In a pickle? Want a pickle? Pickled Pigs Feet?

When I was growing up, my Mom went to the grocery store weekly. Usually we walked there or, if she had some money, we took a cab. We did not have a car until I was 10. Anyway, We would go the Butcher who was in the National Food Store and he would package up whatever meat she was buying for our family. When I went with her the thing that always caught my attention was the large jar of Pickled Pigs Feet that sat up on the meat counter. It always looked like body parts in juice to me. Yuk!

My Mom used to buy them occasionally though because they were cheap. We had them in beans and sometimes she scrapped them and made something like ham salad for sandwiches. They were awful to m and nasty to look at. I think this recession is like Pickled Pigs Feet. Nobody likes to look at them but some people have to have to live on because they were cheap! Sometimes people just have to cut back to make ends meet and they learn that when they cut back, they really can get by with less or less expensive.

Small and family owned businesses are like that today. Many large businesses too. They have learned, when business went away, to cut back, lay off, reduce inventories and live with less than what they thought they MUST have. Good! Now they are not hiring and are buying slowly because they are being cautious and because they have learned to do without and to make the best use of what they have. Unfortunately, that means they will not be hiring quickly but it also means that the people they have are more important to them and the people they do have WANT their jobs and are not necessarily needing someone like a union to make sure they keep their jobs. I say, small business unit. Dump the union if you have and can, keep on being careful, make sure your inventories are cut to the bone (use JIT, MRP, Kan-Kan, RFID whatever) and replenish previous levels of finished, saleable goods only as you can justify the increase with......... ORDERS, SALES AND SHIPPING!!!!!!

President Obama just had a job summit. Huh? Is that crazy or what. What can he do to create jobs? Force employers to hire people like he forced the stimulus on us. No way. However, they did talk about doing something that might actually save jobs. Cut taxes (either payroll or other) so that the small business can again be profitable enough to expand and, eventually, hire people. I know what he is trying to do and I applaud the effort. However, if he would butt out of the Free Enterprise System and let it recover from here on its own. I saw the other day an alarming statistic. In the Presidents cabinet, staff and their staff, only about 5% of the people have any business experience at all. They are all good, however, at Chicago type politics and gangster methods.

That is what pickles me. How about you?