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| US Entrepreneurship Dead? in forum [Market-Ticker]
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Oldno7
Posts: 2138
Incept: 2008-11-14
RECALL STATE USA
Online
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IT'S THE SPENDING STUPID The US must become less a government of men, and more a government of LAW.
When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose they lose it -Gerald Celente
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Jal
Posts: 512
Incept: 2009-03-25
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Quote:the other is an attempt to skim off a piece of the action without putting up one's former success first. Geee! I thought that the successful business model included having a banker on your payroll. |
Throxxofvron
Posts: 10325
Incept: 2009-02-17
Hyper-Speculative Psycho-Facsistic Parabolic Blow-Off
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It seems to ME that it could be much more easily argued that the GASOLINE was in fact the 'liable' product.
One CANNOT light an empty gas container on fire with a ****ing spark/match.
The Gas Container served it's purpose and contained the Gas until the user decided to pour it out and that the Gas Container DID NOT ignite: the Gas DID.
Next up: suing the **** out of BP, Chevron, Exxon, etc., -as well as Individual Gas Stations- for selling a dangerous volatile product !
Then on to: about ALL those poor ignoramuses getting electrocuted for putting their fingers into a wall socket.
Followed by: justice! for all those that have been dumb enough to slam their own fingers in a car door...
Finally the Lawyers will get around to suing the evil Manufacturers of windows, vacuum cleaners, etc. for penises damaged in slammed windows or damaged while stuffed into household vacuum cleaner nozzles and...
OK, Seriously: I have closed one Business already in the last two years.
I have underwritten/invested in ZERO New/Small Ventures in the last four years as opposed to having done so thrice in the prior four years...
I have several ideas for new businesses; but, the US is an awful place to Start Up in.
The risk/return profile is much better piling into African Investment Funds or the like or carefully parsing distressed debt -ESPECIALLY if it can be accomplished utilizing Someone Else's Money.
What sense does it make to save and accrue capital in a Negative Interest Rate environment just so I can RISK the diminished purchasing power in Markets that where success or failure are allotted by Politicians and Bureaucrooks based upon Political Ideologies, Political Affiliations and Political Contributions?
Hard work DOES NOT Pay: Political Affiliations and Control Fraud DO.
The ONLY good reason to start a business or invest in a small business presently in the US is to 'Crazy Eddie' or '****erberg' it: to cook the books up front and and loot the Suckers in an IPO at the exit.
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DIONYSUS: " Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very existence is now a mystery to thee. " -from 'The Bacchantes' By Euripides “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” -George Orwell
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Ghopper
Posts: 2317
Incept: 2011-06-11
Staten Island, NY
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Look at all the regulations that crush (or prevent) small businesses while large corporations go mostly unregulated (in terms of enforcement) unless politics come into play.
Working as intended.
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Fraudster
Posts: 4175
Incept: 2011-05-10
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You guys are thinking too globally. Let me give you a personal example. I live in NoVA. In 2010 I worked as an independent contractor (I.e. self-employed). I had to pay the regular assortment of taxes (federal, state, and self-employment taxes). I get that (though I found those to be opressively high). But lo and behold, I got a letter from the county telling me that I needed a business license (this was all after the fact of course). The business license was a percentage of receipts (so basically a city/county tax). So I had to pay federal, state and LOCAL taxes on my income. If I were an employee doing the same thing, I would avoid the local tax. I tried to explain that my work had no nexus to the area. The tax authority would hear nothing of it. I lived in NoVA and that was enough of a nexus to tax me. I shut down my operations and became an employee like any sensible person responding to market queues. Now the county collects no money from me. Consider that almost every state has all of these hidden license and junk fees, and people really wonder why people don't start businesses in this country? LMFAO!
Most of the major tech companies that people revere were formed in the mid 70s to early 80s. You cannot start a company today and not face ridiculous barriers to entry, taxes and junk fees, regulations, etc. And the animus towards entrepreneurship is a large part of the reason why this country is in steep decline and will soon suffer an economic collapse. Instead of promoting business and production, we would rather consume and take on debt. Well, that cycle will soon self-terminate.
