Dear Larry Tobin,
Can you show me President Obama saying, "small businesses are doing fine and the only reason is because the government has done something for them"? (Again, without the cut and paste of sentences taken out of context).

Take out the word ONLY and I bet you could find half a dozen business owners in Tomahawk, and many more in the whole Northwoods for that matter, who would agree they have been helped directly and indirectly by government. Whether it be contracts, grants, small business loans, etc....many, many businesses in our area and through out the US have received help from our government.

Even the stars of Romney's own commercials got some help from their friends - the government.

A distortion of the truth quickly results in a lie and I would think you would have more respect for the truth, after all there is enough fault on both sides of the aisle to be able to argue without the need to distort facts. Government surely is not the answer and we sure can cut spending but we all need to work together!

I talk to a good many business owners on a regular basis and don't know of ANY who have gotten help from the government. The ones I knew who got small business loans are now out of business.

Who delivers your newspapers? I'm pretty sure the postman does, unless you recently started to employ a private army of delivery people. And, what roads do they drive on when they deliver your papers? The ones built by yourself or by the government? And how do we even have this message board to write on? The internet was invented by the military (i.e. the government).

These are the types of things Obama (channeling Warren) was talking about. His point is that without investments by the government, especially in infrastructure, the environment for private businesses to thrive would not be as great.

Here is Elizabeth Warren's video that went viral and inspired Obama's comments which were then taken out of context. The first minute is about the national debt and the second minute goes into the stuff we've been discussing so far on this thread.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... CQsylIjEn0

Although you talk to a good many business owners I bet there are even more that you did NOT talk to. I bet some of the ones you know are successful - I know of at least one.

Irregardless starting out I bet some of the ones you knew poured some money into your pocket in the form of advertising and keeping it local that $$ has turned over into another pocket and so on and so forth.

Do you know any of these? - Wisconsin SBA FY 2011 Loans by Lender:

http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/ ... rovals.pdf

I assume most of them use the roads or the postal service in some manner. The owners or workers probably use or have benefited from prescription drugs or procedures made safe by the Food and Drug Administration and use food and water protected by a variety of government protections. Most have probably used our laws and legal protections. Look at Rib Mountain Ski hill. It took USDA Small business loans, prospered and sold at a profit.

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"Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other." -Baha'u'llah

Once again, more distortion of the truth which quickly results in a lie. You whined in your opinion yet once again that President Obama said something that he did not. He did NOT tell small business owners in Roanoke, Virginia, “that they didn’t create their success through their own smarts and sweat, government did it for them.” Those are your words, not his!

You and your friends at Fox continue to repeat the four words “you didn’t build that” over and over to take it out of context. What did President Obama say before and after those four words? Really, include the 50 words before and the 50 words after and even you should be able to figure out that what President Obama said does NOT equate to “they didn’t create their success through their own smarts and sweat, government did it for them”.

Through Tomahawk Community Bank six SBA loans added up to more than $1million from October 2010 to September 2011. More loans and money were distributed through River Valley Bank and Citizens bank – some in our community, others in nearby communities. Because you say you "talk to a good many business owners on a regular basis and don't know of ANY who have gotten help from the government" and the ones you "knew who got small business loans are now out of business" doesn't make you the expert. Let's see some facts.

How many times does each dollar spent in our community get turned over? This type of joint effort can and does breed success.