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The Biggest Problem in the US Economy Today

Phoenix Capital Research's picture




 

The biggest problem in the US economy today is the death of entrepreneurialism.

 

The number of self-employed Americans is at an all time low. It is not coincidence that this record was set at the same time that the number of Americans receiving Government entitlements is at an all time high. A cultural shift has occurred in this country. And it is resulting in more businesses closing than being opened.

 

You would not know this based on the financial media's reporting, which continues to spin the narrative that we are in some kind of entrepreneurial renaissance, largely based on the fact that a handful of start-ups are valued at ridiculously high valuations due to the VC bubble.

 

Most of those businesses are gimmicks. And their founders represent the 0.00001% of entrepreneurs who happened to luck out more than anything else. A little known fact is that 75% of all venture-backed firms (firms that raise at least $1 million) don’t even return investors’ capital (meaning the money is gone forever).

 

What America needs right now, is for people to start their own businesses. Not mobile apps, social media websites, and other pipe dreams they hope to sell for millions of Dollars to Wall Street, but businesses that have a chance of actually producing cash flow so they (the entrepreneurs) can make a living.

 

That’s how the US used to be.

 

During the last 200 years, the reason the American dream was so appealing for people was because there was a relatively decent chance of it turning out. This was  back when the dream consisted of getting a job that covered your cost of living (hopefully and then some), raising a family, and working hard for most of your life to better yourself and your loved ones.

 

That used to be a dream: having a good life, making good money, and raising a family.

 

The American dream has since become perverted into the equivalent of hoping to pick a winning economic lottery ticket: hoping that you somehow will become one of the lucky 0.00001% who strike it big and make millions upon millions of Dollars.

 

American Idol, social media apps, Reality TV, Hollywood, Youtube Sensations, etc… they’re all cut of the same cloth: promoting economic lottery tickets that have a less than one millionth of a percent chance of working out.

 

Moreover, the myth is in fact two-fold: 1) that winning the economic lottery is ordinary and 2) that those who “win,” actually “win” something of value.

 

If you look closely at the people who do “win” in these situations, they are almost all miserable wretches. Look at the divorce rate, substance abuse, and criminal records of the “winners.” That’s not happiness… it’s being a broken human being who has too much money (and usually ends up losing most of it).

 

Starting a pizzeria, opening a hair salon, becoming a welder… those random examples have a far greater likelihood of actually working out than any of the above examples of getting super rich through popularity or haphazard chance. Yes, you’ll work incredibly hard… but that was actually the norm for society going back for centuries.

 

This notion is not to be snickered at. Capitalism is a bottomless well of potential wealth and prosperity. I’m talking about real capitalism. DEMOCRATIC capitalism. Capitalism that allows for any individual to improve his or her lot in life via hard work; not the corrupt, crony capitalist monstrosity of a system that exists today in the US.

 

Sandwiches have been around over 100 years, but people are still opening sandwich shops that find ways of creating jobs. Frozen yogurt has been around for decades… but the guy who started Sweet Frog did so in 2009 and has since opened over 200 locations. Cars have been around since early 1900s but people are still creating new technologies that improve them.

 

Again, the biggest problem in the US is the below chart. Until we fix it…and a wave of entrepreneurs start creating businesses that are viable, the US will continue to be in a recessionary “recovery” that is frankly DEPRESSING.

 

 

For more economic/ investing insights swing by www.gainspainscapital.com

 

Best Regards

 

Graham Summers

Chief Market Strategist

Phoenix Capital Research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thu, 08/20/2015 - 10:55 | 6447112 Evil Peanut
Evil Peanut's picture

End corporations and corporate personhood, the mega corps rule the world

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 23:02 | 6445995 lucky and good
lucky and good's picture

I deal with small business on a day to day basis and I will tell you they have little reason to be optimistic. The calls coming from Washington to increase pay and benefits is just another knife in the side of small business that will cause the more small independent businesses to close their doors. Each year owners divert more time away from making money and growing his or her business to do the bidding of those in Washington. Small business is 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

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:49 | 6445809 Crocodile
Crocodile's picture

One Phrase: "Too many regulations creating to many barriers to entry".

