commissions paid to brokers - who are likely in a similar financial state).

Even my brother could see the logic in this - although it didn't change his mind. I think when I used the term "marginal propenstiy to consume", he was put off by my use of big words.

[gnofg]

2. don't get it

Your groomer called you because her business is hurting. I bet if you called her you would find out that she needs business.

[Cha]

3. Exactly! Welcome

to DU!

[fugue]

7. Your response confuses me--*who* doesn't get it?

I'm sure she does need business, but she was clearly astonished by my reason for not giving her business. I don't know what she thought was keeping me from coming in (I was tempted to ask her), but it clearly was not that she thought I didn't have the money. That floored her.

So again I ask, why do small-business owners who support Bush think that taxes are so much more important of an issue than jobs and the quality of those jobs?

[depakid]

5. They don't know anything AT ALL about economics

if they understood multiplier effects, then they'd realize Republican policies will ruin them. There's more to long term business success than what's reflected on this month's balance sheet.

Take money out of circulation in the comunity and you end up impoverishing everyone....

[Mizmoon]

6. Small business owners live in fear

It's wonderful to be master of your own fate, but scary too. Anything can happen - another store can open up, taxes can go up, you've got to provide insurance for your employees and that goes up, the rent goes up, everything is in such flux. It's a nerve-wracking way to earn your bread. Small biz owners are just a jumpy, nervous lot. Talk calmly and clearly about why Kerry is better for them than Bush, and they may very well vote Kerry.