This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
The Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner
Confused why despite endless daily propaganda that the US economy is getting better - after all "just look at the record high S&P 500" - fewer and fewer Americans believe the narrative, as the Democrats and Obama found out the very hard way in last week's midterm elections? Then the following explanation written by the owner of a small business - the segment of the US economy that has historically led every single recovery but this time was left behind - should help answer some questions.
The reason small businesses are disappearing written by a small business owner.
I want to start out by saying that i am a 27 year old male with a small business in Sacramento CA. I started this business a few years ago with savings of 15k. With a lot of hard work and determination i have succeeded, but it sure as hell was not easy. I am a long time lurker and have never seen anyone go in depth about what its like to own a small business and the reason why they are disappearing. Without going into to much detail, i own a furniture store so obviously things are different then other businesses but a lot of the things are the same. I wanted to begin with the things that are killing small businesses. Also only my opinion.
- Small Business Loans - Although they are not killing small business they sure as hell don't help anyone. Unless you are opening a unique small business you are not going to get any funding. By unique i mean something along the lines of creating solar panels. According to a recent investigation by the SBA Inspector General (ill post the article if you would like), over 75% of SBA loans went to large businesses. So basically if you want to open a normal business you need a ton of collateral and a miracle to get a loan.
- Permits and Licensing - In opening my specific business the first year totaled about $2000.00.
- Advertising - Many small business's cant afford to take out pages or flyers in the news paper or TV ads so they only have a few choices such as Yelp or the Penny-saver. (Don't get me started in Yelp).
- Street Advertising - While this used to be a good portion of how you get business it is now off limits. Code enforcement will not allow you to put anything outside. No balloons, signs, anything with your store name, window paint more than 50%, or any mattresses. Also delivery vehicles can not be closer than 50 feet from the curb. In my case that means behind the building.
- Board of Equalization - Cant go into to much detail here but they sure as hell aren't here to help.
- Health Insurance - Now obviously with the people that have a large work force working full time they will be hit hard by obamacare, but i wanted to give you a perspective on a single person. The cheapest rate for myself and me only, and believe me i have looked around, is $250.00/month. Some might say oh that's not bad, but let me explain what that covers, NOTHING lol. Basically if something happens to me i have to shell out 6K before insurance gets involved. Also 100 dollar co pay every time i go.
- The economy - While many know that when the President comes on TV and says the economy is doing great, we all know it is not, some people don't. Every month more people drop out of the Labor Force and the number of families on food stamps is sky rocketing. So for those of you who don't know the economy is terrible because of all the top stories of Kim Kardashian and whoever else, lots of people in america are struggling.
- Merchant Fees - This is for credit card processing machines. The machine itself costs 600.00 plus the percentages on sales and cards. Companies such as BofA charge once a year on top of the regular fees $150.00 to protect you from fraud (which they can't even stop) and yes its mandatory. Paypal or Square seem to be the best options these days.
- Fire Department - Yes even the Fire Department wants a piece. Starting last year you must do your own visual inspection and send them a check for 150! Basically if you don't they will come to your store and give you a million violations for wasting there time.
Something to watch out for is people who check fire extinguishers in business's. This is a huge scam where they come in without permission to inspect your extinguisher, get you a new one and bill you like 200 the following month. They have no right or permission to enter your business and jump all over you. You can simply tell them politely to get out. They dress like they are fire fighters but they are not.
* * *
The thread with the author's Q&A continues on Reddit.
»
- 102295 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
I deal with small business on a day to day basis and I will tell you they have little reason to be optimistic. Small business, with two to ten employees, are becoming an endangered species in America. The family business once the backbone of this country is under attack from the unintended consequences of the many laws and mandates passed in recent years.
Inspections, a plethora of permits, licenses, taxes, insurance requirements, and regulations make it almost impossible for a small business to open, compete, and operate legally. Big government has become toxic for small business. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2012/03/small-bussiness-under-attack.html
Eventually we will see a comeback of small business when people are tired of shopping AMZN and BABA. Small service based businesses are still surviving.
Getting a degree from Tijuana University in "Accounting Wellness Naturalhealing Chiropractic Enhancementsurgery Financial Planning" should about cover it.
If you do not buy into the philosophy that "bigger is better" you are off to a great start. Better is Better whether it's big or small. The way to beat big gov is through mass individuality. Don't buy into their system. Microbes can eat the biggest whale on the planet. They don't buy into the concept that you must have mass organization in order to succeed.
.gov is simply overhead. All bushiness' have overhead. overhead is by nature non-productive. All businesses know that you must control overhead because it is non-productive. .gov on the other hand, starts with the premise (lie) that the overhead of gov is actually productivity. That's why they include it in Gross Domestic Productivity. Really? what is domestic about .gov? What is productive about .gov? Nothing!
By the flawed logic of .gov, if a business simply evolves into all managers, data entry technicians, and coffee fetchers, it would then be the most successful company ever. Since all .gov spending is considered GDP why not make everyone a .gov employee and simply increase their salaries 10% annually? By extension of current.gov accounting, you will have created the perfect economy; full employment and 10% growth annually.
You have no idea the thrill I get every time I light a fire in the pot belly stove. I chop my own wood. I heat my house all winter long and .gov doesn't get a cent from my labor. Eat my ash .gov. Every other effort I perform, I seek to perform in manner that produces no residual profit for .gov to steal. Think Amish. Do the earth and the population a solid, lol, reduce your footprint and leave only the tiniest of scraps for the leeches. They already have to borrow half of what they spend. Reduce Reduce Reduce until they have to borrow nearly 100% of what they spend, like Japan. I am become micro, the destroyer of .gov.
P.S. the IRS just hates the fact that I no longer have any taxable income that goes in a bank. I used to contribute tens of thousands of dollars. lol, now we are both broke and there is nothing they can do about it, because.....gov doesn't really produce. When we all stop and stand still for a moment, it becomes clear, the kings have no clothes.
.gov doesn't produce, no big deal; when the workers stop producing it becomes a national crisis and throws .gov into a tizzy of money printing...cuz where else they gonna get it? Ya really wanna piss 'em off? ha ha ha do what I did, quit shopping.
P.P.S. "Broke" is a relative term. If your program is based on never ending, always growing expenditures, you are always broke. If your program is "Amish" in nature, you're never broke. lol, ya just got little worth stealing. .gov doesn't want payment in the form of a chicken or a pig. you don't have to sell a chicken or a pig. Eat it, give it away, share it with a like minded neighbor. Collecting a "sharing tax" is a real nightmare.
In the UK, running a small business is akin to working for the local government because every penny you earn eventually ends up in their pockets. Business Rates & Local Council Tax along with corporation tax and VAT/HM Customs & Excise. Then there's public liability insurance (Compulsory if you are retail), utilities, rent/lease and employees with their own sets of paperwork and regulations. Those and the problems of actually running a business make the whole thing a fucking cruel joke.
