 Todd DormanTodd Dorman is a columnist for The Gazette. His blog has been bringing smiles to readers' faces since November 2007. |
|
Email the author
Obama’s ‘you didn’t build that’ misstep
A local businessman stopped by the paper today to express some outrage over remarks President Obama made in Virginia recently. I honestly didn’t know what he was talking about. I don’t always keep up with the news on weekends, which is one reason I remain partially sane.
But I eventually figured it out by searching the intertubes and found a transcript of Obama’s remarks. (My emphasis added):
Now, one last thing — one of the biggest differences is how we pay down our debt and our deficit. My opponent, Mr. Romney’s plan is he wants to cut taxes another $5 trillion on top of the Bush tax cuts.
AUDIENCE: Booo –
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, like I said, the only way you can pay for that — if you’re actually saying you’re bringing down the deficit — is to cut transportation, cut education, cut basic research, voucherize Medicare, and you’re still going to end up having to raise taxes on middle-class families to pay for this $5 trillion tax cut. That’s not a deficit reduction plan. That’s a deficit expansion plan.
I’ve got a different idea. I do believe we can cut — we’ve already made a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts. We can make some more cuts in programs that don’t work, and make government work more efficiently. (Applause.) Not every government program works the way it’s supposed to. And frankly, government can’t solve every problem. If somebody doesn’t want to be helped, government can’t always help them. Parents — we can put more money into schools, but if your kids don’t want to learn it’s hard to teach them. (Applause.)
But you know what, I’m not going to see us gut the investments that grow our economy to give tax breaks to me or Mr. Romney or folks who don’t need them. So I’m going to reduce the deficit in a balanced way. We’ve already made a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts. We can make another trillion or trillion-two, and what we then do is ask for the wealthy to pay a little bit more. (Applause.) And, by the way, we’ve tried that before — a guy named Bill Clinton did it. We created 23 million new jobs, turned a deficit into a surplus, and rich people did just fine. We created a lot of millionaires.
There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)
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.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President — because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together. (Applause.)
Of course, it’s the “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that” line that has gone off like a time-release landmine. After a slow start, it’s beginning to make the rounds.
I know the president was talking about roads and bridges when he said “you didn’t build that.’ The trouble is, many business owners did help build them, with property taxes, gas taxes, local sales taxes etc. In Iowa, commercial property is taxed on 100 percent of its value, with those taxes going to maintain all sorts of public assets and infrastructure.
So on that point, the president doesn’t only sound tone-deaf, he’s also wrong.
I’m sure you have thoughts. I’d like to hear them.
-u20042.png?1366232523)
Atta boy, Mr. Dorman.
This is a long-standing view on the left. Maxine Waters said the same thing not too long ago. If Obama slipped up, it was just because he was saying what he believes in for once.
Mr Fisher,
What the president said was:
“The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together”
Has he ever iindicated that he thinks otherwise. What is it about this statement that makes the president a liar. Or are you just tossing out a cheap throwaway line.
Thank you for not taking the president’s comments out of context like so many media outlets are doing. I disagree with the sentiment of your article, however. There’s a difference between maintaining infrastructure and actually building it. I would argue that 99% of today’s businesses came into existence after infrastructure was already in place. You can’t own a restaurant for example, without a road for people to get there. The road came first. It’s true that business tax dollars (as well as tax dollars from individuals) help maintain that infrastructure, but they certainly didn’t create it.
“I would argue that 99% of today’s businesses came into existence after infrastructure was already in place.”
Nice that you qualified your statement to only include “today’s businesses”, ignoring 400+ years of entrepreneurs. Just because there are roads doesn’t mean businesses are going to flourish. It takes people who are willing to sacrifice their time and money to make a business grow. If you notice Solyndra had all kinds of Gov’t/taxpayer help and it was a complete failure losing $500M.
“they certainly didn’t create it.”
Where do you think the gov’t gets the money to do anything it does? That’s right taxes on businesses and individuals.
