Businessman says he'll spend $50K to train new workers - but only if Romney wins
Frank Duffy with Duffy Realty in Alpharetta said his company will spend $50,000 to train 100 new real estate agents, but only if Republican nominee Mitt Romney wins the presidential election, reports CBS Atlanta.
"It's about a $50,000 investment that we're willing to make on these new agents. It'll only happen if there's a Republican in the White House after Wednesday, if there's a President-Elect (Mitt) Romney, we're willing to make that investment," Duffy told the station.
Duffy said he would hire only a few agents if President Barack Obama is re-elected.
"I'm not willing to take that 50,000 out of my cash to make that investment," Duffy told CBS Atlanta.
Mr. Duffy, I used your service in 2007, and, unfortunately, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. You gave me terrible advice about which price point I should sell my home at. I was pretty green back then... a 26 year old first time homeowner. Without your terrible advice, my home would have sold long before the Bush-induced housing-market crash happened.
I must say, I was shocked to see your interview, which appears to be a pathetic attempt to bully low information, unemployed voters into voting for Mitt Romney.
Mr. Duffy, if your business isn't doing well, did you ever stop to think that it might be because you don't know what you're doing?
For one thing, every successful business owner knows that hiring is based on sales and demand. In your industry, you need people to resume buying and selling homes, which has happened under President Obama due to various actions, including (but not limited to):
- New home purchase tax credit incentive of 2009
- Largest middle class tax cuts in decades (which helps with down payments)
- Aggressive programs to save millions of people from being foreclosed on (without which, even people who were paying their mortgages on time would have seen further drops in their home values).
- Turning around the greatest recession since the Great Depression
- Creating 5.2 million jobs
OBVIOUSLY, the market is nowhere near what it was in 2007, prior to Bush's housing market collapse. But let's be clear, Mr. Duffy--when it came to figuring out solutions to help stop foreclosures and get homes selling again, Mitt Romney said, "Let it run its course and hit the bottom." You do realize that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to sell a home that is underwater, don't you?
For some reason, you seem to think returning to the policies that caused the market to crash in the first place will somehow help you. But it won't. And now you've made things even worse for yourself by associating your company, your main way of supporting yourself, with partisan politics.
Here's a clue, Mr. Duffy: Georgia is already a solid red state, so there was no need to even weigh in on the election. There's no telling how much business you've lost as a result of your ill-advised, disingenuous comments. Hell, you even managed to insult Romney voters, because everyone knows that real estate agents are independent contractors, not employees with benefits. But of course, when your business slows even further, it will be Obama's fault... right?
On a side note... why is it the government's fault when your business fails, but if you are successful then "you built it?" I know several successful small business owners who are doing quite well and, yes, they are hiring because they understand how business works, and how to make their business grow. Oh, and they are voting for President Obama!