You left out contending with the nazi cunts employed by the Health & Safety Executive...
Proof USA was taken over by the British Raj or British Bankers
Location based-business in California = sitting duck that they can shoot over and over again.
Rape repeatedly is a more apt description.
Small business owner here. I've been general contracting new homes for clients for 7 years. Shutting the business down now because clients refuse to pay more for my services, despite not raising prices for 7 years. Risings costs of materials, taxes, health insurance, and all other costs make it too expensive to do anymore. The end result is fewer contractors bidding on homes, raising prices of homes even further. The last spec homes I built for myself I lost $5,000 on one and $50,000 on the other.
I'm going to go get a government job with excellent bennies and a decent wage.
Small business owner here. I've been general contracting new homes for clients for 7 years. Shutting the business down now because clients refuse to pay more for my services, despite not raising prices for 7 years. Risings costs of materials, taxes, health insurance, and all other costs make it too expensive to do anymore. The end result is fewer contractors bidding on homes, raising prices of homes even further. The last spec homes I built for myself I lost $5,000 on one and $50,000 on the other.
I'm going to go get a government job with excellent bennies and a decent wage.
*bitdreamer: "rising material costs".
Yup, some of my paints (yellow) are $1100 a gallon. Yes, you read that right. So lets continue to pump commodities to the moon. Not.
Surely that's a typo...
Not if he's painting tungsten bars...
Nope, price out Dupont Chroma Premier. Try Ferrari "Fly Yellow" on for size, not even metallic or pearl.
The Board of Equalization is there to make everyone equally poor.
BTW, ZH is getting too damned many annoying ads.
Firefox with Flashblock and Adblock Plus. What ads? I have yet to see one.
Will make use of your advice.
I had to Google "Board of Equalization" to see if it was a real entity or something from an Ayn Rand novel.
I had to Google "Board of Equalization" to see if it was a real entity or something from an Ayn Rand novel.
I had to Google "Board of Equalization" to see if it was a real entity or something from an Ayn Rand novel.
Sorry, I swear I didn't hit save three times.
Agreed. Especially the prudential pop up that fucks up my loading of the page. Hypocrite much Tyler?!
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.
Had a friend start a business in California a few years ago. This was a 60+ year old engineer who was let go when the economy faltered in 2008. He went through the whole 99 weeks of unemployment and looking down the barrel of a gun had to "do something" to stay in his home.
Without going into the details, it was impossible for him to open a traditional store front, so we worked out of his home. No big deal, but proof that even rents in a deflating economy are still too high. All the other issues posted are true and hence mathimatically impossible to comply with and pay yourself. If you have any real employees add workers comp costs too. The coup de grace however was trying to compete with the Internet.
Despite his capacity to provide superior service and low cost repair to computer equipment, the likes of Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba all demonstrate daily that he is still out-priced by shear replacement costs. He simple cannot compete against an army of low pay Chinese workers and robots. There is no incentive economically to fix things - only replace with new. Even long time dependable customers (who have not gone out of business themselves yet) don't call for service anymore.
Suffice it to say, he is looking for another way to survive at age 70.
PS This is a man who built radio telescopes, nuclear reactors, military equipment across 40 years - in essence the last generation in this country with any real knowledge and will power to make anything. Instead all those MBAs thought it clever to outsource the economy.
About the only opportunity for anyone is to go into the underground cannabis business and smoke themselves into a stupor and trust me, by 2016 that too will be gamed in California. America business has firmed joined the ranks of Russia and China in terms of needing the State to flourish.
What typically happens to a person like that who invests his life in learning all these skills and abilities is that they get absorbed by a larger established company. Barriers are purposely created to prevent him from going up the ladder. He may have had a better chance outside California. That would be the last place I'd try to launch a startup, unless you were funded with billions, in which case California takes hundreds of millions anyway (Think Facebook). Don't know where your friend ended up, but I wish him well.
places like india and china probably don't much enforce any regulations that they might have. they're probably more old school and just take a bribe here and there; to grease the wheels of commerce of course. anyway, i'm fairly certain that china for one has far less regulations on small businesses. the usa has regulated itself out of business.
India might be a little worse than just "a bnbe here and there."
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21598967-graft-india-damaging-eco...
I have a hard time believing that an engineer (typically intelligent and practical) thought he could start a business repairing PC equipment - that's just stupidity. I guess the fact he was 60+ shows he might have been going senile. Sorry to hear it.
A lot of people missed the memo that Western Civilization has collapsed. Probably because everybody was expecting it to go out with a bang, when acutally civilizations die with a whimper.
He should build a nuclear bomb complete with remote radio detonation. Target: Sacramento.
He's in Cali. There is really only one viable business plan.
Grow weed and mail it to NYC.
bankonzhongguo:
Your engineer friend should have gone into the "field engineer" business instead of computer repair. The margins are absolutely ridiculous for field service/repairs/calibration on instrumentation, analytical, and physical testing machines. These guys are charging $1500-$6000 per day to fix/calibrate equipment for plant and R & d facilities in the chemical industry, energy, and manufacturing sectors.
About the only thing these above companies fix in house or bring in the factory techs for is Agilent/HP and Bruker hardware. The rest is all maintained/repaired by freelancers (small ma and pop operations) that come to your site and charge an arm and a leg. Their job isn't brain surgery either. a friend of mine does this for a living and I work in the chemical industry.
Small business failures should receive a lot more attention then they do, we will see a lot of these in the near future as people have started down this path when unable to find a job. Small business is hard, going into business is risky, and many people are not up to the task.
As a property owner that leases space to many start-ups I have a keen interest and knowledge of the microeconomics that occur. Just as important is the effect, long and short term on the economy. With most business start-ups having a very short lifespan of just months or around a year, the short term burst of spending is quickly followed by the longer term negatives. More on the toll taken on all of us when a small business fails in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/03/small-business-failures.html
Hillary Clinton (D) :
Your businesses do not create jobs. Government creates jobs.
I can't help it if your business is under capitalized.
Dear Leader Obama (D) :
You didn't build that.
Elizabeth Warren (D) :
Exactly right - you effin didn't build that. Now gimme my $400,000, plus, gubermint funded salary.
Nancy Pelosi (D) :
Welfare is the best thing for creating jobs and a strong economy.
Yes, it's challenging for a start-up. Sounds like you are managing to survive, congrats. If you are agnostic on WHERE to start-up, avoid blue-states and particularly large urban areas. These are tax and regulatory nirvanas.
My accountant has been hounded by the New York State Tax Authority for about 12 months after I left the state. I deliberately structured my business conservatively from a tax reporting perspective, BTW.
What really eats me up is the fuckin' Social Security contribution I have to make (13%, versus the employee 6.5%). You would think the Fedcoats could give a start-up a break on the 'employer' 6.5% Social Security contribution for 12 or 24 months. Thanks, Federal government. So, I just take a lot of lawful deductions.