Mr Abernathy, the relationship you are describing is one that is usually referred to as “symbiotic” or, if you prefer, “co-dependent”
Which means that the vision of the heroic and fearless and risk taking entrepreneur (why is it that the same people who despise the French insist on using French when they wish to impress themselves) is basically puerile rubbish
Mr Dorman, the president is absolutely right. He said, we’re all in this together. My taxes paid for those roads and those schools. My neighbor’s taxes paid for those roads and those schools. That businessman’s taxes (assuming he paid them) also paid for those roads and those schools. But the point is, he didn’t do it all by himself. He didn’t even build his business all by himself. He had employees. And yeah they were paid but they did the bulk of the work. Without good employees, he would have been nothing
I am so sick and tired of these businesspeople who think the rest of us should kiss their collectic fannies because they’re entrpeneurs or some such nonsense.
It would have been nice if you could have told us who this temper tantrum throwing nitwit was. I like to avoid narcissistic egomaniacs as much as possible. But I respect your decision not to share that information.
However I do think that business people who act like that should know what is said about them behind their backs.
Obviously nobody’s said boo to Mitt Romney for many many years..And obviously somebody should have a long time ago
“But the point is, he didn’t do it all by himself. He didn’t even build his business all by himself. He had employees. And yeah they were paid but they did the bulk of the work. Without good employees, he would have been nothing”
You sound just like Obama! Many new ventures, in fact I would venture to say MOST new ventures are created by the owners themselves! When we started our business, we had no employees. All we had was money out of our pocket to buy inventory. Couldnt get a loan as we had no track record. We worked ourselves to build the company for ZERO, ZIP, NADA pay. As our business grew and become more solid, we hired one employee. Invested more, grew more and hired one more. Thats the way it works, you dont start with nothing, hire a bunch of employees, have them build it and sit back and collect the cash. That is how Obama sees it, the real world is a vast different place. I personally know of a small business owner I worked for many years ago, when times got tough he paid for the business building lease out of his pocket. He paid payroll out of HIS pocket. He kept the company going until things turned around. Did the government help him? Did the banks help him? No one, they are just would have rather let him file bankruptcy and close up but he put it all on the line for his employees. The company is still running strong today, this was all about 15 years ago.
Sorry Mr Blair,
I’m not impressed when people miss the point of what’s being said.
I assume in your business you use computers–you’re usning a computer now. That computer, based on an adding machine thousands of years old (it’s called an “abacus”) was developed by people who worked in facilities provided by universities funded with public money. At first they were interesting toys–I remember seeing one at a science exhibit that could play chess—that had no particular commercial value but tremendous scientific potential. That potential was developed by NASA
I could go on but what kind of business would you have if not for the work done by other people.
And how exactly did I miss the point? You stated that the business man didn’t do it by himself, he had employees. I was stating that most start sans employees.
The liberals are stretching hard to downplay this trying to make it so vague and general “you couldnt have a business without roads, computers” … well that is stating the obvious, what Obama did was basically laugh at success and try to emphasize that smart and hard work has nothing to do with it. All success is owed to the great government programs. That is a slap in the face to smart hard working folks everywhere.
Mr Blair,
I don’t like being treated as if I were stupid. Citing the fact that many if not most businesses have employees is called illustrating by example
You may have started with no employees, but you have them now. You said so. You also take advantage of a lot of things that were created by other people and paid for by other people.
No one is begrudging you your success. But for you to puff yourself up and claim you did it all by yourself with no help from nobody is the height of arrogance
Humility is a virtue and pride is a sin. Maybe you should mull that one over.
I apologize if you feel like I am treating you stupid, I am taking your words in the context they were written
Yes, most business has employees, but most are built without. Again, you start from scratch, stick you neck out, make things happen, and build your business. At some point if you are successful, you start getting support from banks, vendors, and can hire employees. You build it up and are ABLE to then hire employees. Without venture capital, you never start out with funds to have employees.
