The Arizona law has forced illegal immigration to the forefront. Neither political party wants to touch it. The obvious solutions will cost votes to whichever party leads the reform.

In a nanny state with a weak economy, illegal immigration is a huge problem. Illegals will add to poverty and take money from government provided healthcare, welfare, education, and even Social Security. What is the impact of illegal immigration on 10% unemployment? It can’t be helpful, not to mention the added criminal activity.

Small business may be the key to  economic recovery and even provide an answer to illegal immigration.  Over half of the population works for small business and for years the growth of the economy has been due primarily to small business.

Small business is paralyzed and in fear of what is coming next to tax or regulate them. They are certainly taking no risks. It appears that Obama is happy to bailout Wall Street, state governments, and even illegals. He has not dedicated a speech to small business and even shut out the Chamber of Commerce when he held a small business summit last year. He only attended the meeting for minutes.

Imagine the economic impact of reducing illegal immigration and at the same time cutting or reducing payroll taxes for small businesses willing to hire people. Obama seems willing to welcome illegal immigrants with open arms while ignoring small business. What’s up?

What’s up is politics as usual. It is all about votes. Mexican immigrants are a huge voting block for the democrats. Small business is in the tank for republicans. The fall elections will now determine policy and priorities.

Obama ran on the promise of changing Washington. I don’t know if he really believed his own hype, or was just saying what would get him elected. Regardless, the country is now moving in a more liberal/progressive direction. It means bigger government and less freedom.

Whether you are for bigger government or smaller, there is a need for better politicians. The first step is removing the career politicians. Ted Kennedy recently died after serving over 40 years in the senate. This should never happen again. Robert Byrd died after over 60 years in congress. It seems death is the only way to get someone out of office. Why do we continue to vote these guys in?

I am a small government, main street kind of guy. Politicians use every  issue to expand the power of government and the press acts like every issue impacts the little guys, like me. I don’t think so.

This Greece thing is the prime example. The country is going bankrupt and the European Union has bailed them out. The problem is simple, Greece has been paying too many government employees too big a pay package. Our stock markets almost crashed over the deal. This issue has nothing to do with most Americans. On top of that, I have a problem with bailing out organizations that are marked by massive waste and corruption.

The financial reform bill is another useless pile of hooey. With a thousand laws already on the books that were not enforced, the only answer for politicians is more regulation. Again, it means very little on main street. I never understood the bank bailout. If the banks “too big too fail” were allowed to go under, all small investors would have been protected by the FDIC. The market can regulate itself better than government and for a lot less money. Letting companies or countries fail because of their wasteful practices will cause temporary pain but will strengthen future prospects.

The oil spill is not a good thing. It’s really bad for the fishes. The ensuing blame game is bad for the rest of us. When did every accident become an evil conspiracy? An investigation is certainly warranted to better the process of oil drilling in deep water. In congress, however, the issue is not a big oil spill but big oil companies and their evil profit. I am confident that BP will do everything they can to fix this spill. It is laughable to see the debate in Washington. I can’t wait to see Barney Frank put on scuba gear, dive to the bottom of the Gulf, and give his engineering solution. He is just another Harvard lawyer hoping to get a lot of mileage from this issue. It won’t be long until we hear about the bonus given to the BP CEO. This does not hurt or help my small business.

As always small business is left out of any discussion. If the press would put their lens on the small companies (none on Wall Street) that can hire people, we might get out of this economic mess. It is time to highlight the guys that change our oil and grease rather than big oil companies and Greece.

As a small business owner I feel like the enemy of the big three. None of them make it easier for me to make a profit and grow my business. They don’t know or care that I exist. It is unbelievable that while small business hires 70% of the employees in this country and is the key to economic growth, these three giants show no respect. Government bailed out GM (big union) and Wall Street (big business) and left the little guys to fend for themselves.

Big unions may have done too good of a job. They fought hard for the employees at GM and the result is outstanding pension and benefits for life. It is the same with government employees. Government employees can retire at 50, if they have worked for 25 years, receive 70% of their income for life. They keep the healthcare for life, also. There are now so many retired government employees that it is breaking the back of state governments. Some governments may be forced into bankruptcy to deal with the problem.

The toast of the town in Washington is big business. Big business pays for elections, parties around town, charity events, and a hooker or two for our public servants. Politicians won’t admit it, but they love big business. Big business is their mama and girlfriend in one package.

This may surprise you, but big business loves regulation and higher taxes. Here are some examples. Tobacco regulations were supposed to protect citizens but trial lawyers got rich and Phillip Morris got guaranteed profits. Before Enron had it’s little scandal, they led the fight for the Kyoto Treaty concerning global warming. Why would an energy company do this? The money they were going to make off every one through carbon trading. There would be no ethanol production were it not for the government handouts to Archer Daniels Midland. This is a never ending horror story. Even Wal-Mart benefits from local governments who want Wal-Mart to build there. Big businesses get so much money from the government that they often lead the charge for higher taxes in order to protect themselves . Ever heard of corporate welfare?

And the final member of the unholy trinity is big government. This is the most deceitful of the three. It is not a matter of being democrat or republican, they equally fail us. They both claim to be against deficits, a complicated tax code, higher taxes, and lobbyists. They have the power to change these things, but they don’t. Big government needs big business and big unions to keep their control over a rigged system.

There is a dog in my house that, without limits, would eat himself to death. It is true with the big three. If we the people do not limit their intake and power, they will eat everything. We can start by voting out all incumbents. Elect people with a renewed commitment to individuals over the big’s.

