Siegel, The Cavalier Businessman

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Category: Business
Published: Sunday, 27 January 2013 00:05

This article originally published in West Orlando News Online.

When David Siegel suggested to his employees that they vote for Mitt Romney to save their jobs, he showed a total lack of respect for all 7,000 of them and their families. He is willing to close the company and, might even retire and take their “opportunities” with him to a beach in the Caribbean. Siegel is being very cavalier about peoples’ lives, families and children. He has shown that he doesn’t care about anything except himself.

Someone on a social media site suggested organizing a boycott of Westgate Resort. The problem with that is, boycotting will hurt the business and may cause a huge loss of revenue which then leads to layoffs of employees, said someone else. This results in a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, a boycott will hurt the same folks that are being told to vote for Romney – the folks that need a higher level of respect.

The fact is, not doing anything is exactly what Siegel expects from his employees and from the community. Siegel, like many very wealthy people, is not being held accountable for what he says or does. He wasn’t held accountable in the 2000 presidential campaign, when he admitted that some of his actions may not have been legal in his successful attempts to thwart Al Gore from becoming POTUS. He was not held accountable then, and he is not being held accountable now.

 Those with lots of money, live by a different set of rules than the rest of us and we are doing nothing about it. The rules are created to accommodate them to the detriment of everyone else. The laws are designed to benefit them. They control 98% of the money, they control the businesses where we work, they control our lives. So, when they want more control, they just intimidate their employees to do what is “Best for them.” Of course at that point, they tell them what is best.

 There is a sense of entitlement, a belief that they can do whatever they want and everyone should go along with it. The problem is not their problem, it is our problem. Large companies get tax write-offs and other benefits that local small companies don’t receive. It is the smaller local companies that support the community, by keeping the money in the community. In small community businesses, you might know the owner by name. Your children play with their children. You communicate with each other at church and PTA meetings. When you know someone and communicate with them, you won’t fire them because your politics are different.

 Instead of a boycott of the Siegel empire, we should boycott our elected officials by denying them our vote. We should make them pass laws that are beneficial to local small businesses. Instead of giving million-dollar tax write-offs to one company, maybe consider giving million-dollar tax breaks to several existing local small companies. That way when one businessman threatens 7,000 families in the community, maybe several other businessmen can take up the slack.