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 21:34 | 6445784 lola jayne
lola jayne's picture

So why don't we get private money to invest in people? Because private money does not want to invest in people. They want illiterate slaves. And you thought the Civil War solved that matter. Anathema to ZH ideology, public investment in entrepreneurs would solve that problem. But that might amount to an -ism you have a chronic unconscious allergy to. How about we just call it decentism?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 18:00 | 6445267 Boubou
Boubou's picture

 

As an avid reader of the popular financial press, I  am forced to the conclusion that the economy is now only a metaphor.

I was  living in cloud cuckoo land, drinking the coolaid, but now I am getting off the sidelines, stepping up to the plate, getting off the back burner  , running up the flag ,squirting on the lamppost, pushing the envelope and drawing a line in the sand.

Last night while I was kicking a can down the road, I happened to glance into a window of opportunity but there was an 800 pound gorilla in the room and then I noticed the canary in the coalmine was dead. the chickens had come home to roost, and the Sword of Damocles was hovering over my head.  

Had I missed the bus , caught my thumb in the mangle ,pissed on my chips , blotted my copy book, got egg on my face,  or stepped on a landmine?

The litmus test didn't look good and instead of heading north, my prospects were surprising to the downside , going down the tubes and heading into negative territory. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I needed to start thinking out of the box, and where was my ace in the hole?

I get the feeling the good lack all conviction , the center cannot hold , society is falling off a cliff , we've been sold down the river, driven over a cliff  and I'm pushing on a string.

For God's sake let's all get our ducks in a row on a level playing field before the balloon goes  up.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 07:19 | 6446457 NoPension
NoPension's picture

Carlin- esque

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 16:17 | 6444981 steveo77
steveo77's picture

Lively discussion here.     Nukepro uses the actual cost data from Vogtle 3 and 4 to calculate a minimum cost per kWH IF Vogtle is allowed to go critical.     It will triple the ratepayers rate.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-is-real-kwh-cost-of-ne...

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 16:06 | 6444941 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

"What America needs right now, is for people to start their own businesses."

I dare the author to try this as a low capitalized, and non-connected "little person."

By the time the various theft-jurisdictions get done with you, there will be little left to actually conduct business with. And then a lot of it repeats again the following year.

The problem facing the American country, and people, is not lack of effort, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity, but the scale and scope of tyranny's grift, thefts, and violence against our efforts, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity.

Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 10:49 | 6447090 HoosierHilly
HoosierHilly's picture

Exactly what I'm seeing with my small startup.  Local Naval base won't look at your bid without past preformance, can only get past that by subcontracting with the big dogs.  Can only get work from them if you know someone inside...  Most of my work is with private companies but that business has been on a steep decline since January.  Capital is hard to come by too, business loans are rediculously hard to get right now, hard to get the revenue required without the capital to expand.  Not to mention that if I had the down payment I'd just lease the equipment I'm needing and run it until I could buy it out right.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 19:33 | 6445462 1033eruth
1033eruth's picture

I don't know who the doof was that gave you a down vote, but Uncle Fraud and its many cousins are indeed the biggest barrier to entrepreneurial activity.  Watch out where you open a lemonade stand!!!

Right here on ZH, I read that great example of a guy that wanted to open a restaurant in Nevada and boy did government teach him a lesson he won't soon forget.  He gave up as the costs mounted for bringing a building within "code".  He lost thousands before he threw in the towel. 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 17:21 | 6445184 steveo77
steveo77's picture

Yeah< i gave up, been beat up for a decade as a small business.   Obamacare was the last straw.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 15:58 | 6444907 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

"The Biggest Problem in the US Economy Today"

Zion colonization, plunder, and exploitation, the grift of their banksters, and the tyranny of their governors, the DC US.

Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 15:55 | 6444894 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

What, doesn't everyone budget in winning the lottery?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 15:42 | 6444841 Boubou
Boubou's picture

If they worked really, really hard, everyone would be in the 0.1%,... everyone.

That's the real american message.

I just don't known who the other 99.9% would be in such a case.

And if everyone had a bachelors degree they would all have cushy jobs indoors and make big bucks.

I just don't know who would do the real work in such a case.