Mr Blair,
Last time I checked I pay taxes. People like me pay the taxes that support the efforts of people like you. We pay the taxes that support the schools, provide for police and fire protection, maintain the roads and sidewalks and water and sewer systems and garbage pickup. We pay the taxes that provided and are still providing for the rebuilding of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and Coralville after the floods four years ago.
And I understand that you pay taxres too. But you can’t succeed without the support of the rest of us. Which means we are all in this together.
Nobody is begrudging you your success. Nobody wants you to fail. What is begrudged you is your arrogance. Can you tall the difference.
Here’s an interesting story…The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California Legislature, was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. However, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the District was unable to raise the construction funds, so it lobbied for a $30 million bond measure. The bonds were approved in November 1930 by votes in the counties affected by the bridge. The construction budget at the time of approval was $27 million. However, the District was unable to sell the bonds until 1932, when Amadeo Giannini, the founder of San Francisco–based Bank of America, agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy. So, technically, Bank of America built the Golden Gate Bridge.
Mr Even,
Bank of America didn’t build the Golden Gate Bridge. A bunch of construction guys built the bridge.
What Bank of America did was buy up a bond issue in order that the bridge, which doubtless benefitted Bank of America no end, be built. Bank of America got its money back plus interest. Municiple bonds are one of the best investments going.
The bridge was still a government project paid for by the people of the district. It was not paid for by Bank of America. The Bank made a loan, the loan was paid back
Roberta, I believe Dan’s point was that the government didn’t have a role in building the bridge. Even Ayn Rand in “Atlas Shrugged” praised the concept of cooperation among people pursuing their own self-interest.
In that case, Dan’s point is wrong. The government issued the bonds to fund the project. Rand had a good point in praising the concept of cooperation among people pursuing their own self-interest, including businesses and government in this case. I wonder if Rand would agree with that! True is true, no theory or ideal can change that.
The point the President was making is that we built the roads and bridges TOGETHER. Sure, business helped. So did everyone else. And it wouldn’t have happened without everyone, through government. The overall point is that the laws and the government “grease the wheels” of business.
Actually, Jim, it did happen — long before there was government. Or did you think people in these parts didn’t travel on roads, go to school or build hospitals until IDOT, IDE and IDPH told them they could?
Actually, Mr Scott, there was no time in all of human history when there was no government.
Human beings are pack animals. We live in groups, we co-operate on projects too big and too complex for one person to handle, we choose leaders, we delegate, we sit in councils and make decisions and we have been doing things that way for as long as there have been people.
Our forms of governence have changed as our different human cultures have evolved but there was never a time when we didn’t have some form of government.
In this whole discussion I think the term infrastructure is being considered on a too limited basis. It’s much more than just roads and bridges. For a business to thrive you need a stable environment to conduct business.
One could easily consider national defense as a part of the cost of infrastructure. Ya can’t do business when an invading army is killing you. Police and the entire judiciary system contribute to stability. Firefighters contribute.
Also, a business needs well educated employees. That is another large part of what needs to be in place. Since most education is public education, that is another thing the government does for businesses.
When you think about infrastructure in this broader sense, President Obama is even more right in his comments and, Todd, you are wrong.
I think it’s rhetorical malpractice. His overriding message is we’re all in this together, an American ideal that resonates with a lot of folks. But using language such as “you didn’t” and “somebody else did” undermines that message. You hand your opponents a weapon and leave your supporters to the thankless task of endlessly clarifying. Hence, a misstep.
Gotcha, and I agree.
I think there’s more to it than that, Todd. I think Obama’s unscripted remarks illustrate a very fundamental principle for him that says individual accomplishment, because it never really is individual, is therefore subservient to the “public good,” which, of course is defined by the government. I don’t know how anyone can agree to that, but especially anyone who has taken the risk to start their own business.
Thomas, I think you’re making too much of what he said. I can understand where your view comes from, its a natural outgrowth of the common Republican narrative that paints Obama as a socialist and un-American, but I think its an exaggerated view at best.
