How much impact does a Stay-at-Home Mom have on the economy?

My husband is a small business owner. My parents own a small business. My grandparents both run small businesses. My good friends' husbands own small businesses. Do you see a theme? They are all very apprehensive of what is coming. How many small businesses do you know of that are going out of business or letting people go?

I can stimulate the economy if given a bit more of my husband's money! I have two daughters. They are both enrolled in a dance studio and a piano studio. Guess what? Both studios are small, local businesses owned by - GASP!- women! Hike up my taxes, keep letting gas prices creep up, let milk stay sky-high and I will not be able to support the local economy. And it is not just I alone. There are thousands of Micheles, spending their self-employed husbands' hard-earned cash to support local economies all over the country! Will we be able to continue?

I have not had my hair or the girls' hair cut in months. Guess who was cutting our hair? A mom of four operating a small business in her basement. Hmmm...

I am no longer employing a sweet lady to come and clean the bathrooms and change the sheets. Hmmm...

Will I be able to afford fresh produce at the any of the many small business fruit and vegetable stands this summer? Will they even be operating? And what about those incredible small business plant nurseries? The ones where you get plants and knowledgeable staff?

What about the local artist who supplements her art by teaching small children after school? I wanted to enroll my kids, but...too much of my husband's money is going to "swine odor studies."

I live in fear that the most wonderful cross stitch shop in the world (The Dogwood Patch) might ... I dare not even write it. I would willingly pump more of my husband's money into that woman-owned, small business, but I understand the money is needed to helped those swamp mice in California.

Before the "late unpleasantness," I stimulated the economy with great vigor and regularity! I bought my grains at a local, family-run, small business grist mill, I ate a local restaurants, I supported a local coffee house, shopped at small, local antique and junk shops, I took my girls to local theatre productions and ice cream parlors. I took my girls to museums, the zoo and the aquarium. I bought books like nobody's business. I bought homeschool supplies from small, family-owned companies. Oh, yes, I have supported homeschool companies! ;) All my appliances are the same brand; in the past 8 years, I have come to know the local (small business) repairman very well!

Take more money from small business owners, and you take more money away from their charitable contributions. More money is wasted and lost when the government gets involved and decides where the money goes. Small business owners can give the money more directly to local charities or the high school band and newspaper (thanks Mom and Dad;).

I worry about small businesses. My family is directly affected and so are the families of so many around me.

Oh, ye gods of Washington, I implore you to reconsider the crushing of America's small businesses! Give us our money, let us support other small businesses in turn!