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"Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Circulation ceases first at the outer edges [Europe and Japan]. It will take a while yet for the decay to reach the heart [America]." - Foundation & Empire by Isaac Asimov
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Jstanley01
Posts: 8182
Incept: 2008-07-30
San Antonio, Texas
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Tickerguy wrote..One of the common mantras is that "financing" is critical to small business. This is a lie. What's critical to small business is capital. True enough. But you'd have to be an idiot of the first order to expend any real capital trying to start a going concern in the cluster**** economy that we now enjoy in this Land of the Freebie and Home of the Deranged.
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You can't cheat an honest man. ~P.T. Barnum
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Bagbalm
Posts: 4259
Incept: 2009-03-19
Just North of Detroit
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Starting a business in your garage was before "see something say something". Now the nosy old bitch with binoculars across the street will have the cops/fire department/EPA/zoning department and HOA at your door if you have five friends in your garage for poker, much less solder up some possible terrorist electronics.
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Noodleman
Posts: 2391
Incept: 2008-11-01
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I had a close friend who used to work for the SBA. The war stories she had about the gov handing out free money to so-called 'entrepreneurs' would curl the hair on the back of your neck. Proven business failures would come back for 2nd's or 3rd's and get approved, only to fail again. Then they would send them to a class and let them apply again. Naturally, you had to land in a certain demographic to get the loan in the first place. The money ****** away by that agency is mindboggling.
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"Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom." Will Rogers, 4 Nov 1879 - 15 Aug 1935
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Nevertoolate
Posts: 1219
Incept: 2007-08-26
San Antonio de Bexar de runover with illegals, Texas
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KD had a ticker on a startup subprime auto financing business that has done 100 million in its first 10 months of business. Borrowing at 2%, losses of 3%, charging 17% interest. Making 12% for the time being. At that high of a rate most of payments are interest. When the cars are all upside down, out of warranty and a major repair comes up. Poof there goes that business model. I bet they (and their Banksters) are hob-nobbing (can you say strip joints) with the finance managers at the 1500 dealers they sell to. And the good news, is that these sleezy bastards are coming to Texas! Let me guess, someone will take this concept public, walk off will a bunch of $ and it will be a flash in the pan. Yes, entrepreneurship is alive and well in the US (as long as you can screw people and have a Bankster with you!)
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"Socialist never mind stealing, as long as they are the ones doing the stealing. They never mind lying, as long as they are doing the lying."-Mannfm11
Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure that you can survive the odds beating you.
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Vernonb
Posts: 398
Incept: 2009-06-03
State College, PA
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I had a friend that made specialty bikes and skis for the handicap to compete in sport events. Some of these competitions were comparable to "extreme sports." One of the paraplegics using his devices wiped out. The guy broke his legs but claims he didn't know they were broken until days later when he started to have inflammation and infection. He sued my friend and put him out of business. This company is no more.... http://accessanythingreviews.blogspot.co....Then there are the truly stupid as people that pick up a running push mower by the bottom to trim the hedges and lose their fingers.... in spite of posted warning stickers to keep fingers and body parts clear of the blades. Is it only in America???
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"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
-Alber Camus (1913-1960)
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Reluctantdebtor
Posts: 131
Incept: 2010-03-05
ohio
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The motto of Fight Club prevents a proper discussion of effective ways around these problems.
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Nevertoolate
Posts: 1219
Incept: 2007-08-26
San Antonio de Bexar de runover with illegals, Texas
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I wonder when the lawyers will run out of people to sue? Then they will begin eating their own.
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"Socialist never mind stealing, as long as they are the ones doing the stealing. They never mind lying, as long as they are doing the lying."-Mannfm11
Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure that you can survive the odds beating you.
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Mo
Posts: 12158
Incept: 2007-06-26
Pa.
Online
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Off shoring kills small businesses too.
One our our friends started a medical transcription business in the late 70's. At one point in the late 80's and early 90's, she had about 20 employees.
The offshoring of the work to India started in the late 90's. She's now down to a few local doctors as acccounts and one employee - herself.
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Welcome to Pottersville
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Jb350
Posts: 359
Incept: 2011-06-10
Detroit metro
Banned
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Since that theater shooting I have been wondering if they were going to ban gas cans. I wouldnt be surprised if a few years from now we each have to pay some government nannycrat a $30 service fee so he can come and safely and carefully dispense gasoline into our lawnmower. Seriously. Society has been dumbed down to right about that level. Either that or we must buy an electric mower or else pay a $10000 fine.
