This was sent as satire but the point is real. Why are the small companies who employ most Americans left out while a few select banks and insurance companies receive billions of OUR taxpayer dollars?
It's time to send a message of our own to Congress.
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Honorable Senators Martinez and Nelson and Congresswoman, Corrine Brown. Florida:
I want to ask you to put in my application for some bailout money. Although my small company is not dead yet and I have not paid myself any bonus in the entire time I have been in business, the present economy is creating a lot of pressure on me since my clients are other small businesses. I design web sites and sell advertising promotions.
If my small home-based business fails now, I am left with only a small social security check which cannot even cover my modest rent and utilities, let alone buy food. I would literally have to move into the woods and live in a tent or something just to survive on less than $760 per month. A friend, his wife and two young children live with and depend on me for their shelter as well. One child brings a small SSI disability check. The mother works part time at McDonald's. The father has suffered 4 strokes in a short span of time and has no income at all. He is hoping for disability as his doctors told him no more construction work. He has no insurance and now has in excess of $100,000 in hospital bills.
I am in good health but can't do much else because I have a bad hip due to advanced arthritis. I can't afford to fix it due to a lack of health care so I am forced to rely on one arm to work a cane. I can't carry anything with two hands and can't stand for very long without suffering a lot of pain. I can work at my computer. What I do at home is all I have.
I can find no legal reason that I am not equally entitled under the law to receive some bailout cash to help keep my business afloat until you resolve the economic crises, please have the Treasury Department mail me a check in the amount of $250,000. I am sure that when compared to the other bailout recipients, my request is small. It will allow me to save my property and pay off my debts to avoid foreclosure and bankruptcy and help preserve my credit and modest income. I don't have a powerful lobby to represent me so this letter is my "lobby".
I promise I will not pay myself a bonus with this money ...I will use it for advertisement and promotions and to offset monthly costs of doing business. Since I am presently in foreclosure ( thanks for no help in that area ) on my only asset and have retained a bankruptcy attorney, I have no credit. Not that it would matter because, as you know, the banks you gave money to, in order to free up credit, are using that money to buy up other banks and pay bonus rather than loan money to businesses who need it.
Most of that money will be sent to the same banks you are trying to "help." This way it will assist an actual constituent along the way...sort of killing two birds with one stone. The few extra bucks will help me find new customers...assuming local business has any money to spend for my services.
I await your timely response so I can inform my mortgage company before the foreclosure process has finished and also let my creditors know Iwill be able to pay them rather than continuing with my bankruptcy.
Respectfully,
Paul K.
