The Small Business Economy Falls Apart

[marmar]

from 24/7WallStreet:




The Small Business Economy Falls Apart
Posted: June 15, 2011 at 7:00 am


Small businesses are supposed to be a major engine of the US economy. Some experts believe that companies with under 500 workers use more than half the people who work in the US and are a larger portion of job creation.

The economic slowdown has hit these small businesses with a vengeance and this may be a cause of slow GDP growth in the second half.

The NFIB Research Foundation Index of Small Business Optimism showed concerns about the economy rose in May. It is still very sharply below peaks in 2004 and 2005.

The firms survey expect the job market to weaken and that unemployment will stay high this year. Eight percent plan to cut jobs. Thirteen percent of these firms plan to add workers; that is off 3% from the April number.“Corporate profits may be at a record high, but businesses on Main Street are still scraping by,” said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://247wallst.com/2011/06/15/the-small-busines-economy-falls-apart/#ixzz1PLKnd8E2

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[notesdev]

2. Easy to figure out

Small businesses are too small to get political favors, so they have to run under the life-crushing set of endless rules that apply (only) to the little guy, while still being subject to arbitrary acts of government that could put them under on a moment's notice, for reasons that are no fault of their own. Their only real choice is to ignore rules they don't have time to deal with or can't afford to comply with, taking the risk of being imminently shut down for the crime of coming under the notice of a bureaucrat administering one of many thousands of unjust laws.

In short, they are "too small to succeed" in Fascist Amerika.

My personal plan for growing my own small business unfortunately requires a "move to another country" step. I simply could not hire someone and accept responsibility to further fuel out-of-control health care costs, nor could I absorb the costs of being sued (regardless of whether I was in the right or in the wrong, whether I won or lost, the costs of a suit themselves would be ruinous). The cost of trying to navigate the tax labyrinth is ridiculous too. And I have it very easy with a digital business; those who have actual physical inventory and locations have many many more show-stopper level issues imposed on them.

[ixion]

3. As a small business owner, I can confirm: The economy sucks

I have many clients making payments, half-payments, or not being able to pay at all.

It's a rough road at the moment.

[Yo_Mama]

5. What kind of business are you in?

I know a lot of people are really getting beaten up by the economic situation. You can't get blood from a stone, and you can't get money from customers with no jobs or very poor-paying jobs.

[ixion]

9. I write software

and have been in business since 2003. It's been rough since 2008, business-wise. I saw a small bump over the past 3 years, but not a 'recovery-sized' increase in business.

[midnight]

4. No one has money... The banks are hoarding it....

[Poll_Blind]

6. ^

PB

[hobbit709]

7. See it around here.

Lots of little places are closed that 6 months ago were still open, The strip malls are getting emptier and emptier. I know several people who are closing their shops by the end of the year if things don't get better.

[nevergiveup]

8. As a small family business

we are barely treading water. It has been a brutal 3 years. I am getting old with some health issues and need to retire but it ain't going to happen. I will go to my grave loathing George W. Bush and the Republican Party.

[Ikonoklast]

10. Both parties bleat about how much they love small businesses.

Then proceed to shit on them mercilessly, doing the bidding of Big Business and writing special regulations and tax loopholes that only pertain to them, while the rest of us either toe the line or else get hammered.

My biggest beef with the Democratic Party, although things are sloooowly moving in a better direction.

[Abq_Sarah]

11. That goes back to the lobbying power of big business

They've got the cash to lobby politicians. Politicians want the money and the votes so they help big business to crush smaller competitors. This isn't a (D) or (R) problem, the guilt is spread across the spectrum. it's a politics problem.

[Ikonoklast]

12. Oh, I agree completely.

Democrats support big business over small every time the money bag gets dropped on their desk by a lobbyist.

They shouldn't act like they don't.

[SoCalDem]

13. We need a new definition of what a small business IS.

Ask most people what a small business is, and you'll probably get answers that surprise you.. The moniker is Orwellian, when it comes to "legal definition"..

Small business should be just that..small...as in Mom & Pop businesses...like most people THINK that's what is meant by the term

or a new system needs to be created with many more definitions..

Micro business..Mom & Pop & kids (no more than 10 "employees"..including family

Mini-business... 20 employees max

Small business..up to 50

Medium business...up to 75

If you sign paychecks for more than 75 people, your business is not "small"..

The fly in the ointment is that the Megalodon businesses have been lumped into the mix.. There needs to be a special category for those big-fish...and they need EXTRA taxation because of the real harm they do to us all.