In a time when Republican theocracy dictates that all government is bad and all private sector is good, Obama was taking a jab at Republican orthodoxy and reminding everyone that we’re in this together. We cannot escape our interdependance. Individual success is not subservient to anything, but its also not a path one travels completely individually. The individual who takes the risk deserves the lion’s share of credit, but no individual does it completely on their own with no contribution from other people or entities.
Todd nailed it. Obama’s comment was correct, but it was very poorly worded so as to give opportunity for exaggeration and twisting by those inclined to tear down the President.
This is a slap in the face to those who have, or are trying to build a business.
Much less than that Brad, its a slap in the face of Republican sycophants, regardless of whether they have or are trying to build a business, who think an individual can achieve success or build a business completely on their own. This Republican view is naive and blindly ideological in the face of overwhelming reality.
Regardless, as Todd points out, Obama’s words were poorly chosen, because they give an opening to naive sycophants to define his comment as a slap in the face.
For what it’s worth, I read and re-read the President’s comments many times. They offended me enough to make a contribution to the Romney campaign.
I certainly built my own career. My business and others before mine built the infrastructure.
Your comment offends me enough to boycott your business. I don’t give my money to naive and arrogant ideologues.
Mr Simonhouse,
I had the same thought.
Also, just what does Mr Charge think Romney is gonig to do to ensure the success of his business what with the innate predatory nature of venture capitalism, downsizing, outsourcing, lean and mean and all the rest of it. Romney doesn’t even have enough faith in America to invest his money here. He’s got how many millions socked away in off shore accounts
If all successful businessmen relied totally on societal infrastructure to become successful, why aren’t we all successful businessmen? As has been pointed out many times, those who believe in smaller government aren’t anarchists. This is a total straw man argument.
In fact, education became public in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and the reason it became public was to limit the influence of the Catholic Church after a huge increase of Catholic immigrants. We would probably be much better off if, instead of having government run schools, we just gave parents a stipend and told them to send their kids to their favorite private school. School prayer would never have become an issue if that had happened.
Those who clamor for a single payer healthcare system had better hope that, if it comes, the government doesn’t do for healthcare what it’s done for education. For example, how many administrators will be required to assure that one group or another isn’t getting preferential care? See this story on healthcare in Britain. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/9126976/More-than-half-care-home-residents-denied-basic-care-unpublished-data-shows.html
You got some severe flaws there Fred.
1. “If all successful businessmen relied totally on societal infrastructure to become successful,…” None do. Which is the main point here, no one does it all by themselves nor do they rely totally on anyone or anything else. Interdependence my friend.
2. “we just gave parents a stipend and told them to send their kids to their favorite private school.” School prayer would still be an issue because we’d still receive the gov teet to go to school. If government pays, we’re bound to Constitutional dictates.
“If all successful businessmen relied totally on societal infrastructure to become successful,… None do.”
“None do.” That is my point.
If one reads Obama’s whole statement, it sounds even worse than when it was supposedly taken out of context. Obama is channeling Elizabeth Warren who has been saying for years that every individual accomplishment is the result of the ‘by your leave’ of a government bureaucrat and individual initiative counts for nothing. My point is that if that were true, we would all be successful businessmen.
As for schools, note that I’m not saying that government should have no role in education. I’m merely saying that there is no reason that government funding and government administration should be combined.
Mr Hubler,
English is the mother tongue of most of the rest of us, but it doesn’t seem to be yours.
Thanks for printing the complete text. This is what should be in the newspaper! Not endless opinions from folks or organizations with an ideological axe to grind. Wise businesspeople realize that for their own good as well as societies’, all of us must do well. Grabbing the money and keeping it is an ugly model for a culture. Taxes must also be paid by the folks who make the most of the money. Local business sure is first in line when it comes to getting a handout from the common till. i.e Perrigrine, PCI,Genencor, Rockwell etc Obama’s point is well made
Regardless of the money you initially put into your business you, more than likely, did not make it sucessful, your customers did. Well, that was, until supply side BS economics were foisted upon the country. It angers me how stupid the Baby Boomers and Generation X were/are…
The whole thing is summed up pretty well by Micheal Crichton’s character Ian Malcolm:
“I’ll tell you the problem with the power you’re using here: it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you, you’ve patented it, and packaged it, you’ve slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now…you’re selling it.”