I actually have an electric mower. It works great. But my electric weed whipper? Not so much...
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Debtpie
Posts: 534
Incept: 2009-12-17
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I'm on the front lines on this one!
One of the businesses I own helps small businesses setup/manage/maintain their credit card processing equipment.
The last two months have been the slowest ever in the 12 years that I've been involved in this.
Not only are new clients scarce, old clients are making far fewer charges (resulting is less supply/maint work for us) or they are folding up all together.
Either there's been a serious shift to paying with cash...or there's been a serious decline in spending at small to mid size retail businesses...I'm betting on the latter...
PS> Want to see a business that is booming? Go to a GoodWill store! Holy Mackerel! Stopped in yesterday (2PM on a Monday) and it was hard to find a parking spot. I went in looking for a shop TV and found out that they've actually stopped selling tube TV's...couldn't sell them even for a $1...lol...got outa there fast as the crowd was too much for me..
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A Leader, or an Opportunist? "A leader has the capacity of vision, the ability to see where things are headed before people in general see those things." Mitt Romney --- DebtPie's definition: a leader decides where "things" should head and "leads" us there.
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Dazedncornfused
Posts: 312
Incept: 2010-10-13
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>One of the businesses I own helps small businesses setup/manage/maintain their credit card processing equipment.<
Which gave me an idea. Our credit card processor numbers the transactions sequentially for all their clients, and we almost always have a charge each day so I have plenty of sequence numbers to work with. Subtracting the first charge Monday from the last charge Friday each week over the last two years, I'll guess their transaction volume is down by about half. Ouch.
They issue an activity statement once a week to each client. They don't issue a statement at all if there was no activity for the week. Our statement numbers increment about 2/3 as fast as they did two years ago, so they have fewer clients being serviced and more clients going a week without a credit card donation.
Bad times for nonprofits.
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Stand up and be counted or line up and be numbered.
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Lanny
Posts: 25
Incept: 2010-12-21
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Quote:As a result of our so-called "liability" system when someone is a five-alarm dumb-ass and lights themselves on fire by pouring gasoline on a lit fire ... it's the container manufacturer's fault. The point then is (I suppose) that the legal system should NOT find the gas container manufacturer guilty, rather the person who decides to misuse the can by pouring gasoline on a fire. A fair judgement would be the person, not the manufacturer, would be found guilty for improperly using the gas can. Sounds similar to the person who put the Winnebago on cruise control and then left the driver's seat (thinking it was auto-pilot I suppose), and it crashed, and Winnebago was found guilty. Or the person who sued McDonalds for the hot coffee burn. And there are likely many more examples. |
Anti
Posts: 4295
Incept: 2007-10-09
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I think the medical care situation has been a big contributor. A small business owner used to be able to pay cash for medical care without a 10x mark-up. If he was young and healthy or even had a normal family, not a big deal. Now, any little thing can be blown into a bill that can wipe him out, even a fairly routine childbirth. Once he has a little success and has accumulated some capital, the medical industry has a bulls-eye painted on him. Health insurance adds giant over-head. O-care eliminates the option of a catastrophic policy if I understand correctly, so he gets to shoulder his "fair share" of the sick, lame, lazy and illegal.
ETA - graduating students in debt has to destroy future entrepreneurs as well. Nothing like debt to take away any taste for adventure and get you to sign up for a steady income.
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Health is better than health insurance
http://gerson.org/
Over the past 60 years, thousands of people have used the Gerson Therapy to recover from so-called “incurable” diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.
