By Murray Wennerlund published 8-5-2020 updated 8-5-2020
The SBA Disaster Recovery Loan Facebook group had at the time more than 33,000 members. Out of 33,000 less than 75 took part in the poll.
"How did you feel after you contacted your two (2) US Senators about your business and your household economic future?
Response options were.
We had 51 members that selected "None of the above", 7 felt their needs addressed, 4 felt understood, no one selected that they felt secure, and no one selected all of the above.
Making your politicians from local to federal understanding what it's like to be a disaster victim is the first goal for every community in my opinion. When you have politicians that understand your needs then you may actually come first.
Here in Louisiana politicians select task force members who for the most part didn't suffer economic loss or property loss. It's been documented that the governors of our state have appointed people to cover programs which they have no experience other than experience under fire.
We have congressional representatives that spend millions, no make that billions making sure roads to gas and oil pipelines are accessible and use federal tax dollars that were given to assist the state with it's disaster recovery.
When your politicians don't know what you are experiencing it could only be one thing that causes this, their own agenda which just doesn't include you.
Make sure you note the number of times your state representatives deflect to other states issues. Note the number of time they work on roads, swamps, lakes, national parks, when you are falling apart because of the same government ordering you to do as they say no matter the costs and they are not their to help when your doors are closed.
It's all about the numbers, keep the unemployment numbers down by giving more unemployment compensation directly to employers and call it the Paycheck Protection Program. That reduced the total unemployment count which helped stabilize the economy. But when that program ended for your business you had to choose from closing and letting everyone go on unemployment or going deeper into disaster debt by taking an SBA loan.
Their is no recovery program that provides additional debt burden that has ever been successful at reducing disaster losses. Let's face it, you're going to borrow money to keep a business available and ready to open but you have no idea what Washington DC will do next to secure your business interests. If it's not related to Wall Street it's secondary at best.
The next time you speak with your Congressional Representatives be sure to ask the real questions they need to be answering. We have congressman that wrote books on coastal restoration and have been talking about how much they are working on the state but amounts to zero business owners outside this congressman's agenda. So make sure they answer your call and make sure they represent you when they are working to keep Wall Street and our banks afloat.
Posting in Facebook or Twitter does nothing to drive change, you see what it takes, get your voices heard by calling your politicians daily and stand outside their walls with your message when they don't take your calls.
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