The Impotent Billionaire

im•po•tent ( m p -t nt)
adj.
1. Lacking physical strength or vigor; weak.
2. Lacking in power, as to act effectively; helpless

While the phrase “Impotent Billionaire” may seem like a paradox, I assure you that it is quite appropriate given current events. It has JUST become breaking news that the unemployment rate has risen to 9.8% AND there’s still the question of what to do about the Bush tax cuts. However, I’m sure that the present administration will continue to come under fire regardless of how things turn out. EVERYONE is weighing in on the subject and there’s criticism being thrown around for the lack of job creation, fate of the unemployed and the threat of having a permanent class of unemployed people. It makes my heart race just thinking about it.
I’m not sure about you, but, I’m tired of all the rhetoric and I want someone to roll up their sleeves and just get it done! I don’t care if you’re a democrat or republican, can we FIRST and FOREMOST be AmeriCANs? We the people are suffering, whether it’s our own fault or we were misled; we need to DO SOMETHING more than just talking, tough talk. I mean everyone from Sarah Palin, to conservative democrats are being critical, we have the tea party weighing in and even worse, we have celebrities weighing in on the present administration’s handling of things. Wait…what was that? Celebrities? I have no objection to celebrities being politically active, in fact it’s great when they are, but when you are a celebrity businessman AND you announce you want to RUN FOR PRESIDENT because you think the country’s being run wrong...mmm hold ‘em up there partna’ and let’s see what YOU got…
Let me repeat that in case you missed it…A RUN FOR PRESIDENT!! Uh, ok…as things would go, it’s not just me saying…are you serious or are you joking? I thought running the country and being a servant of ALL Americans was the goal of the highest office in this land?
As I am an Air Force Veteran and I pledged allegiance to the flag and the Constitution of the United States, it irks me to no end to see people reap all the benefits of this great country only to start complaining when THEIR net worth is affected. In fact, the attitude is “if you tax the wealthy too much, they’ll just choose to leave this country.” Huhn? To me, THAT’S THE MOST unpatriotic statement I’ve heard and as a US Veteran that’s a slap in the face. As I recall, this country wasn’t built by you and your kind. She was built by the low to middle class AND FREE labor (lest we forget). So, if you and your kind leave, then perhaps that’ll open up a room for growth and opportunity? Besides, we find that the majority of your ideas are antiquated and EXTREMELY narrow. If you’d like a few suggestions on where you can go, Lemme know… Abraham Lincoln had very little formal education and Frederick Douglass even less. Yet, both these men were great orators and their love of this country was and is evident. They talked less and DID more…
So, I’m sure we’ll keep hearing how these unemployed people aren’t the strongest performers or they’re lazy and just don’t want to work. Hmm…I’m not so sure if any of these assertions are accurate. I mean some of us are STILL trying to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps…oops…my straps just broke…so, I guess I mean by the tongue of my boot.
As an unemployed person, I took it upon myself to seek out opportunity; I applied for a spot on a business reality show. A show which was advertising that “there’s nothing more American than a second chance” Can you say they had me at hello? I was thinking what better way to set myself apart from the competition in a tough economy than by being showcased on a VERY popular reality show. Like I said, who doesn’t like to be serenaded and wooed? I mean here was an icon, a titan of business who was professing to stick out his neck to not provide a job, but an OPPORTUNITY. This was going to be an uplifting, inspiring, motivational tale of 16 ordinary Americans who were impacted by the great recession and they were going to be very, very happy. In fact, instead of fancy prizes of luxury, we were going to meet with other power brokers of business and we were going to be considered for vacancies in their empires. I’m thinking, wow! This is better than the lottery. As I scouted the worst case scenario, I thought how hard can this be? I mean, creating jobs/opportunities for JUST 16 people when you control the outcome, you have the power of persuasion, you have the respect of your fellow colleagues and you have 16 eager, well-qualified Americans motivated and ready to get back to work? Oh, and we actually believed in the process and the story. After viewing what’s being aired, it doesn’t look at all like the uplifting, motivational, inspirational story that I signed on for.

While, I’m like most Americans, I love it when you whisper sweet nothings in my ear. You pick me out of thousands of potential hopefuls; you court me with sweet words, future dreams, candles and chocolate. You flex your wealth by sending a car to pick me up; you come dressed in your Sunday best. We eat at the most expensive restaurant, where you make me feel special, you tell me how beautiful/handsome I am. You’re saying all the right things and it makes me want to continue the night. We get back to your place and when it’s time for intimacy, let’s just say you fall a little flat….ruh roh….

After I chalked the entire process as another bad date, I began to hear talk of a run for president and extreme criticism of the job the administration is doing and that got me thinking about comparing and contrasting what I HEAR you saying and what I WITNESSED you did. Wooing us with promises that you can do a better job igniting the economy and encouraging job growth. Ok, let’s tally that up shall we? Out of the 16 candidates who put themselves out there for the chance of an opportunity, how many jobs were created for them on your watch? I mean if I were being paid 3,000,000 per episode and I held all the cards, and I had an empire, I’d like to think I could create AT LEAST 16 opportunities for people who were “the best of the best” I believe that the present administration has created more than 16 jobs and that’s with all the subsequent challenges they have to overcome.
So, color me confused…if we took a look at “where are they now?” what would we find? Other than that special 1, how are the remaining 15 fairing? It would be interesting if they could respond without fear of being intimidated by contract clauses and cease and desist orders. Now, you may think that this commentary is bitter, biased or angry…far from it. I believe that it’s commentary like this that made our country great! By outing B.S. when we see it, leaves us to deal with the truth and it’s within the truth that we find REAL inspiration and REAL motivation and REAL change! Not just rhetoric to keep someone in the public eye or make them relevant. We talk about lame duck presidents, a lame duck congress…I don’t know about you, but as my bills stack up, I don’t have time for ANYONE being a lame duck. We need some overtime!
So, I’m wondering how critical of the administration should we be? I think we SHOULD be critical to some degree, it’s healthy, and it’s American. So, just how easy is it to create jobs anyway? If you believe our suitors, it SHOULD be easy. I mean The President ONLY has to contend with two warring factions, the populous consensus, several wars on foreign soil AND his critics. Amidst all this there were 162,000 jobs created in March, not nearly enough, but, it’s something. Teen Unemployment is at 26% black unemployment is about 17.2%.

When I look at the experience I just had, I see people who are right back to where they were before and in some cases worse because of their participation with a certain titan of business and I have to ask myself just how difficult it is to create opportunity for our fellow Americans? Apparently, it proved to be too difficult even when you have all the right contacts, all the right media exposure and qualified candidates. So, before we take to listening to all the sweet words and all the passionate protesters, let’s look at the impotent billionaire and ask is the real intent there a real plan for job creation or are we just hearing sweet nothings being whispered in our ears?