Rant time

This just really ticks me off. Alexandra Petri shot off a blog this morning over at WaPo that sent me into orbit. Her complaint is based on Mitt Romney's comment in Iowa that "corporations are people, my friend." This sent Ms. Petri into a snarky (less than thought out) rant about how you can't invite 'corporations' over to dinner and other such nonsense. She also managed to get a solid dig in about Palin's special needs child (classless). Her point is way off base, here is what small businesses (corporations if you like) contribute to the economy:

Small firms:

Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.

Employ just over half of all private sector employees.

Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.

Have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years.

Create more than half of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).

Hire 40 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer programmers).

Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.

Made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced 30.2 percent of the known export value in FY 2007.

Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.

 
You see, Petri doesn't consider the fact that most corporations are actually small businesses made up of a few hard working people. Most of us are barely keeping their heads above water. We in the small business community go to bed and wake up thinking about what we can do to make our company better. Not just for us but for our customers, employees and their families.

I am lucky enough to own a small boniness and yes I represent it everywhere I go. Even, oddly enough, when I'm invited over to someone's house for dinner (full disclosure this doesn't happen very often). What Petri does not understand is that if I were to get hit by a bus my 'corporation' would effectively die. So yes Ms. Petri, corporations are people you sanctimonious (fill in your own bad word here).

Rant over.