Business leaders slam Obama after he says the wealthy AREN'T responsible for their own success- National Federation of Independent Business slams Obama for remarks challenging significance of U.S. entrepreneurs
- Obama told supporters over the weekend that it was governments - not individuals - who create jobs
- Romney camp adds that his view shows how unqualified he is to lead the country into economic recovery
- Radio host Rush Limbaugh accuses the president of 'destroying the American dream'
By Toby Harnden 16 July 2012
dailymail.co.uk
America's leading small business association has slammed Barack Obama for showing 'an utter lack of understanding' of the country's entrepreneurs when he told them: 'If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.'
In a hard-hitting statement to Mail Online, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) president Dan Danne said: 'What a disappointment to hear President Obama's revealing comments challenging the significance of America's entrepreneurs.
Mr Danne added: 'His unfortunate remarks over the weekend show an utter lack of understanding and appreciation for the people who take a huge personal risk and work endless hours to start a business and create jobs.'
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 Under fire: President Obama, pictured today speaking at a town hall rally in Cincinnati, has been blasted by business leaders who say he has a lack of understanding of American entrepreneurs
President Obama said in a speech at the weekend that governments and not individuals create jobs, telling entrepreneurs: 'If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.'
He added: '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.'
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The inflammatory campaign speech comments underline the extent to which Obama believes that the state rather than ordinary citizens create jobs and wealth.
They highlight a key contrast with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, who is preaching a message of wealth creation by individuals and reinvigorating the private sector.
Andrea Saul, spokeswoman for Romney, told Fox News that the remarks 'reflect just how unqualified he is to lead us to a real economic recovery' and were ' insulting to the hardworking entrepreneurs, small-business owners, and job creators who are the backbone of our economy.'
Attack: Barack Obama said in a speech in Virginia on Saturday that small business owners could not claim credit for their own success
An NFIB spokesman added: 'I'm sure every small-business owner who took a second mortgage on their home, maxed out their credit cards or borrowed money from their own retirement savings to start their business disagrees strongly with President Obama's claim. They know that hard work does matter.
'Every small business is not indebted to the government or some other benefactor. If anything, small businesses are historically an economic and job-creating powerhouse in spite of the government.'
The NFIB was founded in 1943 and has some 350,000 members. It is officially a non-partisan organisation but tends to contribute heavily to Republican candidates. In 2010, 25 of its members, all republicans, were elected to Congress.
David Chavern, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the basic idea behind Obama’s comments, and other similar sentiments expressed by allies, 'is really objectionable and offensive.'
Reaching out: Obama said in a speech at the weekend that governments - not individuals - create jobs
'The problem with the Obama administration’s view, he wrote in a blog post, was that ‘it only looks at the good outcomes’ rather than what went before.
Mr Chavern wrote: ‘Success is apparently a collective effort - but where was that "collective" during the periods of risk-taking and failure? The vast majority of businesses fail. Period.
He added: 'Every day millions of people put their lives, savings, houses and families on the line and work 20 hours a day just to grab their small slice of the American dream. Where is the collective when all of this is going on? And if the collective is really responsible for success, how come everyone isn’t successful?
'[Obama's] unfortunate remarks over the weekend show an utter lack of understanding and appreciation for the people who take a huge personal risk and work endless hours to start a business and create jobs.'
- NFIB statement
Meanwhile, on his daily radio show, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said that Obama’s Roanoke remarks were proof positive that the president 'hates' America. 'I'll tell you what,' he said. 'I think it can now be said, without equivocation - without equivocation - that this man hates this country. He is trying -- Barack Obama is trying - to dismantle, brick by brick, the American dream.'
Speaking at a campaign rally in Roanoke, Virginia on Friday night, Obama made the case that those who created businesses should be taxed at higher rates because they are fortunate and were helped to achieve success by the government and other people.
'There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me - because they want to give something back,' he said. 'They know they didn't - look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own.
Plans: Obama recently unveiled a new proposal to raise taxes on all those who earn more than $250,000, a measure that Romney contends will hit small businesses.
'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.'
Obama recently unveiled a new proposal to raise taxes on all those who earn more than $250,000, a measure that Romney contends will hit small businesses.
He continued: '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.
Mitt Romney has stressed his business experience in his campaign
'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.'
He made the argument that all this showed that 'there are some things we do better together' and was how the American middle class was built.
OBAMA'S BUSINESS LEADERSHIP CALLED INTO QUESTION
As President Obama comes under scrutiny for remarks that he made about entrepreneurs over the weekend, it's not surprising to many that the president has never served in a leadership level at any private sector job.
The president has held a number of jobs since the late 1980s, including editor, writer and professor before getting into politics.
But questions have been raised about Obama's lack of business experience as the U.S. struggles with a high joblessness rate and a frail economy.
It was a point that Obama's political foes were quick to exploit in their attacks on Monday.
Louisiana Gov Bobby Jindal, appearing alongside Mitt Romney today, said: 'We have a president who hadn't run anything before he was in the White House.'
He added: '[Obama is the] most liberal and incompetent president since Jimmy Carter. No offense to Jimmy Carter.'
'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.'
Obama, who was speaking in a fire station, tried to equate the economy with state-run emergency services. '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.'
Obama's comments strongly echo controversial remarks made by Elizabeth Warren, a liberal darling and candidate for the US Senate in Massachusetts, in August 2011 when she said: 'There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.'
She then made the case that the wealthy only got wealthy because of others. 'You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.
'You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.'
She linked this with a demand for the rich to be taxed at a higher rate.
'Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.'
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