America's leading small business association has slammed Barack Obama for showing 'an utter lack of understanding' of the country's entrepreneurs when he told them: 'If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.' In a hard-hitting statement to Mail Online, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) said: 'What a disappointment to hear President Obama's revealing comments challenging the significance of America's entrepreneurs.
'His unfortunate remarks over the weekend show an utter lack of understanding and appreciation for the people who take a huge personal risk and work endless hours to start a business and create jobs.'
President Barack Obama said in a speech at the weekend that governments and not individuals create jobs, telling entrepreneurs: 'If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.'
He added: 'You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.'
The inflammatory campaign speech comments underline the extent to which Obama believes that the state rather than ordinary citizens create jobs and wealth.
They highlight a key contrast with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, who is preaching a message of wealth creation by individuals and reinvigorating the private sector.
And the spokesman for the NFIB added: 'I'm sure every small-business owner who took a second mortgage on their home, maxed out their credit cards or borrowed money from their own retirement savings to start their business disagrees strongly with President Obama's claim. They know that hard work does matter.
'Every small business is not indebted to the government or some other benefactor. If anything, small businesses are historically an economic and job- creating powerhouse in spite of the government.'
The NFIB was founded in 1943 and has some 350,000 members. It is officially a non-partisan organisation but tends to contribute heavily to Republican candidates. In 2010, 25 of its members, all republicans, were elected to Congress.
Meanwhile, on his daily radio show, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said that Obama’s Roanoke remarks were proof positive that the president 'hates' America. 'I'll tell you what,' he said. 'I think it can now be said, without equivocation - without equivocation - that this man hates this country. He is trying -- Barack Obama is trying - to dismantle, brick by brick, the American dream.'
Speaking at a campaign rally in Roanoke, Virginia on Friday night, Obama made the case that those who created businesses should be taxed at higher rates because they are fortunate and were helped to achieve success by the government and other people.
'There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me - because they want to give something back,' he said. 'They know they didn't - look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own.
'You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.