I understood very well what the president was saying and I agree with him. We are all in this together and any successfull business eventually has to rely on dedicated hard working employees. The government also has to have good dedicated people to get their jobs done. I think we are getting short changed here in congress now.
We seem to have gotten away from the idea that we ALL built this country by working together. Most of us by paying taxes, many of us by serving our country in the military and some of us in various public offices and jobs.
What President Obama meant is clear and bickering about who’s doing what and who’s contributing more is why we’re stuck and not able to accomplish anything.
If this country was a family, Dad would pull the car over and paddle some behinds.
I saw a clip of Willard Romney on MSNBC last Friday, in which he basically stated the EXACT same sentiments as Pres. Obama.
Just how arrogant does anyone have to be to think they have accomplished anything strictly on their own. EVERYONE, at one time or another, has had input/help somewhere along the line. I take that back, God did all on His own.
In Romney-world, (etch a sketch/flip-flopper), he can now attack Pres. Obama for stating what he has said and what all thinking people know – no man/woman is an island. We ALL have received help of some sort or another along the way! As with all that Obama has supported since becoming president that were once Republican ideas – and once he embraced them, ALL Republicans then vote against them.
I suggest that all Republicans refuse to pay taxes and more importantly I suggest they refuse government assistance in any way shape or form. I believe that in America they should have that right. They can travel to and from work by foot (to avoid using public roadways) and they can home school their children. I suggest they teach their children that every man is an island and needs no one (especially the government) to help them. Just thinkof all the tax money they can save. they won’t pay sales tax or gas tax and if they refuse to pay taxes their utilities will be shut off so they can save more money and have less help from others that way as well. I agree with these people who say they did it all on their own. I am sure none of their business’s require people to drive to their business and I am sure those people probably don’t pay sales tax either. The more i think of their argument the more it makes perfect sense. I am sure they all just did it on their own and now I wish that Roosevelt hadn’t started the CCC camps that built the parks back in the depression times. I am sure that we would all be better off without Palisades Kepler State Park (only to mention 1) Damn those democrats and their social welfare programs. Let’s close down all the parks and sell the land to the oil companies and just think of how much gold they could still get out of the Black Hills if it weren’t for those damn Democratic regulations we all know hurt small businesses. We could sell of Mount Rushmore (it is made of granite you know) and some small businessman could chop it up and make souveniers like they did with the Berlin Wall. I just am finally able to see that the small businessman will be so much better off when no one is collecting gas tax or repairing roads(we already have tried that in Cedar Rapids) so we know that works. I personally want to Thank all of you businessmen who are willing to make it on your own and I support you (as soon as you start refusing to accept all forms of aid). Obama was saying quite simply that your businesses could not have been as successful had it not been for those who came before you. I envision the Soviet Union as what we would look like had our government not chosen a different direction. We stepped in when we needed to and helped to stabilize and grow this great country. The government is not perfect but it is better than most. Obama is no more to blame for the condition we are in than any other single person. Congress has done everything in their power to undermine his success and if anyone is not smart enough to realize that I honestly feel sorry for them. My grandfather was a construction foreman on the Palisades project and my father worked on it as well. My Dad was paid 30 per month for back breaking work and he gave 15 dollars per month to his mother to help her raise the other 4 kids still at home. My grandfather was hit in the head with a pile driver that crushed his skull but he survived. He spent the entire winter recovering in his bedroom and then went back to work in the spring. Without the federal program my aunts and uncles and grandmother and grandfather might well have starved to death or perhaps turned to crime (as many did) to be able to eat. Instead they were able to grow into good people who worked and paid taxes their whole lives. They helped their neighbors and they gave back to the community. They might even have went to your business and spent money so that you could claim to have built it ALL ON YOUR OWN. Grow up people!!!! We live in a country where most believe in helping each other and sadly their are a few who think they did it all by themselves