BIG news...

Ah, this is my beloved Rotary Club. Naturally, as a member I am horribly biased but I think it is the best Rotary Club around! I am very proud to be a part of this organization. We are a large club (about 170 members) and are very active in our local and the international community. I have news about it however it won't be official for a few weeks so this is all I can say for now. I have had the chance to work on projects that benefit our high school students, our foreign students that are in Georgia on scholarships, our club itself with better ways to streamline and deliver information, and certainly I have had my share of hours of rolling up my sleeves and do the manual labor work. I have enjoyed every minute of it. We have secured a matching grant in the amount of $65,000 USD (About $100,000 FJD) to work on infant mortality issues in Fiji. I am a part of a team that will take a group from Georgia to Fiji to visit the project site and plan other projects. Rotary can open the world up to your imagination for great service and great fun. How big can you dream?

Small business...

It is a new day. No matter what the results of the election for president, we were going to see change in America. We were going to break a stereotype and I find that invigorating! The president elect however, inherits a complex financial situation and that will take tremendous skill and savvy to resolve.

I have some hopes. I hope that we will move to more solar power and that is an area of the market that I have waited to see. I have hopes that we will find a solution to immigration so all the hard working immigrants that come to America can do so legally, without fear of deportation, and participate in America including education, taxes, small business, etc.. Do things the RIGHT way, just as my family did years ago.

I have some fears as well. I fear big government. I fear the dependency that the welfare state creates. I fear the government's ability to mandate behavior based on tax codes. I do not believe in the redistribution of wealth and I loathe class warfare. I am middle class. As I see it, the definition of middle class has become so small in order to fit into EITHER party's "freebies" and it changes by the moment. Therefore, I fear for my wallet/retirement/savings/small business. There is nothing wrong with me wanting to keep the money that I worked for and I don't desire to take someone else's income to make my lifestyle better. I want many opportunities for everyone to work and be rewarded for it!

And one more hope ... I hope that the new administration (that means everyone from the local people to the federal people) finds a better and more efficient way to use the money they do take! I hope that I, the small business person, am considered in the new financial solution... after all small business generates jobs for 85% of all working Americans!