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Captainkidd
Posts: 594
Incept: 2010-05-25
Pasadena, Texas
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Quote:One comes from industry and hard work, the other from leverage. One is a measure of success previously put forward and then risked in an effort to compound one's gains, the other is an attempt to skim off a piece of the action without putting up one's former success first. While I agree that the best and most probably successful manner in which to begin a new business is with existing capital from savings or from prior success, the USA no longer presents an environment in which this is widely possible. In earlier eras, it was possible for a man to save money and funds and begin that small business in his garage or in a small venue, funding it with the excess of his labors because his labors paid him a sufficient wage to save, and the cost of living was in line with those wages, allowing the working man to, over a period of time, accumulate a bit of excess capital that he could put at risk. In addition to this, people were working at skilled trades, and often hung out their own shingle in the trade that they had learned, which had afforded them that good wage and the opportunity to start up a small business. Plumbers opened plumbing businesses. Mechanics opened garages. Carpenters became contractors. Electricians opened their own shops. These small businesses grew, and hired other people, both skilled and apprentice levels, and the process repeated. These days, many or even most of these jobs are not being taken by our young people, or are being done by immigrants or illegals. Our young people have fallen for the "College Good - Trades Bad" and think that the only way to make a good living is to go to college. Manufacturing jobs, which used to offer apprentice to journey man programs do not exist, and what are still here are filled by temps, with very few experienced workers doing the intricate setup or process work, and the shop floor workers doing nothing but loading parts into a CNC machine and pushing the button. The CNC machine programming, and the setup for the machine, was peformed by a manufacturing engineer or process engineer who has managed to find a company that is still actually making something, and is hanging onto that job for dear life. (I know. That is what I am.) Quote:This is almost-universally intentionally misrepresented in the media. Yet throughout American history, most small businesspeople did not rely on financing to start and build their businesses. They began in their garage or with equity infusions from their relatives and friends, often as co-conspirators (partners, etc.) All were exposed to the risk of personal loss of funds already made in the new venture, not a speculative bet "on the come" financed with some sort of hinky loan (or worse, a draft written on their family residence!) With the high unemployment, lack of skilled workers, lack of opportunity for skilled tradesmen and workers, and the transitioning of our economy from a manufacturing to a service oriented economy, it is difficult to obtain that capital. And what business is a person going to open? A cafe?? Chiles, Applebees, TGIF, Hooters, McDonalds, and a hundred others will drive him from the market. A store?? Walmart, Target, and a hundred others will drive him from the market. The days of the entrepreneur are dying along with everything else that outsourcing and offshoring has killed. It is just another in the long list of things we have lost. Those on this forum mentioning that they have the capital to do this, but are (understandably) reluctant to do so, earned that capital in earlier times, In High Tech Businesses (Some of you who have that type of capital earned it because of or during a bubble that has already burst.) or trading. Either way, money begat money, capital begets capital, and without a manner to earn the initial capital, Entrepreneurship and its spirit are, if not dead, at least in very poor health here.
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A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns. --Mario Puzo
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. -- Henry Ford
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Marcustullius
Posts: 202
Incept: 2010-06-12
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JB350 wrote..Since that theater shooting I have been wondering if they were going to ban gas cans. I wouldnt be surprised if a few years from now we each have to pay some government nannycrat a $30 service fee so he can come and safely and carefully dispense gasoline into our lawnmower. Seriously. Society has been dumbed down to right about that level. Either that or we must buy an electric mower or else pay a $10000 fine. People have been jumping up and down, shouting "we need more jobs!" Well, I gotcha new jobs, right up there in that quote! And they'll start at twice the minimum wage, "because of the danger and the requirements for care and precision." Tully
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"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." (Samuel Adams)
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Jackl
Posts: 2237
Incept: 2008-01-17
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Quote:Look at all the regulations that crush (or prevent) small businesses while large corporations go mostly unregulated (in terms of enforcement) unless politics come into play.
Working as intended.
Thats right. They want you work for a flat wage that diminishes every year. They want you to give the fruits of your labour to them. So the government can spend your money looking at porn/going on vacation, and your boss can live on a salary/benefits package 30-300 times your own compensation. There can be no competition, and where there is there can be no price arbitrage. Where the graft is too thick to maintain status quo and failure looms, simply get the small guy to pay for it AGAIN. Meanwhile enjoy little to no training up, and constant less qualified(but also cheaper) replacements! Depreciating paycheck, disappearing benefits, and diminishing networth. Teach your kids well, because they'll have to live on even less. It's a big club, and you're not in it. |
Mannfm11
Posts: 3545
Incept: 2009-02-28
DFW, Tx
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Capital is the tough part. They won't loan you anything if you don't have a business in the first place and credit should only be used for expansion into something that is already going. It has rarely ever been the fact that banks would loan to a startup, sans maybe a startup home builder in the old days. Then, they were loaning on the collateral, the house as a percentage of completion.
