Don't get me started on that. Back when I lived in Maine, which has never recovered from the 1920's depression, - I decided to bid on a mail delivery contract. This was between cities/towns etc. - there was a lot of bs in the bidding to begin with, but when I got to the "affirmative action" section, - it was more than I could handle. Without saying so directly, - you HAD to pass over qualified people, if "someone" applied who was on "the list". - I refused to sign off - and of course, no contract.
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Actually I can take that one step further. Back in the 70"s the Small Business Administration" started it's version of the same thing. Silly me, not realizing that ... In any case I was running off-shore deep sea fishing and whale watching trips out of Newburyport, Mass. - for a company that owned four boats, about 62 ft. to 84 ft.at the time. ... I was interested in starting a small operation on my own. I found a decent boat, and down on Plum Island an outfit that had a good dock, and large parking lot. We worked out a deal, - X amount plus a percentage of the gross, pretty standard. - Now I needed to raise a "few bucks" ... no bank will foot that alone. -
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Bingo, call the Small Business Administration" and see about backing, - they don't actually put in a dime. Sooo, I gave their Boston office a call. Ran the plan/idea past the guy - he loved it!!! ... Told me that's exactly what they were looking for, but couldn't help me. - He said "if you repeat this, I'll deny it" - "but I can tell by talking to you, you're the wrong color".