Always be thinking of ways to keep costs low. Be creative, and acknowledge progress. Sometimes this is very small progress, or relating to product development rather than revenue/profit growth.
Nearly 5 years on from jumping from employee to entrepreneur (2 different businesses, soon to be 3), I'm not killing it financially (yet), but I can't imagine ever going back to the bullshit of being an employee again.
I'd rather be marketing to a potential client than kissing a boss's ass. If I win that client, I grow my business. If I lose that client, I learn more about the marketplace. If I kiss that boss's ass, I degrade myself while what, getting better at manipulation via flattery? No thanks.
Finally, you can't pass a job as an employee to your child. You can pass a business to your child, even if they dont care to operate it. Legacy matters.
LetThemEatRand, where are you man? Here's a thread you could comment on without getting downvoted to oblivion for a dose of reality.
Because as we all know, you can start a business with your piggy bank money at 16, and you should teach this to your children, right?
Funny enough, my post yesterday saying pretty much what this article says was my first ever post to attract downvotes. Ah well...
That's because most of the time LTER is pandering emotions, not attempting to be right or -heaven beware- even come up with a coherent description of how she believes things are working.
If Walmart is hurting, then all retail is hurting.
I don't see a practical solution on the horizon.
Congress still has their heads up their asses.
Everything is wonderful.
All this optimism boiling up through the economy has not reached much of rural America or where I live in the Midwest. The election results seem to agree with me that something is very wrong. I did not sleep well last night because I was afraid. I was haunted by fear and I found all the reassurances by Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve are not helping.
Like the young boy in the movie years ago the spirits of those who once filled the world with life will not let me rest, in this case I'm haunted by dead businesses and not people. The article below concerns the cost and problems of buildings sitting vacant because of business failures. I have my finger on the pulse of small business and it is far from healthy.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/10/i-see-dead-businesses.html
GO INTO THE UNDERGROUND CANNIBUS BUSINESS AND SMOKE YOURSELF INTO A STUPOR.
Agree. But just for fun, I'd lay off the weed for a few weeks before the 2016 elections as an experiment so I could clearly gauge how even more fucked up things are before not voting and returning to a weed induced stupor. You know, Demopublicans all bought & paid for anyway.
Take what you can and leave the country.
If you're not willing or able to fight, get out.
You will get hurt if you do nothing.
Your pensions will be used to bail out the next collapse.
I tried selling my small business a few years ago, had a great buyer, but Wells Fargo said they wouldn't underwrite the SBA loan, because my gross sales had dropped from 2009 to 2010. They viewed that as a deal killer. Needless to say, i never sold the business because the big banks wouldn't loan on it. The business has since recovered and is doing well.
But here's the point...
Wells Fargo (the same Wells Fargo who was bailed out in 2008-9, and took Billion$ of taxpayer dollars) was in essence telling me that my business (no taxpayer bailout) was unworthy of a loan...oh the irony.
Bottom line is, they used my taxpayer money to save themselves, then leave me in the dust.
This is the type of story that is typical of a risk-averse bureaucrat doing the minimum required, and not knowing shit about any business, let along small business. Cyclicality happens, and business do better (and worse) through time based on many dimensions of change and risk. .Gov lifers know their checks come every 2 weeks for as long as the government exists, and their pension is accruing. Banksters are even more evil, they are super greedy, and like bending folks over for rapacious/usurious financial gain.
REGULATORY CAPTURE
What does that mean? That small business has captured its regulators? Uh, no. The only ones who have managed that feat are the crony capitalists operating almost exlcusively in the FIRE economy -- finance, insurance, real estate.
Unfortunately, it's the logical and only conclusion to a market based economy. Once a society grows to a certain size and your business grows to a certain size, complexity sets in to the point that both society and business owners need intermediation.....that is to say.....help in doing things that while essential are not core to society's or that business's reasom for operating in the first place. Example....you as a business owner would severely limit your potential sales by trading only on barter....cash....or perhaps gold or silver coins only. Hence your need for a means of accepting credit/debit cards. You're not in the electronics business, nor the network business, nor the card reader business nor the banking business. So....you have to go to an intermediate in order to accept payments that most of your customers are already using instead of forcing them to meet your desire for lower overhead. But you accept the higher overhead from the intermediate because you know...or hope ....that the increases volume of sales from the standpoint of payment conveience will make up for the higher overhead.
Ahhhh.....but here's the rub. The bigger and more complex society gets and the bigger and more complex your business gets the more intermediates are needed. In fact....that's a market like anything else. The market of intermidiates. And whether they be private intermediaries or governmental intermediaries......they are all corruptable humans and are all looking to get their cut of your action. There is no way around it......there is no way out. Some cities and states are better. My advice is.....give California your middle finger and move fo Florida. But make no mistake. Florida and elsewhere all have their intermediaries looking for their cut. It is the nature of man. It is the nature if man made markets. And it is made worse by complexity....including financial comolexity.
Nothing you can do about it....other than accept it if you want to grow...or not accept it and scale back your plans on how large you want or can be as a business.
Jumbotron: "or not accept it and scale back your plans on how large you want or can be as a business."
And that is exactly what I am doing. I'm ungrowing my business.
Don't move to Chicago or anywhere in Illinois... it sucks to be in small business here :/
Six of the nine on that list are imposed by governments, not markets.
Bullshit. Government is a market. You have peddlers of ideas. Some peddle conservative ideas. Some peddle liberal ideas. Other peddle libertarian ideas. And political consumers buy these ideas through voting.
Voters get what they want. If not they go back to the market place and replace vendors as they see fit.
Intermediates exit here as well. They are called the media, the clergy, the comunity organizer, talk radio, lobbyists.
But make no mistake about it....government is simply another kind of market.
IF, and that's a big if, government is a market, as you state, it is remarkably inefficient, and like a casino, the rules are set up to serve those in government. If it is a market, it is a thieves market.
Where is it written that markets have to always be "good"?
And what is good? Private marketplaces are as much a hotbed of cirruption as government marketplaces. You just have a chance to be corrupt or corruptly handled more efficiently in the private market place
A market is neither good nor evil, but it is either more or less efficient at its stated purpose. If you go to a market to purchase a bottle of laundry detergent for $10, only to find that admission to the market is $3, and you can't buy the detergent until you've listened to a salesman for new suits give his 10 minute pitch, and the detergent costs $11, then the market is at least ~40% inefficient.
So? What's wrong with an inefficient market? You've already made a value judgement by using the words "efficient" and "inefficient"
You don't like inefficient markets. Then by pass them. Make what you need yourself. If you can't make it yourself , learn to do without.
Reforming Government is a Certainty.
Sooner or later. Complexity you speak of is antithetical to good Governance.
