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Liberty Elm Syndrome

Category: The Diner Industry

Published on Friday, 07 August 2009 01:49

Written by The Plain Speaker

Like Dutch Elm disease, the Liberty Elm is rotting from within. I’m guessing we share many of the same views on Carol’s situation. Yes, we sympathize and support her. Feel bad for her. But I’m left with an underlying annoying uneasy feeling about the $25,000 in sales tax she collected, then spent. I understand the scenario, and I hope her bail out plan works. But this business of donation cash jars and customers giving her money to pay the RI state she ALREADY collected once from her customers is messy and a sorry scene.

I had similar thoughts onthe situation at O’Rourke’s Diner. These feelings of being used by Brian O’Rourke have soured me from going their now. I have a very keen sense of propriety. I believe in being proactive. If you have a large old rotting tree hanging over your house that appears ready to fall, then take it down. Don’t shrug your shoulders and say “Aaaaah, I have insurance, let it collapse and let them pay for it.”

While I understand why Brian decided to cancel his insurance at O’Rourke’s, and why Carol didn’t remit those taxes she collected, I see it as inappropriate to use the community to donate to bail them out. After all, these are capitalistic free enterprise businesses. Ditto for GM and Chrysler, the banks and all the rest.

We were supposed to be living in a capitalistic society. If Carol cannot make ends meet, then she needs to raise prices. With the money from those higher prices, she can afford to cover her costs and also remit the taxes she collected. But the society we now live in is one where people are nickel and dimed to death, are paid badly, taxed to death, and have little take-​home income. Then we all rack up terrible debt we cannot pay, and default.

I am troubled because I cannot afford to pay for a twelve-​dollar breakfast in a diner. But in reality, that’s what they should /​need to charge to be profitable. Then they can pay people properly, and hire a diner restorer to fix up their diner, and pay their insurance.

This era of the gov’t bailing out Billion dollar banks, investment firms, credit card companies, auto companies, and now auto dealerships using cash infusions, cash gifts and incentives — all paid with borrowed money we will take decades to repay is just madness.

I hope Carol is successful with her cash gifts and money infusion from strangers. That said, my point is, there obviously exists a solid reason why this happened. Why this is happening needs to be addressed. She readily admits that from the outset she fell behind in remitting. Fixing the problem today is all fine and well, but what’s the plan so that this never happens again? Once she is over the hump and on the road to recovery, it’s time for some tough love. A wake up call. ’cause what she’s doing, the way she’s doing it, is unsustainable.

I know, I know. Easy to identify the problem. Much much harder to fix. IF it can be fixed.