No one is truly successful on their own, according to Barack Obama

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/15/obama-dashes-american-dream-suggests-nobody-achieves-success-alone/

After having watched this speech in it's entirety, it's just so OBVIOUS the disdain that Barack Obama holds for successful business people. In his eyes, every successful business got that way on the backs of the poor and down-trodden. Heck, there's not a company in business today that would have gotten ANYWHERE if it weren't for the ditch diggers and laborers who built this country's roads and bridges. The person who works 80 hours a week, risking his own money to build and grow his business doesn't work ANY harder then the person who's pushing a shovel into the ground to lay down water pipes for the city.

Really? REALLY??

The message is load and clear... If it weren't for the GOVERNMENT (and it's workers) building and maintaining the nation's infrastructure, private enterprise couldn't even exist. Therefore, private enterprise OWES something back.

Never mind that it's OUR tax dollars that funded the initial construction and continue funding the maintenance of these systems. Never mind that it's private enterprise that makes municipal bond sales possible, so that local and state entities can afford these projects.

Do small business owners think they are smarter then the average joe, allowing them to create a successful and profitable enterprise? In some cases, YES! They figured out an easier or better way to get something done, and figured out how to market that to the rest of the world to earn a profit. But, for the most part, small business owners do NOT think themselves smarter then the rest of us. They just decided to do what most of the rest of us are UNWILLING to do:

• Work long hours every day, including weekends, for next to nothing at the start of their business
• Risk their own money and credit to fund their startup
• Sacrifice vacation time, sleep, and luxury items like taking the family out to dinner occasionally
• Deal with customer, vendor, inventory AND employee issues

Here's some food for thought.... If starting your own business and being SUCCESSFUL at it were easy, we'd all be running successful small businesses. Small business owners pour their hearts and souls into their companies. They make (sometimes very painful) sacrifices to get to the point where they can call themselves successful. Given the financial hoops that they have to jump through just to get started, and the maze of regulatory roadblocks they have to navigate to STAY in business, it's a wonder anyone bothers.

So, to say that a successful small business owner somehow owes their success to the guy that dug up the drainage ditch out front, is just a TINY bit disingenuous....