Reforms:
- Streamline & Reduce Laws
- Reduce Fees & Licenses
- End Lobbying & Gift Giving to Justices, Politicians
- Reduce the Many Financial Streams for Organizations, including Federal Guarantees
- Flat Income Taxes with maybe 5 Tax Credits
- Simplify Business Structures, no Shell Companies, fewer Big out of state or out of country financing (it is coming)
- Simplifying Business Environment would mean reducing the power of Transnational Corporations & US Zaibatsu Defense, Banking, Telecom, IT, Drug, Agriculture, Corporations
- End the Money Trust, Use Anti-Trust Laws against Banks
- Make Corporation good citizens or charge them import tariffs
- End so called Free Trade since slaves are used in other countries and there can never be any auditing
- Move Power, taxes, business incentives back to the Individual States, encourage state financing be used, make financing power in states equal to TBTF Wall Street banks
**The Vision of a new USA is Simplicity, Standard Accounting, Standard Financial Instruments, Flat taxes, ... fewer Entities taking a piece of the action**
- Complexity breeds corruptions, even universities get corrupted by outside financing, this means "US Science" has been damaged by Capitalism
- Suggest Public banks instead of private banks, why do Private Banks get to be Prime Dealers in a Monopolistic Banking System with Federal Reserve???
- Why Bailouts & Bail-ins?? Because the Complexity and work of Lawyers & Bankers to make the system complex... It was a Psyop on the US Voters, Work Force, Business Owners, and Government
- It is Financial War of Bankers Against the Idea of The United States of America
Wow I didn't expect the laughs on this thread. Good to see ZH , still has it....I've been getting worried the past 6months that we hit Peak ZeroHedge.
This article is great, but it's only the beginning. I could add about 15 -20 more killers. Actually I could write a book. Zoning, taxation, regs......you know GOV has hit the stupid button when I have to file a fucking MSDS for fucking hand soap.
No doubt, the rulebook is so big that you'd never be able to start a business if you followed all the zoning/municipal rules. Hell, I bet Jobs and Gates broke some zoning rules when they started their businesses from their garage. Get to a state/local area where people encourage small business, and will look the other way if you do something 'outrageous' like start a business in your garage.
I hate red tape and bureaucratic bullshit. No fucking WAY I'd run any business in this country. Unless it's all under-the-table, of course....
This is my favorite sentence:
"The cheapest rate for myself and me only, and believe me i have looked around, is $250.00/month. Some might say oh that's not bad, but let me explain what that covers, NOTHING."
Yes, and in the details he even forgot to mention the best part: if he ever incurs health costs per year over his $6000 deductible, he will likely also need to pay 10% (or even 20%?) of everything over!
29 small businesses in my building 2007, 13 businesses still scratching a living. That's Progress and Recovery by Gov standards I guess....
Government is fucking up small business.
As government grows many smaller and big businesses disappear.
What else is new?
I can relate.
Free markets are skewed toward the most efficient use of resources possible. Governments are skewed toward the most looting of resources possible. Neither are perfect at what they do. Long live the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!
In many ways the US is already half a communist country on a straight path to becoming the next communist hell hole. At least it will be a communist hell hole draped in stars and stripes with lots of glamour and red, blue and white. Still just a communist nightmare. Nobody knows left from right, nobody dares make a move in fear they could break some law, bylaw or restriction.
Government creates paralysis. Government never ever creates jobs. It may create money from thin air via its CB to pay for work orders that may result in a temporary increase of a labor force, but it doesn't create jobs. Without the funny money, the work order couldn't be placed. Might as well give out the funny money to everyone directly and save 50% on the end product.
The Russians have been through it and come out of it more or less alive. They're rebuilding and if logic prevails, Russia and other former communist countries should now have the edge on true free market forces with as little government interference as possible. Of course, many things aren't logical so I could be entirely wrong on this. Might be worth looking into further.
Cry baby!
Jack Ma, is that you???
If Merchantilism is dead, what goods and services would Neo-Feudalists want to buy?
What do you buy a Neo-Feudalist who has everything?
Slavery could become a multi-billion dollar business again.
In answer to your questions, more whores...
Fat illegal alien ones or slim valley girl ones? The government regulation and pricing structure is markedly different.
Kprime : "The fire extinguisher ordeal brings to light the stupidity of .gov. Inspectors came to my offices every year and made me buy new ones. i would go to walmart, buy two new extinguishers per office. The extinguishers came with a manufactures' 10 Year warranty."
Yup. I have 8 of them in my shop. I am required to have them "checked" and then they have a tag put on them. I take it to the place where Fire Marshall Bob recommends I take them.....
The stooge lines them up on a bench and hits them with a hammer and listens to them. Like a fucking tuning fork or something. $60 to "test" each one of them like that. He puts a new tag on each one and makes $480 in 3 minutes.
Thanks Gov.
Thanks a lot.
it was $40. to have them re-certified. $19.95 to buy a new one.
Not the big boys that are required for my business. Far from it.
Does the guy prefer A440 or 436?
Neither, he's a low rent / information voter and prefers Budweiser.
I've owned several businesses in Kalifornia over the years. Between dealing with the ABC regulation nazis and employees, you're guaranteed many a sleepless night.
The best thing you can do is find a way to work for yourself that doesn't require a large staff, (or non at all) and do it in a business friendly state.
Start an online business with 0 employees, based in New Mexico (private LLCs). Hire a registered agent in NM, to accept paperwork. This is what I plan to do, anyway. Your thoughts on the matter are welcome.
Yeap, I was thinking about adding the "registered agent" angle in my post, but didn't want to complicate things for people. That is absolutely a great way to go.
I have a buddy that owns a manufacturing business and he's incorporated outside of California even though his plant is there. If you don't have partners/investors (S-corp) might be a better way to go for you.
I shut the doors on my own small business after 7 years.
The longer I remained open, the more I encountered people who had figured out a way to get inside of local, regional and state government and create jobs for themselves by creating permits, fees and compliance costs for me.
They all also had governement pensions and better health care than I did and that really pissed me off. The one thing they did not have was freedom, but the longer I thought about it the less "free" I felt myself.
"The one thing they did not have was freedom..."
That depends on how you look at it. Many govies don't have to show up to work to get their six figure salaries and multimillion dollar pensions after 20-30 years of emailing time sheets. Freedom to sleep in, travel, not show up to work and/or perform and still get paid. Welcome to many government jobs.
I guess prudent small business planning these days includes positioning for asymmetric cost-conflict versus .gov. Think if it as a war, where .gov is the enemy. If the battlefield is as cost-less for them as mailing you an invoice for their 'sunshine tax du jour' or 'breathing permit', they'll keep sending the invoices. If they dont know you exist, they can't send you an invoice. If they know they have to prove something, the costs of the collection go up. If you can push costs on them, they'll eventually reduce their harassment.
Three words: All Cash Business.
Preferbly in gold and silver in the future.
Q; What happens when all the Earth's Oligarchs go full retard at once...?
A: You're living it right NOW, Bitchez...
