All,
TD and NY Soldiers both have good points and I agree with y'all. This is a conundrum for sure but this is how I look at it:
-The first round of bailouts went to big business and a pacifier check to the populous...with a signed check by the dear leader AS IF he was dolling out the funds from his own bank account. Everyone got one except George.
-The second round went to Pay Check Protection which did nothing for independent contractors and those in the service industry (barbers, hair stylists, etc). Our business qualified for PCP and we got it most haste. Those who qualified got it...except George.
Meanwhile, the first of the month came and went on March 1st, April 1st and now May 1st and bills don't quarantine. Therefore, the common man/family still had to pay up even if he or she got let go from the COVID crisis. Can you file for unemployment? Sure, but you got wait at least another month or so just to get awarded. In the mean, you gotta eat and with no money comes desperate measures and actions in desperate times. Ask George, he'll tell ya. Oh and by the way George I may be making fun but I am not laughing about your situation AT ALL. In fact, I am a little pissed for you...vicariously.
So, in my opinion why can't George (as an example for many people) get a monthly dole that should not have to be paid back until it is SAFE to enter the work place and public? Well, because the Government will be ****ed to fund a citizen with out cause. In my opinion there is cause and this is a unique situation that requires action to keep not only our economy afloat but our citizenry whose financial and mental well being is at stake. With out tax payers (who should be happy ones by the way) you don't get money for bullets, payroll and White House toilet paper. The TAX Payer has been footing the bill for hundreds of years and this one time you (the government) can't reciprocate? *** is that? No, no there is this push to open the economy so the Govt does not have to pay out.
On a side note, one of our contractors son came into the shop and I asked him how college was going. He told me with glee that it was going great because he did not have to pay for it because he is a dreamer. Mind you I had just spent over $600 on college applications for daughter #2 and the wife and I strategized paying for her college for the next 4 to 8 years that week. I was gobsmacked and couldn't believe my ears. Simply put, a non citizen was getting their higher education paid for, yet my daughter (daughter of a veteran) a citizen (and tax paying one too) who is working "over" part time to earn some college money and filling out scholarships with a frenzy gets a flood of letters from banking institutions offering her loans to pay for college.
I was and still am disgusted at this story and its not over as Son#1 is right behind her.
This is an example of how our government prioritizes its citizenry wether its for college or during a pandemic. And by the way, Pandemic or no pandemic the dreamer kid still gets to go to college for free...on my dime and yours. Yet George, can't even get a $1200 signed check in his account. Its a crying shame and sadly that's how we roll in 'Merica and there is no end in sight. The bleeding has to stop.
John from Texas
PS: GICOP you need to call Boris about those gas price man...thats criminal.
John,
I'm fine with you using me as an example with this virus situation, not a problem at all.
Bottom line is this; I started MMTS 23 or so years ago and built the business the only way I knew how; by busting my *** and going to as many shows as humanly possible to get my name out there, I attended 26 of them one year, roughly one every other weekend, sometimes I'd double up and do two shows in one weekend.
Never afraid of hard work, my Dad taught me at an early age that if you want something, you have to work for it, so again, I hustled my *** off, been hammering away for 23 years at this toy soldier gig.
Happy to report I've been lucky and also blessed to have a **** ton of customers who have supported me throughout the years, some of whom sadly are gone/passed away, others are still with me (and you all know who you are...…
…………..) to this day.
I was doing this during the "salad days" as Matt from HB and I like to call them and I was again lucky and blessed, I have never wanted for anything, but I was and continue to be smart with my money, so I am well positioned for my and my girlfriends future as well as being able to ride out a ****show like this one.
When it first started to blow up in China, the supply of new goods outside of JJD (THANKS John!!) began to dry up/sales started to drop, then as the flow of goods from China began again, the **** hit the fan here in the US of A...……………..in March, not gonna lie, I was very concerned (as in VERY) as to what the future held for me selling a luxury item, toy soldiers.
Well, as things got worse in April, my sales went through the roof!?!?…………...I'm talking holy smokes through the roof, I'm talking the week before Christmas all of April, it's also bled into May.
Why? Near as I can tell from the people I've talked to, toy soldiers are a "comfort item", when that package shows up, we're little kids again, for a few hours, we forget about what's going on outside our doors...…………….case in point; I just sent off an order of 20mm FPW figures to my painter in the UK, as I await his email that he got them and is ready to make a start on them, the excitement builds for me.
I survived 9/11, I survived the housing crash in 2008 (the market crashed the Monday AFTER Chicago), I'll survive this.
So, I don't need a 1,200.00 check, give my dough to someone else who REALLY needs it, I don't need it, I don't want if, IF I get one (and due to my yearly income...…...…….hey, my accountant is as squeaky clean as it gets and I wouldn't want it any other way...…………..I guess I don't qualify?), I am going to donate that dough to a charity of my choice, we'll see.
I don't need a government bail out loan for payroll, it's just me, so give my dough to some poor bastard whos company is about to go down the ****ter, I don't want it, I didn't bother to apply as I don't need it.
All of these bail outs and checks should go to people who need it, not me, I'm all set. My mortgage company called, apparently they are all ****ting their pants and they asked me if there is anything they can do for me; told them nope, go help someone who really needs help, same with my leasing company for my jeep, I don't need any deferrals, thanks but no thanks, go help someone else.
I am truly and utterly blessed; I get to sell toy soldiers for a living, something I dreamed of doing since I was a kid, my customers are aces, they supported me through this ****show, it's extremely humbling and the room gets dusty just thinking of it.
I'll be 60 in December; not sure how much longer I'll have skin in this game, the youngsters like Julie from TFT and Matt from HB are the future of the hobby saleswise, I have more years in the rear view mirror as a dealer than in front of me on the highway of life, but for as long as I do, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to EVERYONE who helped make my childhood dream a reality and who supported me through both the thick (the "salad days") and the thin (9/11, 2008, Corona Virus)………………….
I'm amazed.
I'm truly touched.
Stay safe everyone, we'll get through this.
