A Piece of the Action

 I am moved to apoplexy by the latest utterance by our president. There is a germ of truth in it – a germ. What about hard work, initiative and ingenuity?

I spent practically an entire career as a contract programmer. The fancy word for that is Consultant. I worked from contract to contract. When a contract was nearing completion I had to find another contract. Yes I did use contractor placement companies – but they got paid for finding me that contract. They, deservedly, got a piece of the action. 

On occasion I went without a contract between jobs. I even took unemployment a couple of times. However I paid into unemployment when I was working. The government: City, State or Federal never found me a job.  I had a network of colleagues who helped immensely – and I helped them whenever I could. It works both ways.

If I needed to I hired subcontractors. When I had more work than I could handle, or I did not have the specific skills needed I brought in a subcontractor. In this case I took a piece of their action.

As to the government – they provided the roads and services that I used to do my job. They, obviously, took a piece of the action. It’s called tax.  I took every legal deduction I could and still paid income taxes. In addition I paid sales tax, gasoline tax as well as lots of others taxes and fees

However, Mr. President – It was my technical ability and work ethic that provided a decent income for my family. My wife worked very hard as well. She was able to cover our medical insurance giving me the freedom to work this way.  As a team we built our life that we now enjoy.