....any time some shitbag from NFIB comes in and tries to peddle his "services" and his "representing me" to the State I explain to him my business model and then ask him SPECIFICALLY what has he done in this state to ease the burden on small business owners such as myself . He does the Ralph Cramden Humana-Humana-humana...................
Then I call him a slut, ask him where his assless chaps are hidden and kick him the fuck out.
I don't care how fucking beautiful the place is....if you choose to put up with the bullshit that is California, I have no sympathy for you.
I used to have a sole proprietorship. What the OP says is true, but he left out one of the biggest impediments and that's the SS/payrole tax. 15% right off the top is too much. For a lot of start ups, you might only be making 15k to 20k for the first few years. 15% right off the top of that small sum will abso-fucking-lutely KILL your little business right in the womb.
I can't be responsible for every under-capitalized small business in America!
-Hillary Clinton
THIS! Make sure to deduct the hell outta your expenses. I think .gov expects you to work the system, so they design the law to be harsh upfront, which perversely makes you better at working the system right back at 'em.
Alas, you give them credit for giving a shit about how it will work out for us. They expect that if they catch us, they will nail us to a cross, end of it. If they catch a TBTF they will fetch and carry and say "Yes ma'am and no sir" and "How deep would you like to put it in?"
An other reason (Spoiler: fat crazy fuckupz) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAQoMF9fhHk
I can save you a lot of reading. Small businesses are failing because the typical consumer has no money. He has no money because the 1% have scooped it all up.
All the rest of the rhetoric is a lame assed attempt at blame deflection, or the result of ignorance.
slowimplosion: I can save you a lot of reading. Small businesses are failing because the typical consumer has no money. He has no money because the 1% have scooped it all up.
All the rest of the rhetoric is a lame assed attempt at blame deflection, or the result of ignorance.
Bullshit. 100% increase in material cost, 20% increase in Electricity and another 20-25% increase on the way shortly if I have read the local nooz correctly, 30% increase in local taxes, fees and other horshit since 2008, again, more increases on the way as I've heard through my local town meetings.
Why do you think that is? And where do you think all this money is going?
slowimplosion is right.
please explain, I am not sure what you mean.
You can't see the forest for the trees. Who owns those resources that are now costing more? Where does the money go? Bitching about taxes and shit is lame, you either have a viable business or you don't. You cannot if your sales are dropping like a rock because consumers are not buying stuff because their job went overseas and what jobs are left pay less and less because the people paying can get away with it.
Every jackass longing for a "global economy" can look in the fucking mirror and see the problem.
slowimplosion: You can't see the forest for the trees. Who owns those resources that are now costing more? Where does the money go? Bitching about taxes and shit is lame, you either have a viable business or you don't.
Funny, I am one of about a half dozen people in USA who do what I do at the level that I do it in a very specific market.
My business was viable (in this location) up to about 2008 (opened in this State in 1988). Then the locals in City / State government opened the spigot to my veins as well as others in micro businesses. Now I'm moving 150 miles away where I can cut my general overhead / rent, heat, taxes, and stupid fees by about 90%.
I would say my biggest gripe is the lack of sufficient zoning for heavy industry in a very small footprint in this State.Typical NIMBY bullshit.
All you have to do is read what "solutions" the really, really, really "smart" people come up with....and it'll make your head spin.
http://ccea.uconn.edu/forecasts/CTOutlook_2011Aug.pdf
I'm moving from one of the worst ranked states for small businesses to one of the top five. So rather than bitch any more, I'm just taking my marbles and going to a particular State that has a much more even playing field for a sole proprietor.
I am reposting some stuff.
Look this is about Empire & Dynasty Building.
Look at the Roman Empire or British Empire.
#1 they have to take resources and use human labor either for production or military service, Empires must find ways to manipulate the system to come out on top, accounting fraud, theft, use of debt to force government officials to grant lands or monopolies
#2 there are many kinds of debt that can be brought up, our understanding of economics was that banks too in deposits, lent out dollars from the local economy to create capital, originally we thought this was debt free money being used to stimulate the economy
#3 Fractional Reserve Debt takes Fiat and create debt and money out of thin air for loans & investments, not only does this inflate the dollar (devalue USD), it means if the bank takes over the assets due to failure... the bank becomes richer since it now owns the assets that it created from thin air!!!
This is Financial War against Government, Households, and Businesses.
QE has enabled this process, ZIRP is Oppression, TARP is Oppression as they bailed out the Irresponsible Elite Bankers... but deeper you see the Banks don't serve the people or the government. Banks are disconnected from the Country, Government Ideals, Accounting Integrity... they only have to turn over financial transaction or create securities, buy stocks, buy bonds, buy and encourage buying of Real Estate... and they get promotions & bonuses.
Wealth has shift from Creating Capital (the old way)... now wealth is created through financializing real estate, stocks, bonds, derivatives.
Decapitalization of Industry is Key to understanding this, but also wage declines also indicate... we shifted from Industrial Capital Wealth to Bull Shit.
Michael Hudson: Finances vs Economy, Credit vs Money [3/18 ENG] ...Sounds like lots of ZH people agree with him on Greece & Financialization of Debt & Government in order to steal the assets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZQqrxHGcoQ Whole thing is good!
I don't comment often, but this post is simply too much. What kind of idiot opens an independent funriture store in California after 2008?
I am currently in process to get an SBA loan through a certain Omaha bank. The process has been easier than getting my last mortgage. The sales lead came up with a way to keep me at 15% out of pocket, instead of 25%, saving me almost six figures. FIxed 10 year term at 5%.
License - $150.
Rent - $9 sq ft.
Health Insurance - $500/mo for family on a high deductible plan. We don't smoke, drink, or eat shitty foods. We exercise on a regular basis and take no medications. I have deals with my optometrist and dentist for trade of services to avoid dental and vision.
We spent the last 15 years of our lives working the corporate grind, pinching every penny we could. Not eating out. Small vacations. Clipping coupons. Working fucking hard. Now it is paying off in a new chapter.
The business could drop 35% from the last decade's average, and we still meet our quality of life and debt service. If all goes well, we either buy business #2 in 5 years after we paid off the note, or we sell and retire before 50.
Whoever the fuck says that you can't do this in America is completely full of shit. America is the ONLY place you can go from being a kid that had to shoot squirrels to eat a full meal to buying a million dollar business.
There are profitable small businesses out there. You simply have to actually understand business to know how to find them.
Ulf Murphy, good luck, and I'm not being sarcastic. I'd like to hear how you're doing 2 years from now.
I appreciate it, and I promise to come back in two years, on the same type of thread on ZH in 2016, and either join the Debbie Downers because I failed, or tell them all to go fuck themselves again.
I look at the next few years as my real initiation into fight club. Unlike many here, every night will be my first night.
I have to fight.
There is a lot to what you say, understanding the numbers is what makes any business but especially smaller ones succeed, and California is probably the worst state overall in which to try anything these days.