Or is that that if everyone worked really really hard and had a bachelors degree, then good jobs and success would require much more.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 15:10 | 6444715 Ruffmuff
Ruffmuff's picture

THe biggest problem is with anyone with half a brain that thinks they can predict was is coming next.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 17:22 | 6445186 steveo77
steveo77's picture

best to have more than half a brain capiche?

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 14:24 | 6444520 Cynthia11640
Cynthia11640's picture

Starting your own business? Really in this economy! Tell Mr. Summers, who is buying what?Americans are down to essentials and are not spending. What would you like to sell them? And, tell me, what are they buying... frozen yogurt.

Eutrepenuers are out of business and everyone has closed shop, just look at the emply retail space, because the cost of doing business is more than one can earn! Moreover, the risk is great because after you've spent your all of your savings opening (if you have one), there's no guarantee you will succeed. I remember the statistic was 85% of all businesses fail in the first year.  And remember, once you get done with your day of selling, you get to start doing the accounting.

After 2008, I noticed shop after shop closing because the populous had no money. Everyone who played the lottery on the equity in their house and lost, and those who set up it up, hurt the rest of everyone. Its as simple as that.

So, its great that you can "sell" readers on your scare tactics rather and suggest solutions that have little or no chance of success, all the while making a living.  But, honest people want honest work and its just not out there. 

Ask yourself, what you can do. Be honest and do something good for someone else for a change.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 09:39 | 6446814 Md4
Md4's picture

You are quite right, and it's going to get a whole lot worse.

As desperate as is the country for new small businesses (THE lifeblood of what used to be our economy), now is definitely NOT the time to start one.

Retired from medicine, I want to start a woodworking business manufacturing my designs for organizational products to help homeowners and others organize their space. I have the capital to purchase the equipment and materials to get started (self-funded), but NOT $1-$5 SQFT (with 1-3 years up front) to lease the appropriate industrial space needed for operation. They can go to hell on that deal; ain't gonna happen.

So, a new, and possibly a very successful business, potentially employing others badly needing new jobs in American manufacturing, won't come into being.

And as I think about it, such an unaccomodative start-up environment is a very strong signal to me that now is not the time to go. Catering to that kind of greed would be a waste of precious capital, and likely would seriously increase the risk of business failure. Better to preserve that capital, and wait for the carnage to come.

When this country is serious about what it takes to actually recover a viable economy that works for the 99%...it will.

Until then, keep your powder dry and your money in your pocket.

m

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 13:28 | 6444280 SMC
SMC's picture

Millions and Millions of worthless fiat trash is still... worthless fiat trash.

ROFL!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 13:29 | 6444215 falak pema
falak pema's picture

think tanks have tanked the economy in TINA (there is no other alternative than QE/ZIRP) mode.

When the Oligarchy imposes the ONLY solution we are in trouble down to our short hairs where it will truly hurt.

Monopoly thinking was Hayek's hidden agenda for converting Adam Smith's "invisible" hand into monopoly induced "guiding" hand of HFt front running by the TBTF and their HF surrogates.

Hayek's world rules today. Thank you Maggie and Ronnie.

Read about it here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/09/the_curse_of_tina.html

Apart from that I've been an entrepreneur for 25 years and never regretted it, outsourcing my support work to accountant and legal firms doing my paperwork. I built an export model company and it worked well with all logistics (trucking/container stuff) outsourced based on weekly quotes updated from subs; just the core inhouse : technology, RM purchasing, processing, and marketing combined; niche strategy that paid off fine. You have to know how to sell to clients and understand their business model. That is a key variable as you must adapt to it to make client stable buyer. As for being paid use Document credit. LC/Doc. Collect via prior bank transfer.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:49 | 6444134 csmith
csmith's picture

Entrepreneurship will not revive in America as long as the very first call you have to make as a brand new businessperson is to a tax or regulatory body. It used to be, start your business and then deal with taxes/regulations later. Now its reversed, and the process is so damn difficult, and the fees and taxes and rules are so damn daunting, that many just give up.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:29 | 6444037 hongdo
hongdo's picture

This guy is full of shit.  Try opening a local business, I dare you.  The local, county, zoning, state, and Fed regulations and taxes and fees and inspections and permits will soon change your mind.  I kept my business a one man operation otherwise the paperwork and fees are a full-time job.  Monthly filings and quarterly filings regardless of whether you made any money or not.  The state witheld my tax refund one year over a "not filed form" even though it was 10 years in the past for a business that was closed and the records destroyed.  It turned out it was their mistake and they said " You are lucky we found the form we lost."  There is no statute of limitations on forms that are not filed or that they lose.  Good luck dealing with these arrogant bastards. 

