Welfare and My Disgusting Self

To my surprise, waiting in line was a man I know: a small business owner, no less. I know him fairly well but had no clue as to his financial situation. Turns out his business actually net a loss. He's been forced to fire his employees. He cannot afford to pay them. He's being taxed too high and cannot even afford to pay minimum wage.

I discussed his situation with him. He now works 14 hours a day for an average wage of $3.25 an hour net profit. When it comes to his personal finances, that just doesn't cut it. His wife works, too, but her income is hardly enough to survive. They have a child to take care of as well, and struggle, even though he's 16 and works. They still live in poverty.

He's not happy to be on Welfare. He seemed rather saddened by it, actually. I was glad to meet him there, as it gave me a new insight into small business owners. They're a vital part of our economy. Most vital, indeed. But from talking to him, I came to conclude that the very protections put in place aimed to take money from big-corporations is actually helping big-corporations. We talked about the minimum wage and how large companies can afford to pay the increase but small businesses cannot. They just don't make enough profit to be able to pay out. So they end up having to fire their employees or go out of business. The large corporations are the ones left making all the profit and getting all the business.

He also talked to me of high taxes placed on businesses, and how small businesses, like his, couldn't afford to pay the taxes and employees. Especially not with the minimum wage laws in effect.