And yet, it can't be a good thing if every Joe doesn' t have a chance to go out and try and learn and operate on a shoestring, where they might be perfectly happy except that some official pinhead comes in and tells them they can't do that because they need to spend six million dollars on LBGT-approved bathrooms with crystal chandeliers that they are entitled to and only a bigot would disagree.
My father ran a small business for many years, had an IRS audit once, where the auditor was just getting over a heart attack and stroke, and could barely talk one word a minute. It was an odd little business but they were 100% scrupulous on all taxes, but they had to put up with this little prick for a week, and pay the accountant $$$$ to sit with them, before he would go away. Everyone has stories like this. And just wait until your business hits $10m in sales, and legions of frauds and leeches show up from all compass points, not excepting your own lawyer charging $400/hr to keep the other leeches away. And this I presume will hit you in Omaha same as Sacramento.
Every Joe does have the chance to go out and do it. It is called life. Your entire damn life is a profit and loss statement, but parents don't teach their kids that these days.
And btw, that is why you rent until you get your feet off the ground.
RING, RING...Hi Mr. Landlord, there is some little fuck here that says you need a $6mm LGBT bathroom or I am getting shut down. According to my attorney, not putting this bathroom in breaches our rental agreement, so I need an answer now if I need to rent from the guy across the street from you, who has either little man in his pocket or an LGBT facility, or send you a check at the end of the month. Your call.
Well sure, and it's why you use OPM to start a business, basically half the business is extorted from you on day zero and that's how you get into the game, and then you can step up a bit at a time over several years, and that's how it's always been and probably always will be. "Extort" is a nasty word for someone giving you money of course, but that's what we're talking about here. If I want to sell umbrellas on the streetcorner, lose a little on each one and make it up in volume, well, do I really need to be shut down because my 401K plan is top-heavy?
Do we all need to pay taxes to fund a bunch of pecksniffs to go around and do that stuff?
ps - senior homecare is probably a good niche right now, there's need and opportunity. If you get a website up at some point, maybe post it here for the curious.
Everybody has to pay some vig at some point in their lives, my friend. Whether you are a working stiff paying taxes or a "businessman" paying back the OPM that got you started, it all comes down to...fuck you, pay me.
Either way i am paying someone. At least when I am running things, I get to choose who I pay.
Ulf, I always find it frustrating when people discuss their own business experiences but then leave out the one salient detail that brings the anecdote in focus....
What is it?
We are buying a senior homecare company, but does it really matter?
That was the final choice between three local businesses that caught our attention out of the 1,000 or so listed with our area brokers. The other two were a logistics company and a distibutor of fencing materials. If either of those two are still for sale when I can come up with safe funding, I will jump at those as well.
We are in a unique situation where baby boomers want to retire in droves. They have sat back and collected from their businesses for the last decade or so with their eye on retirement, not the future. So, they are in an unenviable position where they are not large enough to get bought by a larger company, or even middle market company, and not successful enough, recently, to sell quickly (due to complacency on their part while they were happy with the money they were making). So, I was able to make a great deal. This is 10 years in the planning, and 3 years of actively shopping for a business.
Anyway, there are a ton of good businesses out there that can fit your bill, with a long term projection for growth. You simply have to be able to spot where the trends of this country are going, have the determination to save, be willing to wait, and have a plan (with a backk-up plan).
Honestly, I am not guaranteed success, but I am my own boss in literally 12 days. If I can make my new boss half the money I made my current boss, I will be fine.
The fact that your boundless optimism is viewed by most independent thinkers as irrational strengthens my hypothesis, that Western Civilization has already collapsed.
Good luck with your new business, btw. After all somebody's gotta pay for my Obamacare, and Lord knows, it ain't gonna be me.
The best part of your comment is that my wife calls me a raging pessimist. That is why I stopped posting ZH on FB 3 years ago. Then I had no damn reason to use FB anymore.
And I guess I have read too many of Cog's articles over the years to believe that "most" and "independent thinkers" should ever be used in the same sentence.
Thanks. I'll need it. One thing to remember about ACA. It is a tax, and it only takes 51 Senate Votes to defund it, like any other tax bill. I expect that vote to come in with the new budget, lol, but I ain't holding my breath.
I hear ya'.
What % of your revenue derives from .gov contracts?
Less than 1%.
America is the ONLY place you can go from being a kid that had to shoot squirrels to eat a full meal to buying a million dollar business.
This in my mind destroyed a large part of your argument and made you look like a gov stooge. Your exceptionalism is showing. Please gimme a break... it's actually EASIER in a multitude of countries than the US (I assume you mean US when saying 'America' and not Canada or Mexico) to go from absolutely nothing to a decent income.
Opened up a retail store about a year ago
No matter how nice I have been, little 4 ft tall 4 ft wide constipated zoning prick has been unrelenting in waddling around and sending me violation notices. Despite not doing anything different than other businesses. As someone posted, VERY hard to take shit from these clowns who are raking it in on the government dole in between vacations while you're busting your ass to survive with no health insurance
What rules do you violate?
Yah the SBA, last time I checked (20 years ago) "small business" meant under $100,000,000 a year (assume it's a billion now or ten), yet all their PR and literature makes it sound like they mean one-man storefronts and garage operations. Nope. Anything much less than a million bucks gross a year and you are not EVEN a small business, you are beneath contempt. Only time I tried to reach them about something or other, I could never, ever reach the person or department indicated. I assume the persons involved had other jobs and collected their SBA paycheck in absentia.
Ahh the SBA...a few years back they announced they have invested $10M into the local economy. Sounds great right? Well, the money wasn't actually loaned out to small businesses. Rather, it was invested in a new commercial building...the new SBA office of course.
Things like this are why I am always harping on the need to put those who stand in the way of the working man to the sword. Nanny-staters, "liberals", free shit army losers, gun control advocates, and of course the Jewish rats that enable them really need to be eliminated in order for a man to make an honest living in this once prosperous nation, or any other Western nation at this time.
Agreed. It's Producers vs Parasites all the way.
Your first mistake was to open a furniture shop...close it up and join Wayfair and send couches through the mail...
Jonathan Gruber says we are STUPID.
And I say Gruber is just another treacherous JEWISH RAT.
war on women? not. war on small biz!
imagine if even a small portion of the QE ZIRP etc haul had gone to small biz vs banks...
Lots of complaining and whining on here. Maybe I missed it but I didn't see 1 solution proposed
Government is what you let it become. No doubt a Founding Father stated something far more eloquent
Now they don't just ask for blood payments they enforce it with armed criminals with tanks, body armor and automatic weapons. Or through the criminal corrupt judiciary followed by the armed terrorists. Do you think it will ever get better by complaining? Or now that the terrorists are emboldened by your show of total compliance, submission and cowardice that they will just go away?
Let me quote American television that way it will sink in through the brainwashed programming
"And if you don't stand up against tyranny, it will beat you every time" - John "Hannibal" Smith
I'm starting to believe that Americans can't organize themselves into a unit of 1 to take action. Let alone a united front against tyranny
Harsh truth. If you down vote this you're a gutless coward that deserves the boot on your face
There isn't a lot anyone can do, the consequences are more than many can or want to take.
