Posted on 07/18/2012 1:54:26 PM PDT by rhema
When President Barack Obama hauled off and slapped American small-business owners in the mouth the other day, I wanted to dream of my father.
But I didn't have to close my eyes to see my dad. I could do it with my eyes open.
All I had to do was think of the driveway of our home, and my dad's car gone before dawn, that old white Chrysler with a push-button transmission. It always started, but there was a hole in the floor and his feet got wet in the rain. So he patched it with concrete mix and kept on driving it to the little supermarket he ran with my Uncle George.
He'd return home long after dark, physically and mentally exhausted, take a plate of food, talk with us for a few minutes, then flop in that big chair in front of the TV. Even before his cigarette was out, he'd begin to snore.
The next day he'd wake up and do it again. Day after day, decade after decade. Weekdays and weekends, no vacations, no time to see our games, no money for extras, not even forMcDonald's. My dad and Uncle George, and my mom and my late Aunt Mary, killing themselves in their small supermarket on the South Side of Chicago.
There was no federal bailout money for us. No Republican corporate welfare. No Democratic handouts. No bipartisan lobbyists working the angles. No Tony Rezkos. No offshore accounts. No Obama bucks.
Just two immigrant brothers and their families risking everything, balancing on the economic high wire, building a business in America. They sacrificed, paid their bills, counted pennies to pay rent and purchase health care and food and not much else. And for their troubles they were muscled by the politicos, by the city inspectors and
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Thanks for the very good article. And from a Chicago paper too.
“Keep the Faith” Indeed.
cant get to the article
Change it to plumber and he was my Dad, too.
Here is an entertaining story of an entrepreneur who has just bought and decided to rename a town in Texas ‘Bikinis’.
As in, “Bikinis, Texas”.
http://www.statesman.com/business/owner-of-austin-based-bikinis-buys-rebrands-central-2418026.html
Yeah, but if that guy hadn’t had a great third grade teacher and if there weren’t roads adjoining his businesses, he’d be a flat-out nobody with nothing to show for himself.
I can’t read it either! Not signing up to a Chicago paper.
Agreed...but this is why you establish a throw-away email account with Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail...any of the freebies...
The entire piece from Kass (including a video from him at his desk) is worth the read (and signup).
Found the article in another ePaper - you should be able to read this.
http://savannahnow.com/column/2012-07-19/kass-column-who-else-mr-president
It was a great article. I bet being from Chicago and writing for the Trib, Mr. Kass voted for Obama in 2008. Maybe not in 2012?
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