I just received 3 license renuals ($500) for my wife's business - 3 out of 7 licenses she is required to have.  For that same business I tried to update the occupancy permit for her space and was told I need to submit detained architectural drawings for the entire building.  This was to fish for code violations that they could assess fees against.  The building owner told me if I did that he would cancel the lease and kick us out. 

This is just the tip of the iceburg, I could go on for a while.  It's hell out there unless you are can pay to get laws written for you.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 02:07 | 6446263 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

they nickel and dime you to death-even the Republicans

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 14:54 | 6444657 Evan Wilson
Evan Wilson's picture

I had a similar experience with the occupancy permit.

 

The situation was that I was doing work for an estate and helping them to get a multiunit building sold that guy had owned that was part of the estate. The attorney for the buyer did research and said that there was a problem with the occupancy permit. I had known the buyer for over a decade, and been there when the building got sold and remortgaged after he bought out his first wife years earlier and no one had ever said anything about an occupancy permit. Throughout that entire process, no one said anything about the occupancy permit and even he did not know that there had been one.

 

After doing more research and inquiries, I found out that the city had started to issue occupancy permits in the late 1970s. The building was built in 1910 and as far as I knew, had never had one issued. The building was still in the same configuration as it was when it was first built with the first floor divided into a store and an apartment, and the 2nd and 3rd floors as apartments. I was sure that the first floor had not been divided at a date after building built since I had lived in the area since the early 1970s and the store part had predated that by at least 10 or 20 years.

 

None the less, the buyer’s attorney wanted a new occupancy permit to show there were four units, not three.

 

I then found out that to get a ‘change of use’ from three units to four units, required getting a building permit, in spite of the fact that nothing was going to be changed and no work done.

 

Once I got the building permit, the city sent out an inspector and the real estate agent meet with the inspector, to look at the ‘no work’ that was being done.

 

After that inspection, I waited for the new occupancy permit to be issued. And waited, and waited and waited for days. The occupancy permit was supposed to issue after a few days, so after two weeks of nothing happening, I sent an email asking what the status was. I was told that now I needed to schedule an appointment at the end of the building permit, even though nothing had been changed from the original inspection and nothing had been done, and this was all clearly understood by everyone involved.

 

Government at its finest. This is one of the reasons that I never want to own any real estate, even my own home or condo. Even in those situations you never really own it, it is just an excuse for all levels of government to waste your time and money while they justify their existence with inspections and permissions for using something you own.

 

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 15:48 | 6444857 hongdo
hongdo's picture

That's a walk in the park compared to a place that provides publicly available services.  Then handicapped and health and safty regulations kick in. There was a good summary posted somewhere where a guy told the story of how he tried to open a restaurant and gave up due to regulations.  I think he had to jackhammer the foundation 3 times to meet different code requirements.

True story.  I was remoneling my bathroom in a condo and got a building permit because I was changing the routing of the plumbing to accomodate a full size whirlpool bathtub.  First the inspectors came and said, WTF are we hwre for this is a stupid little renovation of existing facilities  Then the county stopped work because the building fire alarm system did not meet new requirements.  You have to understand how this works.  The fire alarm system met the requirements when it was put in but then they changed the requirements.  Basically monitoring and maintenance of the system had to be done by one of 2 "approved" contractors.  ANY building renovation meant that the NEW regulations kick in.  So my little bathroom renovation was used by the county to get their preferred contractor in to renovate the fire alarm system and get a lucrative maintenance contract for a 1000 unit condo complex.

I was in the county building permit office once and overheard a contractor get turned down or a major appartment complex building permit because the farthest distance from any point in the penthouse from the exit did not meet the maximun code distance by a few feet. 