There are a lot of valid points in this thread. For one, this city noses around the neighborhoods and if you have a sign on your service auto, they warn you that you are operating a business out of your house and will be fined if that continues. It doesn't matter if you only park there and do paperwork or don't do paperwork. They want you to lease a spot, pay for an occupancy certificate and add to the tax base.
Rothbard wrote a paper called "Origins of the Federal Reserve". In it, he said the big guys wanted an economy they could cartelize. Thus we had the rapid passage of the Fed act, the Income Tax and the popular election of Senators. The tax the rich income tax scheme was really a ploy to wipe out the competition below the top. The Fed was to finance the top against the middle, giving them leverage to raise the return on capital. In Austrian economics, there isn't an excess of capital, while this was one of the theories pushed around at that time. It was like the Chinese savings excess, which was nothing but a captured credit bubble.
Lastly, of the lawsuits listed above, I think the old lady getting burned by the coffee was the most legitimate. If you have never been burned significantly, it seems excessive. You can bet MCD doesn't pour hot coffee carelessly now and this was a case where the likelihood of it happening was pretty good. The suit wasn't groundless and the damage was gross negligence. Actual damages were probably minimal, but MCD wasn't the person that got burned and without a sizable award, wouldn't give a **** if it happened again.
There is a mental divide in the US. The working people are forced into the group with the FSA, because the supporters of the FSA give the appearance they care about the common man. The real bull**** is the common, middle class guy is who is supporting the FSA. He is the person that performs the work that services the national debt. He should be grouped in with the small businessman, but stuff such as unions direct him into the arms of big business and the FSA. Small business gets sucked in with big business, which it really its enemy. In general, domestic big business cares little about what regulations get passed, as long as it restricts entry of competition. This regulation destroys small business and if it does give big business a problem, they merely jump ship with their compliance and move that portion of their business out of the country. Big business is not the friend of small business and contray to popular belief, bears little of the direct cost of government or the FSA. The big multinationals could leave the USA, about 5% of them a year for the next 20 years and we would never miss them. Maybe a few of them. There would be plenty to take their place.
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The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.---John Kenneth Galbraith
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Aztrader
Posts: 6649
Incept: 2007-09-10
Scottsdale, AZ
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If you want to start a business with an actual brick and mortar address, then you will have to put up some heavy cash. Add in the licensing, bonds, insurance, build-out, advertising, employees, inventory, etc etc and the odds of surviving your first year is very slim. The costs are just way too great and the odds are against most people.
I started my internet store a few months after Obama was elected. I work from home and have grown a lot in the past 2 years. I carry substantial inventory of my product line that was purchased with cash or via credit cards. There are no bank loans or lines of credit for home businesses. Karl is absolutely correct in the costs of starting a business and the bankroll necessary to do so.
I chose not to go the store route because with margins as tight as they are, profitability was a long-shot at best.
Working from home gives me extra cash flow for marketing and inventory and the freedom to come and go as I please without huge monthly expenses keeping me chained to a store. I can ship product the same day because I can afford having the inventory in stock for immediate delivery. If I had to pay a lease, utilities, employees, etc, there would be no money for much inventory.
The downside is that Americans like to touch and feel the product before purchasing and that does hinder a lot of sales.
I haven't even considered opening a store for these reasons. I don't want anything to do with all the govt BS, especially in hiring people. The federal, state and local governments have damned small business to failure. A simple thing like signage can kill a business. Here in Scottsdale, they have all these regulations that limits your exposure. Many of the small businesses try to use the "sandwich" signs to draw in business and the city has now banned them. Most politicans have never owned a business and have no clue what it takes to succeed.
A lot of folks have set up internet stores hoping to make a living and most of my dealers are simple "drop shippers" who don't have the cash for inventory. More and more people are living on a shoestring and will never have the volume of sales it truly takes to make a living. Just add in what the govt requires and you may consider them all unemployed......
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Lowbeyond
Posts: 16907
Incept: 2008-02-11
CO aka West NJ/East CA
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Why on earth would anyone start a business in a legal climate like this ?
Add in all the useless pieces of paper you must buy and the bleatings of some d-bag bureaucrat you must follow, all so the State doesn't kill you, and what is the point ?
Do you think this is just an accident, an unforeseen consequence of well meaning people ? Riiighttttttttttttt
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Maybe it was a birdy bread-bomber from the future?!
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