In the 80's I had to make payroll and I just squeezed enough cash together to issue checks the next day. Revenue Canada shut down my bank account. I was pissed. I called Revenue Canada.
"The keys are on the desk."
"What's this about?"
I identified my self, "You obviously think you can run this business better than I. The keys are on the desk. You got my money I was going to pay 35 people with tomorrow. They pay taxes, rent, mortgages, shop and so on. I am going to tell all these tax paying citizens who work for my what happened. You deal with it." I hung up and didn't move, steaming and thinking how the hell I was going to cover pay roll.
The phone rang. "We made an error, we see that you were paying down what you owed us. We opened your bank account."
"The keys are still on the desk," I replied, "I am tired of working for nothing in a business I own and every one gets paid except me."
I hung up again...
I've got a rifle chambering Lapuas for the vest-wearing fucktard stupid enough to come into my castle, and if .gov was doing its job, those numbnuts would be reading the comments from business owners on this thread, and starting their 'to-do' list.
If and when .gov is co-opted to benefit big business to the extent I feel I can no longer make an honest living, I've got a rifle chambering Lapuas . . .
Anyway for more bad news on my local small business scene, my favorite local seafood restaurant is closing up shop in the next 6 weeks. Yet, another small business going down the drain. They specialized in serving fresh well sourced and cooked local seafood. The other seafood restaurants here suck compared to them unless one moves way up the price curve.
Another restaurant that I frequent has had a noticeable reduction in its customers too. One night last week, they grossed $600 in total sales. It used to be packed to the gills every night.
Things are so out of balance these days that it boggles the mind. Yes, there is a war on small business from government at all levels to the mega-corps.
He's in the wrong business. Nobody needs new furniture. It's a "want". When times are scarce, furniture moves way down the list.
i chased myself out of the boss/owner role in the 90s and i only dealt with vendors and contract employees out of a warehouse. i kept everything on the dark side as most of my business was cash. if i had to declare it all and actually hire my contract employees as legit i could never have made it. most of the guys i dealt with had the same attitude(without saying it. that would be stupid). a real legitimate small business is really, really difficult and most people earn diddly in terms of hourly return on labor. forget investment return. when it is over many businesses have nothing to sell.
what i found personally funny is that being on my own for so long ruined my ability to work for someone else so all i do now is buy and sell big stuff from real estate to cars while sitting on the throne in my house.
Well played.
This sounds familiar. I knew an immigrant family who came to NYC in the 50s and opened a small restaurant. Within 10 years, they saved enough to buy the place where their restaurant was located. Years past, and they bought the building on the corner which housing the bodega. They purchased 1 and then 2 taxi medallions. They purchased their apt when it converted to co-op. Through all those years, they paid their staff out of cash receipts, which may have lowered their reported gross revenue. Every week, additional cash was wired out of the country in a mechanism that did not get tracked. Now guess who is filthy rich with a mansion in their country of origin?
In short, you describe a life of crime.
In short, you describe a life of crime.
Isn't this what life working in government's highest level is all about?!?
What worked starting in the '50s does not work today.
.Today's work ethic-and most of all the consumer ethic-is vastly different from the '50s immigrant work and consumer ethic. The characteristic '50s immigrant never bought anything they could not pay cash on the barrelhead for, and even when they got large enough to need things like mortgage loans, their NYC banker that they went to for a loan spoke their native language and knew them personally. Most businessess were started and run by families and close friends. These hard working immigrants' word was better than gold. and they could be trusted to keep their word as a matter of honor. Immigrant communities were real communities where people actually related to each other, knew each other, and helped each other.
So basically, you don't want to make an honest living. Then you wonder why people have a problem with it.
you have obviuosly never built anything in your life. it is one thing to work around .gov regulations meant to extract taxes from you while interfering with your exposure to risk and another to flaunt laws meant to prevent theft from consumers or stealing.
A lot of folks just want an equal playing field on which to compete in the 'free' marketplace. When .gov gets bigger and bigger, its discriminatory contract award system gets incrementally tyrannical. Good thing my business does not market to .gov. Otherwise, I'd need an ethnicity and sex change procedure.
I can add to the list. I own a small business and I'm looking to cease operations in 2015. It's been a GREAT business but I can carry on for a few years without income at this point. I'd rather keep it going but here is my short list of reasons to quit:
1. Penalties. I feel the ethics of govt staff has fallen off a cliff, now they just want to raise money for themselves. Without mentioning what govt people rule over my particular enterprise, if I were ever subject to an "inspection" (we follow all rules) I've been told that they can decide to penalize me around $100k for a tiny error. Yes, $100k. Basically they can take an invoice I've paid, something like $35k, and if there is even a $10 error I can be fined triple the invoice price. It's been like that all along but I just get the feeling it ain't worth the risk at this point. Call me paranoid.
2. Merchant Fees. YES the author of this story hits it SPOT ON. The banking fees are just outrageous for small business. If there is any smart politician policy-maker reading this, PLEASE look at this situation as it is a type of violation of the free market in my opinion. Banks negotiate huge discounts for big corporations but give little guys the SHAFT. We pay thousands and thousands every year in merchant fees, for what seems like no reason at all. Banks should be subject to some sort of reguation where they have to charge little guys and big guys the same rate, if these merchants provide similar services. Please.
3. FSA. My French grandfather was a super proud American and he told me "work hard and don't ever take a handout". Well at this point I'd just like to stop working, even though I am completely capable and frankly quite enterprising and good at making money. I'd like to spend a few years collecting as much for free as I can. Sign me up. I no longer care to fund Uncle Sam's activities around the world.
Join the FSA now while you can. As a ZH'er, you're clearly aware that the Free Shit ain't going to be as generous as it is now for a whole lot longer. Get in while the getting's good...
I'm 100% with you. There are plenty of ways for an idustrious, scrappy person to make money under-the-table and still enjoy the Free Shit. Why the fuck not..!?? I, too, am sick of funding fucking deadbeats (especially in NYC where I pay close to 50% of my earnings to fucking .gov).
Unfortunately, "small business" doesn't contribute much to the export economy that is needed to pay for all Asian the imports.
All the more reason to be a trader; except in very rare circumstances, it makes absolutely no sense to be in a "bricks & mortar" business. Your business should be money, and you should have the flexibility to move it to "friendly environments" and not be subject because of physical locations to be hunted and preyed upon by government. Escape corporate and goernment tyranny!
www.traderzoo.mobi
Yes and no. If you can sell retail at markup 10x than it makes sense for the time it lasts. But then everyone starts selling 'popcorn'. Poof. There goes your business.
So sell online. But thanks to epacket your shipping costs 4x what China can send it...and they get free delivery confirmation and priority speed. Why does a seller in China get postage at 1\4 of my costs? Hmm. Guess you could call this a reverse tariff. Google epacket. I'm not making this up.