Is this a great country or what?

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:05 | 6443901 NorthernPike
NorthernPike's picture

I'm betting Government is a growth sector for the next 30 years at least. To keep existing systems going will require exponential growth of  oversight and control, two things which consumers are demanding and are easy to whip up in a hurry.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:01 | 6443889 NorthernPike
NorthernPike's picture

TY Graham!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:44 | 6443842 RingToneDeaf
RingToneDeaf's picture

I really enjoy PCR entries. Well thought out submissions, enticing headlines and meaty articles for a hungry mind. Thanks.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:21 | 6443741 Dan'l
Dan&#039;l's picture

The lottery is a tax on stupidty.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 16:31 | 6445041 MASTER OF UNIVERSE
MASTER OF UNIVERSE's picture

And stupid people actually win lotteries every week which kind of balances out the fact that one is paying a stupid tax when they purchase a lottery ticket, eh. Frankly, I buy the cheapest lottery ticket in Ontario once per month just to be able to dream about building projects, and rat rods, machinery, et cetera.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 18:37 | 6445342 cheech_wizard
cheech_wizard's picture

I buy a lottery ticket every time the amount grows to "fuck you money". Then I came across this:

It’s important to know that you are less likely to exist than you are to win the lottery.

http://mmb-s3.s3.amazonaws.com/2014/07/what-are-the-odds-ig.jpg

Standard Disclaimer: Damn, next time I am going to buy 2 lottery tickets.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:00 | 6443655 theyjustcantstop
theyjustcantstop's picture

read, and love your blog, but have a slightly different slant on this one, your 100% correct about the .000001% hoping to invent, or come up with the next $billion idea,

where I'm from, there's probably 15-25% of the people who like to start their own business, making enough to live a good life for their family.

the other 99.000009, want a job where they can work, for a good life for their family.

ergo the us economy, now the way it's been redigned  by the ,0000001 has made the means of living the American,"ie propagandized for 100yrs.dream",

impossible for 100% of amercans.

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 10:48 | 6443575 brushhog
brushhog's picture

The best part about it is that capitalism is still very much alive and well in America. I started farming about 7 years ago and have found out a secret....if you produce it, and advertise it, people will probably buy it. We sell hay to horse owners, organic-free range lamb, and cord wood ( most people burn wood up in these hills ). From the day we started we have struggled to keep up with demand.

This is TRUE capitalism, not the cronyism that has distorted financial markets. In 'true capitalism' an individual aquires the capital ( land, equipment ), works hard and produces a product. Other individuals voluntarily choose to trade their goods ( in this case dollars ) for what I've produced. The only government involvement is the USDA processing requirement, that I can live with.

One thing leads to another and I see so many opportunities now, if I only had the time to do it! Anybody with a large box truck or certain types of trailers can make a living shipping goods and/or livestock back and forth across the country. There's a demand for these things out there, and there are outlets to advertise and broker sites that make it easier than ever to find customers. The beauty of being indpendent is that you can choose how much or how little your life will revolve around work. Knowing what I know now, I'd never go back to working a "job", its for SUCKERS with no imagination. Craigslist, ebay, uship, etc,etc Its all out there.

You just have to start producing.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:42 | 6444102 hongdo
hongdo's picture

"The only government involvement is the USDA processing requirement, that I can live with."

WOW, are you lucky!

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:28 | 6443757 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

There is a massive, erroneous notion going on in the trenches of self-employment, wherein people think because they have a truck and and ship stuff, as an example, that they are entrepeneurs. They are not. 

A while back I was consdiering going into business in the service industry and talked to my dad about it.  He was self-employed for 50 years. Had anything happened to him where he could not perform his duties in his work, within two weeks he would have been wiped out. Fortunately for him and us he hever got very sick, no accidents happened to him and he never actually took a vacation.  He was able to work 6 days a week from 6 a.m. to 1 pm, and had the rest of his days off.  Not because he couldn't (he eventually got a relative with a sweet no-work union job to help him in his 60s.) but because he really liked what he was doing all his life. He told me to make no mistake about going into business. Unless your business grows year after year, and you have employees that you can depend on to run various aspects of your business, all you are doing is basically, not workikng for someone else, but for yourself, and by leaving the work force for self-employment, you are buying your own job. 