I used to have employees. My business was providing marketing research, sales consulting, and sales services to small technology companies. All my employees worked from home and were located in several states. The work was all on computers and phones. It seemed so simple.

Enter the IRS. They have rules. You can buy the 20 volume “US Code of Federal Regulations” written by the IRS from the Government Printing Office for $974. This does not include around 100 volumes of the court tax cases nor individual state tax laws. If a business has employees they are required to know the latest tax rules and pay federal taxes, state taxes, social security taxes, and employment security taxes for each employee. If you happen to make a mistake you could face interest, fines, and imprisonment.

I had one employee in Oklahoma who I had to let go due to tax issues. Oklahoma could not agree on how to classify my business, so they were going to charge a tax on my services. It is really important to know which box to check on these government applications!

Deductions are another wild ride on the IRS train. I guess it is made complicated by all the big shots paying for legislators to give them loopholes. I spend a lot of time looking for loopholes. For example, take the vehicle deduction. Everyone I know uses the per mile formula for getting their deduction. It is certainly easy. Did you know there is another way to deduct your car? It is called the Actual Method. You deduct all expenses of the vehicle including depreciation. It is complicated to do, but you will have a much larger deduction. IRS = time and money. Good for lawyers and accountants, bad for small business.

Enter the Obama administration. They were elected on the promises of higher taxes, nationalized healthcare, and Cap and Trade. All the stimulus money given to Wall Street and state governments are just late additions to the power game. All of this spells death to the small business. Thank goodness we are still a capitalist economy with the hope of large profits to cover massive government intrusions.

Now that the banks have been saved, everyone wonders why people are not lining up to borrow money. I can answer that – small business owners are scared to death! Why would they take a risk and borrow money knowing they will have to adjust their business to every whim of this gigantic government?

If I need help now, I pay independent contractors. A 1099 form for each contractor at the end of the year and it’s done. It’s not the best way to do business, but it’s safe. Nationwide, this is not good for the economy.

Small business is not looking for a government handout or bailout. We just need the government to get out. If the government really wants people working and the economy to grow, look to small business. Reduce the tax burden, relax the rules on employment, and stop protecting big business.

The mystery number is how many new jobs are there? How many businesses filed for licenses, how many existing companies expanded, and how many employees will be needed to support these? How many new independent contractors are there? In a country this size there has to be a large number of new positions being created every month for there to be economic strength. New jobs are the key to recovery and growth.

Recently it was announced that there were 432,000 new claims for unemployment for the month. This was viewed as positive since they were predicting 452,000. To me, the number is tragic if there were no new jobs created in the month. On the other hand, this number would not be as bad if we knew that 1 million new jobs were generated during the same time.

The press is quick to point out how many jobs have been shipped overseas. I never hear a single mention of the jobs started right here by new ventures. We fret when hearing about a thousand jobs lost overseas to local people being paid one dollar per hour. But who cares, if at the same time, a thousand new jobs are added here that pay thirty dollars per hour?

I assume most of the jobs info comes from Unions and big business. I wonder how much of the data is directly from small business? Since 70% of the jobs in the country are through small business why is that sector not the most important one to track? I would like to see two reports for each job number from the Labor Department. One report should reflect the numbers from small business and the other from Wall Street companies, Unions, and government.

Here is a simple explanation about how the jobs numbers are viewed. Take a company with 50,000 employees. They can layoff 5,000 people to improve their bottom line and be rewarded on Wall Street for cutting costs and improving profits. The unemployment rate will go up a little but the economy, to the econo-nuts (economists), will be fine. If the company hires back a couple thousand along the way then the economy will be viewed as smoking. All the while we still have unemployment, a majority of the population remains struggling, and we get our butts kicked in the global market.

Obama wants green jobs, I want jobs. When individuals in this country get serious about starting new ventures and getting productive, our economy will swell. First we must get green (money), then we can go green (environment).

Obama and the other Ivy Leaguers in Washington believe that national policy is more important than local action. I am sure that just about any economics professor, who has never started a business, would teach the same. I am looking at my Economics 101 textbook right now and every chapter but one deals with national economic policy. The other one deals with international  policy and theory.

While the elite discuss theories over a 3 martini lunch, let me tell you what I know. I see a van around town advertising dog poop pickup. “Nails” shops appear to be weathering the economic storm, they are in every strip mall. Pizza places are offering some great deals and a guy down the street is offering services as a handyman. I work from home and make cold calls everyday to sell my services. All the larger companies in the area are laying people off.

Small business is local and local action is the hope for recovery. America was built on the backs of people with a dream of having a  more prosperous life. Average people have ideas to make things cheaper, better, or faster. These ideas can come to life with passion and a willingness to work. Have you created the next rock that grows hair?

I fear a growing number of local people are trading in their hopes for hand-outs. They believe that Obama will help them. They are waiting for federal funding which comes at the expense of freedom.

There is little capitalism in government and big business. True capitalism is found with the hard working small players who risk it all to make a profit. They are too small for bailouts. Since Obama has taken office big government and big business have become bigger. As they consume a greater portion of our national resources, where does this leave the rest of us? As the servants of big government and big business.

This is not the life I want for myself or my kids. Healthcare, Cap and Trade, and other huge government programs will give even more power and control to the federal government. Everything they are proposing is not in the constitution, and according to the 10th Amendment, “are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people”.

Big government and big business are taking your money and partnering to get more. Let’s do what we can from letting them take over our lives. Vote the career politicians out, support small local businesses, and develop your idea into a business.  When you get it going, call me, I need a better job.