Clueless in Washington

In December, "Fabricating Update" readers responded to the annual survey about business concerns. A recap of the survey findings will be published on thefabricator.com next week. In summary, the majority who responded said that business is picking up or they expect improvements soon. Fifteen percent are "barely hanging on." One percent have closed up shop.

Respondents who shared comments weighed in not only on their business concerns and how their companies are faring. They also blasted the government.

A subscriber who said his company has bottomed out and is barely hanging on wrote, The current administration is clueless. We are on a social reengineering rollercoaster led by an inexperienced Marxist. The deficit is soaring; everyone wants to 'fix' healthcare (what they really want is the same healthcare but at a lower premium); we are fighting wars we should be out of; we are contemplating taxes to pay for the social reengineering; and we lack a sense of urgency. And what if inflation hits us hard? We are going to suffer for years to come.

"The Obama stimulus was ill conceived and poorly administered. Government adds 500,000 jobs and thinks they are fixing the economy. Just pitiful!"

Another whose company has bottomed out and is barely hanging on addressed what he perceives to be the lack of attention given to smaller businesses: "We are the typical nonunion, small business manufacturing corporation. We have not seen any help by the current administration to specifically improve our industry [metal forming]. Everything they propose appears to only support larger union organizations. We have customers who want to buy, but cannot obtain financing."

A representative of a tube bending equipment company, who said his company had bottomed out and business is picking up, wrote, "My biggest concern is how we are going to pay off the tremendous debt our government has undertaken. This usually falls heavy on business in the form of taxes, fees, and mandates."

A subscriber whose business continues to decline with little improvement in sight said, "Until we vote this administration out, we will see little real improvement. Capitalists don't respond well to Washington's Marxist doctrines. We were looking into the precipice on the eve of the election in 2009. We are now sliding into a dark hole, one of which we may never come out of again. The American people need to vote the elite Washington crowd out of office and start over again. We can't do any worse than what we have now.

"I have been in metalworking since 1965 and I have never, nor have my associates, seen things as screwed up as they are — national debt that can't be paid off without raising taxes. They never cut spending. [The debt] can only be repaid with higher taxes and higher taxes never help anyone. Where is Ronnie Reagan when you need him?"

A reader from a steel fabrication and erection company, who reported that his company's business continues to decline but is expected to pick up, simply said, "The current House is going to destroy the economy for a long time!"

A respondent who said his company had bottomed out and business is picking up said, "My concern & is a combination of many things. The work ethic of today's worker cannot hold a candle to those of the past. Additionally we are being taxed to death to support a government that borders on being corrupt, whose primary interest is in getting reelected as opposed to doing what is right for the American people."

Washington, you have a problem that goes beyond resolving myriad issues of vital importance. It's an image problem. Few trust the government's motives, let alone its ability to discern the right actions and implement them. Here's an idea — instead of sitting on Capitol Hill and debating the merits of this or that action and strategizing just what special concessions it will take to win that hold-out Senator's or Congressman's vote, let the people vote on bailout measures, national health care, and other important legislation that affects our lives. Are we too stupid to make those decisions? Come to think of it, we elected you. Maybe we are.

Follow Vicki Bell, fabcomlady, on Twitter.