You are reading something written by a desperate person who is gravely concerned about where our country is headed.

Here's some background. Nowhere else in the world, even after adding all other countries together, will the creativity and inventiveness of the United States be equaled. At no time in human history, has so much progress been made than during the years since the United States constitution was enacted in 1776. During this relatively short period of time the amount of inventions and advances in mankind dwarf all previous history eras.

I am desperate today because we are facing an unprecedented decline in human productivity and creative thinking while at the same time we are facing serious global economic challenges. It is like the world is hell bent on reversing the advances made during the past 233 years, which have resulted from the unbridled thinking and creativity that comes from free enterprise and capitalist system economics. In the United States where free enterprise has shined like no other place in the world, government encroachment into free enterprise decision-making is threatening to dismantle the entire economic system.

I am desperate because free enterprise allows for real advances in technologies, manufacturing, and medicines based on people who recognize a great need and who are also desperate to find a solution to meet that need. These people become inspired to find success because this system allows significant reward for those who take the risks. The free enterprise system, like none other, allows this type of need and solution relationship to grow and prosper. I am desperate because this system appears to be faltering and losing its momentum based on all the wrong reasons. On the other hand, I am inspired to find ways of using this situation to promote ideas and innovation that are positive. I want to turn my desperation into inspiration.

Many of you will argue that I am over reacting to the current global recession and that like past recessions you think we will come out of it better than ever before. You will argue that the free enterprise system is too unregulated and needs more control. Some of you will even argue that people who use this system to reach real success must also share the rewards with others who do not contribute, and that somehow being successful is bad or in some people's eyes "evil". Some will accuse me of being negative or unrealistic and argue that changes for more control in an unfettered system are a natural evolution for insuring fairness to all. Baloney! One only needs to look at the former Soviet Union or the present day North Korea, Iran and Venezuela to see the folly of such thinking.

Look, I feel desperate because the economic engine that has driven America's unprecedented success for its entire history and, which has been the leading example for most developing nations to follow, is coasting to a halt. The economic engine behind America is small business. Small business creates seventy eight percent of all new jobs in the United States that collectively equals ninety seven percent of the country's Gross National product (GNP). I am naturally a positive minded person but I am finding it easier to be negative as we see the results of what happens when financial controls and government giveaways favor big corporations and labor unions over the needs of small business. Compounding my feeling is the government's creation of a new national debt burden unlike anything ever experienced. This debt burden on future generations will be crippling and force future generations to be born into a form of "pre-ordained servitude" to government.

Now, what I share with you next may surprise you. Even though I am finding it easier to be negative, I have made a conscious decision not to be negative. As a matter of fact, negativity is the last thing in my mind. On the contrary I feel very positive even at the same time I am also feeling extremely desperate.

Now, that I have you scratching your head and thinking that Bob has lost it, let me eliminate the confusion and put your mind at ease. In today's challenging times it is very easy to start hand wringing, thinking "chicken little" thoughts about the sky falling and spouting "the end is near" words. Yet, it is exactly in these times that history has repeatedly shown that during periods of the greatest change comes the periods of the greatest opportunities. It is during these periods that innovation, inventiveness and creative thinking are at their highest intensity. There is an old saying that "from desperation comes inspiration." Well, I am desperate and I am very inspired!

Just research the majority of new ideas that created a new business or in many cases a whole new industry. They all came from a thinking process that was attempting to solve a key problem or fill a critical need. Thomas Edison made over 10,000 attempts at creating the light bulb before he succeeded. Henry Ford was desperate to create the automobile and was inspired to create the first real mass production assembly line. Desperation can come in many forms. It can be individual or it can be a group of people. It can be a population segment or it can be a whole country. When the United States entered World War II the entire country was desperate but then it became inspired and mobilized to win. Right now, we are living in desperate times. Right now, we are living in desperate times. People everywhere are looking for solutions to solve their personal challenges. Some in this process will think in broader terms than just for themselves; they will think about finding solutions that will have application on a wider scale which will affect many others seeking the same solutions. This type of thinking is what has given us new modern life altering devices and processes. This is the thinking that has advanced civilization and from which whole new economic engines and industries have evolved.

This is the thinking that we need, now! Call your government representative and demand that you want support for people with new ideas; you want support for people who start new businesses. You want support for creating new private sector jobs that historically come from small, not big business. Tell your government representative that it is a fairy tale to believe that big business can shape an economic upturn. Let your representative know that the answer is small business and that the process of fertilizing a new idea with free flowing credit, reduced government regulation, lower taxes and support for the free enterprise system is the solution to fixing the economy. Remember, all big business was at one time a small business. They all started from an idea in somebody's mind. Everything we can think of that was created by a human started from an idea in somebody's mind.

Now, you know why I am desperate and gravely concerned for finding ideas that can make a difference. I am inspired and I urge you all to become inspired to start your own search for that one idea, a positive life altering idea that can change your life and the world we live in. Now is the time!

Bob Brewster

Founder

Over60Exchange