The truth is that most self-employed people are not entrepeneurs, they are like my dad who essentially, 'bought his own JOB",  one that he worked at happily all his life but he would never have considered that he 'went into business'.   

He had a job his entire life, not a business. And so too, do so many self-employed who work just as hard or moreso than those who are working for a corporation, or other company. 

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 13:43 | 6444328 brushhog
brushhog's picture

This is completely ridiculous. having emplyees does not make you a business man. If you are providing a service or offering a product and somebody else id buying it, then YES you are "in business", you ARE an entrepeneur. Just because you work for yourself doesn't mean you're not in business. There are lots of different business models...some are owner/operators, some have employees, some are silent partners. ALL are in business. Having other people involved in your business does not make your enterprise more or less legitmate.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 09:55 | 6446879 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

You are kidding yourself.  If you cannot sell your business, you are not 'in business', you have simply bought your own job, and you most certainly are not an entrepeneur.

If you work for yourself, you are at great risk of imploding: You have an accident, or die so does your service. A business will be able to survive a death of a principal.

Legitimacy has nothing to do with it.  

But go ahead and be in denial. Self-employment does not remotely deal with the multitudinous problems of being in business. 

What's ridiculous is those self-employed human beans who claim they are 'in business' because they sell their skills, talents, and training to the highest bidder, and have lost all the other sales they could have had if they had employees to work it. 

Deniability though  is a completely human trait.

 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 10:36 | 6443546 large_wooden_badger
large_wooden_badger's picture

Two of the riskiest things you can do in this economy:

1. hire someone

2. start your own business in full view of the state

3. go long stocks

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:36 | 6443799 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Agreed.  Regarding your number one: Hire a minority, or someone with multiple minority points makes it even worse.  They are exempted  from firing by the gubmint (massive, business ending lawsuit if you do) so you have to close your business to get rid of a non-performer.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 13:16 | 6444238 large_wooden_badger
large_wooden_badger's picture

I'm Ok with taking risks, but not when the other side has a government-mandated advantage over me in terms of "protected status", or some shit like that. Growing cash crop in CO and hiring people off the books would be a risk I'd be willing to take.

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:33 | 6443785 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

There is the same amount of risk in NOT doing those three things.  We who follow that advice just seem to ignore that risk, and that makes it seem like a more secure move. But it is not. 

There are massive opportunities now in Colorado and other on the fence States that have b 4 their legislatures, de-criminalizing the sacred weed.  The possibilities and risk involved in starting into some aspect of this sky rocketing business are too numerous to list here, but make no mistake:  Huge amounts of money are being made in Colorado ($50,000,0000 in sales in one month!) and a farmer with his head on straight would be looking to that cash crop to make the rank of multi- millionaires.

This is the kind of market that should attract those who have the gumption to start their own business. The risks are several, but apparently manageable. 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 10:03 | 6443415 messymerry
messymerry's picture

[What America needs right now, is for people to start their own businesses.]

Yeah, well, there's a major problem with this.  The bureaucratic burden of building a business prices most "garage"style startups out of the process.  What results is needs are being filled by multi-nationals who don't give a shit about us "consumers" and try to monetize everything including their belly button lint. 

The government is the biggest reason that people are not starting businesses. 

;-D

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 11:46 | 6443846 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

There isn't a lot of govenment involvement in 'buying your own job'.  Yes, there are forms and the like to fill out each month,and quarter but to blame 'government' making it the sole reason people don't go into business, is dead wrong.

I hated filling out those forms and eventually paid the price to accountants to do it for my company and let me alone to build the company as best I could.  That is the main problem, is that most people can't make enough money due to lousy personalities, very poor salesmanship, and marketing, in their business to afford to pay someone else to handle the government, regulatory, and administrative work that needs doing.

If you can'tr charge enough for your service or product to handle this part of the overhead, you should work for someone else and not be seeking an entrepeneurial opportunity. You aren't cut out for it. 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 16:16 | 6444974 messymerry
messymerry's picture

Hey Comte,

I didn't say it was the sole reason, I said it was the biggest reason.  When you have Federal, State, and Local (Yokels) poking their nose into your business and demanding time and money for endless permits and oversight, it is a real disincentive to try to start a business. 

