Fact Check - You didn't build that"

I made the argument on my Facebook page that "You didn't build that" could be among the most unfortunate 4 words ever spoken by a US president.

One of my friends that enjoined the Facebook food-fight that ensued, argued that the quote was taken out of context.  I looked into it and found a fact check article at the Washington Post.

The Post argues that Obama was referring to the roads and infrastructure when he said "you didn't build that." This, I believe, is where the out of context argument is coming from. Given his often unintelligible speech pathology when speaking extemporaneously, I might agree ... but the larger argument he was making follows the "It takes a Village" concept and that bolsters the suggestion that he was saying you didn't do it alone - "you had help." It's a chicken and egg argument - and most business owners argue that the core of the effort in starting their business is a product of their own industry - not that of a socialist collectivism. The product of their industry is taxed and that money goes back to the "village" to build those roads and other infrastructure. The infrastructure and other government help does not come first.  The road was not first built by government in the hope that someone would someday invent an automobile to ride upon it.

Even if the president did misspeak, I believe what he intended to say was, indeed, exactly how people have understood it.  Regardless, those 4 unfortunate words have proven to be a gift-wrapped campaign theme for his opponents.

Yes, You Did Build That Company

(Note: This was my letter to the Editor published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on July 18, 2012.)


 President Obama opened his re-election playbook this week when he wagged his finger at business owners and entrepreneurs and told them they did not create their companies alone.  In effect telling them that because someone else built the roads their goods were transported on and someone else provided electricity, or built the Internet that they communicate to on, etc., the fruits of those businesses should be more willingly shared.

His failure to understand the concept of risk and reward is not surprising because he has never actually started a business.  Never had to make a payroll, or met a budget.  Never had to sell investors on an idea.  Never taken a real business risk.  

Ok, that argument has been made by the right since 2008.  To anyone who has never done those things, Obama's argument probably sounds reasonable.  Along the lines of Hillary Clinton's It takes a Village - there are certainly benefits of living in a collective society with various professions, services, roads, power lines, Internet, telephone etc.  But the President does not understand that this is not a chicken and egg scenario.  All of those services are paid for after-the-fact by taxes and fees of the successful business.  

Early settlers created trails to get the products of their farms and workshops to markets or to trade with Native Americans.  There was not a government that said - "lets clear a trail from Boston to Albany so there can be commerce."  The commerce built those paths.  In time, roads got busy and perhaps early private turnpikes were created to collect fees to maintain those roads.  Later, the need to pave roads became apparent.  They were not paved first, so some guy could later invent a car or truck.  The proliferation of cars necessitated the building of smooth roads.  The taxes of businesses and the labor of the people paid for that.  Today, taxes and fees to both government and private enterprise to support the infrastructure and growth of tools like the Internet.  Of course the Internet is a framework where businesses and entrepreneurs can experiment on new ideas - but it was not laid out there just for them.  They pay to use it!

To suggest that government, because it collected taxes and built roads or other services, deserves any real credit for  for the hard work and industry of someone trying to start a business or successfully running one is absurd.  

Take the artist who has an idea for a new painting, and makes sketches, renderings, experiments with paints and colors, and after months or years of toil, starting over countless times, with tens of thousands of adjustments and fixes, creates a breathtaking work of art that is lauded by critics everywhere. Should any credit go to the canvas manufacturer, the pencil maker, the people who make paints or the color dyes or the brush makers whom she paid for their products?  Does any credit go to the electric company that she paid to keep the lights on?  Or the landlord whom she paid for a studio?  Does any credit for this work go to her teachers, or her parents who raised and fed her?  NO! She gets the credit for her work - all of it!  She gets all the credit because it was her work product, her creativity, her sweat, her investment in the project... and when that piece of art sells, she will pay taxes, and perhaps use some to invest in her next project.  

We need to celebrate our risk takers Mr. President, not jump on their bandwagon and try to take credit for their work or diminish their efforts.