Last week, I commented about the need for Short Pump to focus more on patronizing our locally-owned businesses. Today, I was reading the Wall Street Journal and I noticed that Chrysler, who just received billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout money, took out a full page ad in the national paper to say “thanks for the money.”
Short Pump Mom
"Short Pump Mom” runs a local blog called Short Pump Richmond, where her and her husband, “Short Pump Dad,” write about day-to-day experiences of raising a family in Short Pump.
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I don’t know about you, but I was a bit upset that this company was spending the money on newspaper advertisements. The more I think about the economic problems, the more strongly I feel that the best way to help the country is to help the small family owned businesses in local communities, rather than the large corporations who just continue to waste money.
It is the small businesses that need to provide real valuable products and services so they can feed their families. It is the small businesses in each community that hires over 50% of the workforce. It is the small businesses that remain innovative when it comes to better serving customers and communities. It is the small businesses that feel more responsibility when it comes to its employees and business partners. It is the small businesses that cannot afford waste, extra expense accounts, and luxuries for executives.
Given all this, I think that both government and communities can help by thinking about how to help small business owners survive and grow in a difficult economy like ours.
I hope that residents of any community, including the Short Pump community, will understand this and make extra efforts to shop, patronize, and support our local small businesses- the ones not owned by large corporations, but owned by our neighbors.
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