Every business class I ever had emphasized some type of incorporation. LLC, or whatever. As soon as any business does this, it is completely beholden to the state legislature. What that accomplishes is a new entity. One created and allowed and controlled by the state. This not required, as any 'limited liability company will be required to immediately buy insurance, so the limited liability is not what it seems. If I were to start a business, it would be a sole proprietorship and not open to the public, but rather private contract only. With this arrangement, there are inalienable rights involved. And, as everyone should be aware (but apparently no one is aware) inalienable rights are not subject to legislation.
" Fire Department - Yes even the Fire Department wants a piece. Starting last year you must do your own visual inspection and send them a check for 150! Basically if you don't they will come to your store and give you a million violations for wasting there time"
JESUS H. CHRIST! Even the fucking Fire Department is extorting money from small business! Yes, those fuckers are after me too! For now I have been able to keep them out and off my back, but I have help from the "Big Business" umbrella under which my small business operates. It is a unique interenet based type of company and as part of the tiny fee we pay for our lisiting, we get the insurance and legal backing to fight the extortion of local governments. Lesson, you must always pay for protection, my cost of protection is small, but still, it is real money. This furniture store guy is perfect prey for local government extortion. And you can quote me on this: " Local Governemnts could give a shit less if they put you out of business, they wear that as a badge of honor. Hey, we killed another one!"
The Fire Dept wrote me a notice for my Palm tree hanging within 13.5' of the driveway. Fucking Lt of the dept or captain making a boatload and able to retire after 30 years at 90% pay. And he is going around doing this shit. Of course if you do not comply, you get a tix. if you work out of your home you have to get a business license and pay a busines stax on sales. And yes soon, the FD will be at your door for your annual inspection which will start out free and then cost a bundle. Fuck everybody
Even the water department. Now I pay a rain water run off fee that supposes pays for the city to cleanse any rain that falls on my commercial business and runs into the storm sewer. Further they threatened me with $5000 fines if any of my employees cars leak oil on the parking lot and I fail to hire a hazmat team to clean it up. When I pointed out the Walmart parking lot/Exxon Valdez site they told me that it was different because they we not an "industrial" site like my six man wood shop.
Bend over and remember to smile, they don't want angry "customers". For each and every one of us, we know it is but a matter of time till the bell tolls for thee and me.
Local Governemnts could give a shit
You're trying to tell me that they actually give a shit?
These days your better off starting a small online business. But do this before Barry Soetero's proposed internet regulations and taxes. Obungu is the worst president in US history!
Maybe you need to educate yourself about what Net Neutrality is all about and stop listening to Breitbart. It isn't "Obamacare", despite what your pundits tell you. Net Neutrality will prevent BIG business monopolies from stifling competition.
"Even Tim Wu, the man who coined the term net neutrality, will tell you that the fast lane idea isn’t what it seems. “The fast lane is not a literal truth,” he says. “But it’s a sense that you should have a fair shot.” On the modern internet, as Wu indicates, the real issue is that such a small number of internet service providers now control the pipes that reach out to U.S. consumers—and that number is getting even smaller, with Comcast looking to acquire Time Warner, one of its biggest rivals. The real issue is that the Comcasts and Verizons are becoming too big and too powerful. Because every web company has no choice but to go through these ISPs, the Comcasts and the Verizons may eventually have too much freedom to decide how much companies must pay for fast speeds."
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/net_neutrality_missing/
Developed critical thinking skills means not making "if Obama is for it, I'm against it" your sole criteria for forming an opinion.
Net neutrality, right. So Pugsly downloading the latest ClapTrap tune for his gay lover gets the same access to bandwidth as a doctor downloading a CAT scan for an emergency patient. Yeah, you've really thought that one through. Sheer genius.
There you go. You have no understanding of how the Internet works. The ISPs control the speed that Pugsly, his gay lover and the doctor get. If you want more speed as a Comcast customer, you pay more for it. That monopoly powered revenue stream will not be effected by Net Neutrality. The ISPs decide what speed you get your service at, not the content providers.
The issue is whether Comcast can charge content providers more based on how much data they transfer (which is based on customer demand). It has always been the case that the ISPs added capacity when needed, and it is an expense of the MONOPOLY business model they exploit. The cost of doing so (adding more ports when capacity demands it) is insignificant in relation to the guaranteed profits they get as a monopoly. Comcast wants to create another revenue stream based on routine maintenance.
It is Comcast that likes to play chicken with data speeds, possibly keeping those doctors from getting their important data quickly, in their effort to extort revenue streams from content providers.
"More cynically, these ISPs simply view these arbitrary tolls as new sources of revenue for their last mile bottleneck monopolies or as a way to unfairly discriminate against content that competes with the content the ISPs themselves supply."
http://blog.level3.com/open-internet/chicken-game-played-child-isps-inte...
As a small business owner in a totally different field (custom software development) I'll second what this guy is saying and add an additional story. I formally started my business in 2006, but had worked as an independent contractor for 4 years before that. I had a nice rolodex before I formed my LLC.
Anyhow, banks don't want to loan you money. This spring I went to get a business loan for the first time ever. I just needed about $20k to hire someone for a project with Honeywell. Very big contract, but so big that I needed an extra warm body. What I found was that despite the fact that I had been running a profitable business for 8 years as in 'EIGHT YEARS', They (tried 4 or 5 banks, Kabbage and few other 'small business loan' companies) did not want to loan me money because:
1. They did not want to loan anything less than $100k
2. My monthly deposits were not high enough to merit a loan for $100k despite the fact that I did not want $100,000. I just wanted $20k.
I'd bet that if I'd said I wanted $100k and had the deposits, they'd say - no, we want to loan you $250k and you don't qualify for that.
Thankfully, I've been doing this long enough that I was able to work out a deposit with Honeywell that was large enough to cover the expense of hiring additional people, but the banks are no help at all. I was only able to pull that off because we have 8 years of successful projects in an industry that fails 72% of the time. People trying to break into my field are screwed. They will not be able to even get up and running on a single project.
I hear this from all the people that I know in my industry. It's stupid. I can't even imagine trying to start a consumer facing business. You better hope that your family's rich and that they really believe in you. The deck is totally stacked against you. No way you're opening a coffee shop in 2014 and lasting for more than 2 years. Starbucks has already put you out of business.
The simple fact that drives it all is that it makes more sense for a bank to use everyone else's money to buy equities than it does to loan money to a small business. The Fed has already locked in their profits. Why on earth would they use capital to maybe get a return of 7% when they're giong to make money every single day of the year courtesy of what amounts to themselves. Call the Fed or the stock market if you want to. They're all the same guys.
In the end, you're just not going to get any real economic growth that way. For as long as I've been alive, small businesses were the drivers for job creation. That all dissappeared in 2008. We don't drive anything anymore.