If an establishment is endowed with enough history to be able to hang a plaque on the wall that says “George Washington Slept Here,” that business usually grows. With Barack Obama, it’s the exact opposite. That’s why when Obama visits or supports a business, the plaque should read “Because of Barack Obama the business you didn’t build will soon be out of business.”
If Obama backs a solar energy company it is almost certain that a shutdown is in the offing. To date, approximately 34 Obama-backed green energy companies have gone bankrupt, the most well-known being Solyndra. With the help of a highly Obama-touted half-billion dollar federal loan guarantee, Solyndra expanded their solar panel operations and created 158 jobs. Then, 15 months later the company filed Chapter 11 and laid off 1,100 employees.
The Obama curse is not limited to green energy companies. In 2009 the President visited Cardinal Fasteners in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and by 2011 the bolt-maker was in Chapter 11 and was forced to suspend operations.
From the looks of things, in 2009 Barack really spread the bankrupting joy around. To promote his economic stimulus plan the president toured Allentown Metal Works, a 100-year-old Pennsylvania metal fabrication company that specialized in making heavy-duty steel components for bridges and power plants as well as for the cement and mining industries. The Lehigh Valley manufacturer didn’t get a 15-month or two-year reprieve; by 2010 the plant’s gate was padlocked.
And yet again in 2009, as part of his business-busting/pro-stimulus bill marathon Barack bulldozed his way into the heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois. After the President’s visit Caterpillar notified an additional 2,454 workers that they were “losing their jobs as the company continues to try to bring production in line with plummeting demand…The bulk of the job cuts – nearly 1,600 in all – [were] in Illinois at the company’s plants in East Peoria.”
Most would likely agree that it’s one thing when manufacturers of solar panels, steel components, and bulldozers get the deathblow, but when the Obama whammy starts hitting eateries, no one is safe. And I mean no one.
Last year while on the road campaigning in Ohio, while passing through Akron, Obama stopped for breakfast. The president ate two eggs over easy, bacon and wheat toast, hugged the owner Josephine “Anne” Harris, took a couple of courtesy photos, and left. Two hours later, the 70-year-old owner of Ann’s Place succumbed to natural causes and went home to be with the Lord.
In June of 2010, while down by the Gulf of Mexico eating snow cones and inspecting tar balls after the BP spill, Obama graced Camardelle’s Seafood with his esteemed presence.
At the time, Barack was on a mission to save the Gulf restaurant industry by proving the seafood was safe to eat. He proved it by scarfing down enough shrimp and crawfish at Camardelle’s to choke a Louisiana catfish. After he made his point, the following month the Grand Isle restaurant was forced to put up a “Closed” sign.
Then there was the New Chef’s Restaurant in Toledo, Ohio. Obama cited the 70-year-old establishment as an “indirect beneficiary of the government’s Chrysler bailout.” Obama, who has always been a stickler for pronouncing names correctly (like ‘Navy Corpse-man Christian [sic] Brossard’), praised workers at a nearby Chrysler Wrangler plant, saying, “And this plant indirectly supports hundreds of other jobs right here in Toledo. After all, without you, who’d eat at Chet’s or Inky’s or Rudy’s?”
A week after being mentioned in that speech, Chet’s…sorry, Chef’s Restaurant, after feeding the local community for almost three-quarters of a century, boarded up the windows, locked the front door, and walked away.
Now we come to find out that the owners of Washington DC’s Ray’s Hell Burger, Nice and Greasy Steak and Cheesy, and Ray’s Hell Burger Too are also closing up shop after failing to pay the rent.
Ray’s Hell Burger is home to the Soul Burger Number One, the Fat Joe, and the BIG Poppa.
Ray’s is where number one soul man, ultimate Big Poppa Barack Obama and his zany sidekick Phat Joe Biden used to dine together on occasion. When Barry was looking for a very special place to take Russian dignitary President Dmitry Medvedev, Ray’s Hell Burger was the place to go.
Obama ate juicy burgers at Ray’s and now the celebrated landmark has been served an eviction notice for being $39,000 in arrears for rent and damages. Tragedies like this illustrate that while “George Washington slept here” is a sure-fire way to make money, “Barack Obama dripped grease and mustard on this wooden top table” just isn’t enough history to keep the doors open or the rent paid.
Nonetheless, either way, businesses all across America continue to prove the President’s controversial campaign contention that “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.”
But if that’s true, then it must also be true that if, through no fault of your own, you no longer have a successful business that you didn’t build, “you didn’t get there on your own…somebody along the line gave you some help.” And that somebody would be Barack Obama.
Jeannie DeAngelis
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