Does Obama actually understand business?

Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

OBAMA: [L]ook, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. 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.

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. 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.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. 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.

So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That's how we funded the GI Bill. That's how we created the middle class. That's how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That's how we invented the Internet. 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.

Anybody with a lick of sense can see that Obama wasn't referring to the business, he was referring to the roads and business.

Mitt Romney is deliberately taking President Obama’s words out of context in order to distort the President’s record of support for small businesses. Speaking in Roanoke, Virginia, the President offered a robust defense of public investment in infrastructure.

Romney decided to selectively edit President Obama to make it appear like the President was insulting small businesses: “[President Obama] said this, ‘If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’ That somebody else is government, in his view ... To say something like that is not just foolishness, it’s insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America, and it’s wrong.”

But it’s Romney’s statement that’s wrong—it’s a complete distortion. Here’s what the President actually said:


“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. 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. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.”

The President’s full remarks show that the “that” in “you didn’t build that” clearly refers to roads and bridges—public infrastructure we count on the government to build and maintain.

Romney can try to manipulate those words into a political attack, but the facts belie the smear: President Obama has continuously fought to help small businesses grow by cutting their taxes and making it easier for them to invest in American jobs. Here’s how:
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18 tax cuts for small businesses: The President signed 18 tax cuts to support small businesses, providing $200 billion in tax relief and incentives for America’s businesses over the last three years.

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Record volume of small business loans last year: President Obama has also supported nearly $80 billion in loans to more than 150,000 small businesses since 2009, including a record volume last year.

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Tax credits to support hiring: On top of the 18 tax cuts, President Obama wants to provide a 10% income tax credit for nearly 2 million businesses who hire new employees or raise wages. He also wants to extend 100 percent expensing for all businesses in 2012.


President Obama knows that small businesses are the “cornerstones of America’s promise, the idea that if you’ve got a dream and the work ethic to see it through, you can succeed.” And as he noted in Virginia, “when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative but also because we do things together.” That is why the President is committed to building an economy that invests in education, infrastructure, and innovation alongside strong business growth.

In contrast, Mitt Romney has a record of bankrupting businesses and laying off workers to make a profit as a corporate buyout specialist. His attempt to take the President’s words out of context and turn it into a political attack cannot distract from his record of fighting against the middle class.

I actually think you are correct but since you invariably jump on comments taken out of context, tough ****.

The Great Orator seems to make a lot of such " mistakes" when he's speaking without a script rolling on a teleprompter. Poor baby..

In any case, the gist of what he was asserting is not substantively changed by acknowledging he didn't actually mean that people with businesses didn't build their own businesses..

One need only rewind to his comments about smart and hardworking people.

He "has to laugh" when he hears people with businesses credit their success to their smarts. He has to laugh?.

Yes there are plenty of smart and hardworking people " out there," but there are not plenty of smart and hardworking people who are willing to risk it all and start a business.

Our economic system rewards these risk-takers and rightly so. Without them there is no innovation, no new products or services, no growth. More fail than succeed and so to keep them trying the reward has to be sufficient.

You know what positions the smart and hardworking risk adverse folks have? Corporate Executives..

The only individual characteristics Obama values are his own and those of his loyal followers. he laughs at those of everyone else.

Mitt Romney and the conservative blogosphere are pushing a selectively edited Obama campaign speech to suggest that the president believes that the government is responsible for the successes of small businesses.

Obama’s full remarks, which pointed out that taxpayer-funded infrastructure and services enable businesses to prosper, are demonstratively true and represent a sentiment shared by Republican leaders. For instance, Mitt Romney himself made an almost identical point during his speech at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics, crediting the community for helping individuals achieve the pinnacle of success:


ROMNEY: You Olympians, however, know you didn’t get here solely on your own power. For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities.

Obama echoed this sentiment in his misquoted campaign speech on July 13: “The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together,” he said.

Romney agreed with Obama as recently as last week, saying in a campaign appearance, “I know that you recognize a lot of people help you in a business. Perhaps the bank, the investors. There is no question your mom and dad, your school teachers. The people who provide roads, the fire, the police. A lot of people help.”

In a Mitt Romney ad last week, a stern Jack Gilchrist of Gilchrist Metal Fabricating tells President Obama that his family -- and not the government -- built his company.

But John DiStaso reports Gilchrist "did receive some government help for his business" in 1999 when the company received $800,000 in tax-exempt revenue bonds "to set up a second manufacturing plant and purchase equipment to produce high definition television broadcasting equipment."

In addition, Gilchrist Metal received a U.S. Small Business Administration loan of around $500,000 in the 1980s and has received several sub-contracts from the U.S. Navy.

"You Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power,” said Romney, who on Friday will attend the Opening Ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics. “For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities. All right! [pumps fist].”

In a Mitt Romney ad last week, a stern Jack Gilchrist of Gilchrist Metal Fabricating tells President Obama that his family -- and not the government -- built his company.

But John DiStaso reports Gilchrist "did receive some government help for his business" in 1999 when the company received $800,000 in tax-exempt revenue bonds "to set up a second manufacturing plant and purchase equipment to produce high definition television broadcasting equipment."

In addition, Gilchrist Metal received a U.S. Small Business Administration loan of around $500,000 in the 1980s and has received several sub-contracts from the U.S. Navy.

And it seems that Romney even agrees with Obama:

Quote:

"You Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power,” said Romney, who on Friday will attend the Opening Ceremonies of this year’s Summer Olympics. “For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities. All right! [pumps fist].”

I suppose all of the swimmers practice in the lake rather than a community pool, and the track-and-field folks practice on the family cow pasture instead of at a school....

No man is an island. Even Robinson Crusoe had equipment he salvaged from the shipwreck.

That's the message of Obama's speech, and that's the message of Romney's speech.

Bottom line, they agree on the fundamental fact that we succeed better when we have support.