I will stand by my words:  .gov is the single biggest impediment to starting a business in the U.S.

;-D

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 09:31 | 6446792 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

"Government isn't the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."  R.Reagan, President who cleaned up the mess left by the 2nd worst President.

 

Solution:  gubmint. Ctrl-Alt-Del

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 10:01 | 6446904 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

You are naive, insanely so to think that just because government is A problem that it is going away.  EVER. 

It is a problem to be dealt with and millions of businesses are dealing with it and thriving anyway. 

I'm as anti-government as anyone on this blog, or in the universe, but not silly enough to think that just because government contributes my headaches, that it is going to stop. I remember a client of mine who was anti-government until he approached a government agency to supply a product the government spent billions of dollars on each year.  Funny how the government became his best pal, and client, and how quickly he went silent about the problem of government.

And Reagan was an actor just like every other POTUS since Kennedy. His utterings ring of jingoism.

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 05:15 | 6446367 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

We are going to have to disagree.

.gov is neither the sole reason nor the biggest reason.

The facts are in:  The biggest reasons for NOT starting a business (as opposed to buying your own job, like my dad did, by buying bread at wholesale and selling at retail and pocketing the difference, as a sole proprietor) is the lack of desire, motivation, willingness to work harder than if you work for some idiot in some company, the hours, the risk, the lack of ideas to make it work. 

I blame governors for practically everything else wrong with this country, and other countries, because the least of us go to work in government and the most narcissistic megalomaniacs run for office, with no compteency whatsoever. 

But they are way down on the bottom of the list of reasons I didn't start three businesses. 

If you have the right idea, for the right time, and are able to work up a business plan that makes sense, with a decent personality if you are going into a service business, you will tolerate, not embrace wholeheartedly governors' interference, and treat it as just one more problem to solve of the hundreds of them that go into entrepeneurship, buying a job, or self-employment. 

This country employs more people in small companies, and the self-employed than it does in large and small corporate ones, and most of us disliked and some times hated governors' bullshit, but it didn't make any of us want to go out of business.

You seriously need to retract this notion of .gov being your main obstacle. If you don't, you are bound to work for others your whole life, or if you decide to continue or go ahead and start one, will fail at it, or not do very well. 

Stop making excuses, and just get on with it.

 

Thu, 08/20/2015 - 09:59 | 6446439 messymerry
messymerry's picture

Actually, I don't think we are as far apart as it might appear...  To a large extent, it's .gov's social engineering programs that have sapped the desire, motivation, and willingness to work out of the population.  There are other factors at work here, but at this point in time, they are still in the noise.  Another factor is the massive urbanization of the populace.  This is occurring around the world. 

Those attracted to .gov lifestyle are clinically risk averse and this shows in all aspects of .gov funtioning.

Safe titty safe safe safe

Soft titty soft soft soft

Secure titty secure secure secure

We're all titties now  (even the cops...) 

If we did (or published) obesity studies of the public service vs. the general population, these facts would be borne out...

Thanks for the arguement,

;-D

 

Fri, 08/21/2015 - 05:19 | 6446933 Comte d'herblay
Comte d&#039;herblay's picture

I'm more fond of titties than I used to be.  I was an L and A man my whole male lesbian life until my GF began for some reason in her 40s, practically doubled in cup size.

I am a lucky one in that respect.

Social engineering is not just the government's fault.  The Education system crushes creativity as early as possible.  I can never forget a neighbor's boy who was my best little pal from the time he was born and up until he entered Kinnygarden. His creative spark was dead ina year, and his conformity grew like vetch. 

The teachers, and those who come up with the curriculum in schools both public and private are a major reason why desire, motivation and willingness to work are on a steep descent, 

And don't dismiss the visual/audio entertainment industries.  They are a close second to education/indoctrination.

Neil Postman nailed decades ago:  "Amusing Ourselves to Death". 

Wed, 08/19/2015 - 12:58 | 6444178 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

welcome to the practice of medicine (non-corporate)

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