Common Sense: Open for business

The New York Times had an interesting front page piece recently about the new positive attitude small and medium size businesses are having towards the Trump administration and emerging federal economic and tax policies.

Most Americans are employed by small (under $50 million in annual revenue) and/or medium size businesses ($50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue). Of course, they run the gamut from industrial and manufacturing to service and finance and much more.

For them, the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Accord was another sign that the United States was once again open for business. The same can be said of the House’s repeal of Dodd/Frank.

The several executive orders reducing regulation and easing the pressures on the energy industry have been well received. And the belief that the Congress and the president will eventually do both tax and health care reform is music to their ears.

These companies are hiring once again right here in the United States. And in a number of reported instances, American companies that had moved all but their headquarters to a foreign land – most notably Mexico – are returning.

This is not happening in the vast commercial valleys of midtown Manhattan or in Chicago’s business loop but in places like Toledo, Dayton, Rockford, Davenport and Grand Rapids, Rust Belt cities whose residents believed President Trump’s campaign message regarding the economy would benefit them and in turn voted for him. These are places that have liked what they have seen and heard both in actions and stated policy positions since he took the oath of office less than six months ago.

As much as government and politics can be about the Senate hearings concerning what the president said or did not say, for the workers who are seeing their paychecks become fatter or the families that once again have a breadwinner in their household or the union that has been encouraging people to buy American for decades in hopes of keeping American jobs and are finally seeing it happen, the hearings are more of a distraction from a government that they see working just fine.

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I do look at Facebook off and on each week. And I have a Twitter account too. And as much as it has been accurately reported that they have become cesspools for fake news, I am always surprised by the number of people who, based on the comments, seem to believe the information that is published on fake news sites.

Recently, there was a piece that reported former President Obama as a former president ordered the shooting down of a foreign airliner. Amazingly, there were many comments suggesting this was clear proof that he was a murderer and with Hillary Clinton had been engaged in murderous activities during his administration.

It was absolutely shocking to me that so many people could have outright bought into something far crazier than anything the National Enquirer would have thought to publish.

This was one of the more outrageous things among the posts that I see two or three times a week. I don’t understand how “news sites” that do not exist, which make up stories for the purpose of gathering clicks or simply looking to distort, receive a serious look from people who should know better.  Sometimes I think to myself, What do they tell their children?

I would suggest that all Facebook and Twitter users take a moment to think about what seems like a really odd story before they buy into it with a like or comment.

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