I fear that the end of America as we know it is near and am hoping that this is all a Saturday Night Live nightmare and that Al Franken is still just a goofball comedian and not likely a U.S. Senator. Unless small businesses, which represent 99% of America's employers, 50% of the Gross Domestic Product, and 66% of all new jobs, develop a renewed confidence in the business climate, you will see continued decline in our economy resulting in deflation, followed by runaway inflation, and its horrible consequences. What else can you expect after the Feds start printing massive amounts of money to pay for Nancy Pelosi's massive spending spree?    

    It's very difficult to have confidence when you consider the events of the last few weeks. President Obama has surrounded himself with former lobbyists and tax cheats, after he said that not one lobbyist would have a place in his administration. One of his first actions was to approve federal funding of foreign abortion. This action somehow got lost under the pile of other bad news. The Democratic Chairman of the Finance Services Committee personally directed TARP funds to his favorite bank in his constituency where some of it promptly went to pay for the CEO's new Porsche. The so called stimulus package contains numerous earmarks even though our president stated that it does not. Construction economists are projecting 9% unemployment peaking sometime in 2010. At the same time our President is preparing to sign legislation making it easy for employees to unionize a business. Banks are loaning money to only the most credit worthy of its applicants, which is the way it should be. The timing is just bad.    

    Terrorists apparently will likely be relocating from Gitmo to American prisons. California is going broke and instead of approving offshore drilling which would generate billions of tax revenue the government gave in to wealthy environmental groups and rejected the opportunity. Then the California governor approached the Congress for a bailout. Bailing out auto manufacturers was obviously payback for election support. School Districts are experiencing significant drops in tax revenue and are cutting back on education services. Al-Qaeda calls our new president an “enemy of Muslims.” Atheists have been granted instant power and are pressing for removal of God from The Pledge of Allegiance and our currency. Hospitals and private schools are closing along with small businesses, restaurants, retail stores and auto dealerships. Even petrochemical plants are closing in the Houston area along with Catholic schools!    

    Communism has always sounded good in theory and it appears to me that as the liberal agenda of our new President is quickly being put in place, it is looking more and more like communism. The result will be the disappearance of small business and the middle class if left unchecked by our Conservative leaders. Few Democrats understand how capitalism works and just how well it works. After all, when was the last time you saw a poor person starting up new factories and creating jobs? To fully understand the impact of what is coming, you will need to understand small business taxation and how that works. Most small businesses are "S" Corporations and thus corporate taxes are paid directly by the owners, not the corporation. Expected taxes to be paid by the corporation are estimated a year in advance, added to desired income, and then spread out over each paycheck during the year. Thus, most business owners appear to earn significant income which puts them squarely in the cross hairs of forthcoming increased taxation by President Obama and the Democratic Congress and Senate. Just what business owner in his right mind would want to grow a business and hire new employees in such an environment when the future tax impact will be large and unknown?    

    Confidence in our economy is what causes business to grow and hire new employees and there is nothing in this stimulus package or current market conditions that a small business owner can find to justify hiring back recently laid off personnel, let alone hire new personnel. Inventory and cost reduction is the current mode of operation of all business everywhere you look. That does not bode well for a positive result any time soon. If there has ever been a time to pray for our country and to ask for the ability to overcome fear, it is now. Fear is our worst enemy. And there is an abundance to be fearful about.    

    This is the time for action. Be Bold. Take a proactive approach to helping to make things better. At the very least, write your congressman. Write a Democratic congressman in another constituency. Write a newspaper in another city. Form committees and start new organizations with the goal to overcome the 33,000 paid lobbyists in Washington who represent the minority and not the majority. We must not stand still and take it. Our elected leaders must know how we feel. Call friends and relatives. Read and study all publications and listen to all sides of the story. Gather the facts and teach your children to look for truth. It is usually buried and hard to find. Get behind all great leaders including those who bravely speak out on the radio and television about the facts. Let them know how much they are appreciated. They need your encouragement!Apathy was one of the final stages of the decline and fall of each and every great civilization. Let’s keep this great civilization going for at least another 200 plus years!