Showing posts with label small business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label small business. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2020
Friday, June 27, 2014
Small Business Not Government Is The Answer To America's Problems
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URL and to post comments: http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/6/26/americans-abandon-most-government-institutions-during-econom.html
Thursday,June 26, 2014
[Editor's Note: The following post is by TDV Editor-In-Chief, Jeff Berwick]
At first analysts would write it is not a matter of "if" the US economy will collapse, but "when."
In 2014 it is not a matter of "when" the US economy will collapse. It already is.
Still politicians and pundits insist the US economy is getting better, from greenshoots to fairy tale unemployment rates under 10% when true unemployment is three times that. Few believe politicians and experts on our improving economy because so few have faith in government institutions. Americans have been lied to for so long their eyes have glazed over in the face of government hogwash.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis has been at the forefront of obfuscating the true state of the economy. In the first two reports on gross domestic product (a useless statistic, which I explain here) in the first quarter 2014 Bureauobserved growth in GDP or slight decline, but in their third revision they reported that real gross domestic product fell 2.9 percent, a major decrease...
This major revision is a sign the US economy is collapsing. Businesses are not investing, they are issuing debt and buying back their own stocks. Undistributed profits fell for the second quarter in a row. The good news is people are smartening up.
Americans are slowly learning that it is not Capitalism which destroys economic activity but government. In the words of Ludwig Von Mises:
“As a rule, capitalism is blamed for the undesired effects of a policy directed at its elimination. The man who sips his morning coffee does not say, "Capitalism has brought this beverage to my breakfast table." But when he reads in the papers that the government of Brazil has ordered part of the coffee crop destroyed, he does not say, "That is government for you"; he exclaims, 'That is capitalism for you.”
The good news is that increasingly Americans blame government institutions and not business, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Every time Gallup releases a new poll it seems there is something for libertarians to rejoice over. It has been well-known for the past decade that confidence in Congress is repeatedly setting record lows, but this most recent poll tells us something perhaps more important. It tells us about how Americans perceive small business...
Confidence in small business scored high marks at 62% among 1,027 randomly-chosen adults from all 50 US states and Washington DC. Why is this important? Small business will be a central component for Americans when it comes time to picking up the pieces in the aftermath of The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI), which our readers will know started when then President Richard Nixon took the US off the gold standard in 1971, making a key change to the Post-World War II Bretton Woods world order.
While confidence in small business scored high marks at 62%, organized labor struggled to gain traction, polling at 22%. You can see below that small business owners hold some confidence in their future, but their outlook is far below pre-Greater Depression optimism.
Small businesses are key for the future of the United States. There's no amount of regulation or policy in the world that can get many Americans (in fact all slaves of governments everywhere) back from the brink of starvation. What's the answer? Entrepreneurship. What the United States needs now are 315 million businesses. As Jay-Z raps, "I'm not a businessmen. I'm a business, man."
Entrepreneurship is the story of the US and in fact the history of economic activity throughout the world. Entrepreneurs - humans- taking action is key to everybody's future! By helping yourself and starting a business, you're also helping all of those people you will eventually serve. But in order to achieve this you must act! As Ludwig Von Mises said: “He who only wishes and hopes does not interfere actively with the course of events and with the shaping of his own destiny.”
More than 99% of businesses with payrolls in this country are small businesses and who knows how many more are operating in the gray market with employees under the table. I guarantee you they're all small businesses! Historically small businesses in the United States employ more than 50% of all workers and create 80% of new jobs.
What the entire world needs now, as a part of embracing liberty and freedom, is a 21st Century Entrepreneurial Awakening. The individual needs to reassert himself or herself as the most innovative, entrepreneurial, industrious agent known to man. A huge part of this is shrugging off government - all governments. And we're getting there...
Confidence in the US government is at an all-time low, and not only among foreigners. Americans' confidence in Congress and other key US governmental institutions has fallen to lows, as seven percent of Americans say they hold "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress as an American institution, down from former low, 2013's 10%. In 1972 confidence reached 42%.
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Americans' current confidence in Congress is not only the lowest on record, but the lowest Gallup has recorded for ANY INSTITUTION in the 41-year trend. It marks the first time Gallup has measured confidence in a major US institution under 10%. Four percent of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in Congress, while three percent have quite a lot of confidence. One-third of Americans report holding "some" confidence, while half hold "very little," while still another seven percent volunteer that they have "none." Confidence in Congress has been on decline since 2004. The bottom line is that confidence in Congress is the lowest of the 17 institutions Gallup measured this year, and is the lowest Gallup has ever found for any such institutions.
Also noteworthy is faith in public schools reaching a historic low at 26%. The presidency dropped by 7 points and polled at 29%, a mere few points over its all time low of 25%, recorded in 2007. 30% express confidence in the Supreme Court, which is at its lowest point in the history of the survey. Faith in the prison system was noted at 23%, recorded a full 5% drop. The prison system has never fared well in Gallup's polls since it was added in 1993. Contrary to the rest of the data on low public opinion towards government, the military fell just 2% points, still representing the favorite statist institution (you might say, the ultimate statist institution), with 76% expressing confidence in it.
What Must Be Done?
The increasing confidence in small business and the decreasing confidence in virtually all government agencies is a sign that people want to take control over their own lives. This is good news.
Things in the US will get more difficult for entrepreneurs even if over time there are more entrepreneurs. The government hates competition and in this day-and-age every individual with some skills on a laptop can run their own business for cheaper than ever in the history of the world. In TDV's HomeGrown, a subsidiary of the TDV Newsletter, we give US-based individuals advice on surviving TEOTMSAWKI. What's more dangerous for a government is that its citizens can run a business from anywhere on the globe. That's why so many Americans are renouncing their citizenship. They've seen the writing on the wall and know the US economy is facing collapse. TDV Offshore can help you on your way to joining those who have already escaped.
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Anarcho-Capitalist. Libertarian. Freedom fighter against mankind’s two biggest enemies, the State and the Central Banks. Jeff Berwick is the founder of The Dollar Vigilante, CEO of TDV Media & Services and host of the popular video podcast, Anarchast. Jeff is a prominent speaker at many of the world’s freedom, investment and gold conferences as well as regularly in the media including CNBC, CNN and Fox Business.
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Friday, December 27, 2013
Small Business Getting Hit Hard Even Though They Provide A Majority Of Jobs In The Country.
Main Street 2014: Small-Business Owners Fret Taxes, Regulatory Burdens, