Well, the secret is out and we business owners have been exposed. How did President Barack Obama know that the success of American business has never been due to the entrepreneurs, visionaries and risk-takers that started those businesses or took them over and breathed new life into them through their dedication, knowledge and undying commitment to success?

How did he know that they do not deserve credit for their 60-plus hour continuous work weeks, sacrifices of personal time with family and friends, sleepless nights worrying about every crisis of the week and efforts devising plans to fix them?

I wish we had known that we didn't really have to fret about how we were going to retain our employees' jobs and continue paying for their salaries and benefits when the banks started calling in their lines of credit to manufacturing operations all over the country.

I could have slept a lot better if only I had known that our government was always there, making my business succeed behind the scenes. There was really no need for me to be concerned about how we could retain manufacturing jobs in the United States in the face of crushing global competition that is strongly nurtured and supported by government policies on business regulation and taxation.

The secret is now out that the success of American business is really due to the infrastructure provided by the American government and the employees, whom we owners have taken advantage of by providing them with a safe work environment, competitive salaries, vacation pay, holiday pay, contributions to their retirement plans, and heath and life insurance for their families.

I always thought that the 42 percent we pay in federal and state taxes on every dollar earned helped our government pay for that infrastructure, but apparently I was wrong.

I wish I had known that the 15 years I spent dedicating much of my life to the creation and direction of the business that I co-founded did not really have a major impact on its success. I could have spent more time with my family and had far fewer sleepless nights had I known that my vision, dedication and commitment was not really a driving factor in our ability to be successful in a global environment.

So, President Obama has now exposed us for the money-grubbing, heartless leaders that we have become (or perhaps always have been), and I am now ashamed for taking some credit for the 15 years that I have committed to the leadership, growth and success of our business.

For this I apologize to our employees and the government leaders who have put together the American infrastructure that is really responsible for our success.

If President Obama is reelected in November, I will have great comfort in knowing that I no longer have any real impact on the future success or failure of my business. I will rest easy knowing that everything will be taken care of by the insight, direction and support of our government. It will be comforting to go to sleep at night knowing that American industry is in such good hands.

Len Chaloux is president and co-founder of Moore Nanotechnology Systems, LLC, in Swanzey.