i got this on the e-mail last week, it sounds like good ole Roy sings for the D's too.. sad, yet from one (hand)planefag to another, good riddance Roy … UNSUBSCRIBE!
Since the devastating hurricanes mauled North Carolina and Florida, many kind friends have reached out to see how we are doing. Everyone is fine, but there is massive rebuilding ahead. My family and friends in the mountains are hard at work helping each other, alongside fellow Americans organized by our state and federal agencies. Hardest hit were many of the small businesses in Asheville and surrounding towns. My years starting and running a small business, the Woodwright’s School, makes me particularly sympathetic to the challenges they now face, and to ask the question, how can we help?
First, a story of my small business. Of course it started with a dream, but a dream won’t buy you workbenches, tools and toilet paper. Luckily for me, just when I was struggling to start the Woodwright’s School, the Affordable Care Act came to the rescue. As an individual without insurance from a corporate employer, I had to pay outrageous premiums, much of which the insurer used to lobby congress instead of paying for our health care. The Affordable Care Act arrived just in time to help. The money I saved on my family’s health insurance helped me pay for the workbenches at the school.
Some years later, when the Covid pandemic made it too dangerous to have a dozen people breathing hard in our little classroom, I was able to continue with online Zoom classes using video cameras and equipment purchased with a Small Business Administration Emergency loan. (All since paid back with interest!)
We all owe a lot to creative small businesses, and those who have lost everything in the storms need to know that their fellow Americans are on their side. The dream of creating or rebuilding an American business shouldn’t be just for rich kids and big corporations.
So, again, what can we do to help? The answer is clear. We can vote for an opportunity economy.
Passing over the moral and mental fitness issues of this election in favor of the pocketbook question, which candidate would be better for our economy? Who would be better for small business?
It’s clear that one candidate has two very bad economic ideas. First, he wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (and make insurance executives richer at our expense). Second, he wants to make us pay a 20% tariff/tax on all imported goods. This would be his tax on us to help pay for tax breaks for Elon Musk and the Koch brothers. Big donors get the doughnuts and we get dumped on.
But Kamala Harris is on our side. Her tax incentives to encourage small business start-ups will help us all. Targeted tariffs to help strategic industries will keep America strong and safe, while we will keep our freedom to buy the best products to suit our needs, and to sell our products without retaliatory taxes from other countries. She will make affordable health insurance a blessing instead of an obstacle to Americans who have the courage and imagination to strike out on their own and build something new.
My greatest treasure has long been the good will of all those who have enjoyed the Woodwright’s Shop on television, in books, and at the Woodwright’s School. For all these years I have steered clear of politics, but I can no longer do so — the stakes are too high. Your single vote can make the difference between a path that drags us down and one that leads us all onward and upwards.
I hope for the reasons above (and so many more) that you will vote as soon as you can for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. It is the best thing you can do to help our economy prosper and grow.
May the grain be with you always!
Roy Underhill
89A Hillisboro St, Pitsboro, NC 27312, USA
Unsubscribe ←- definitely unsubscribe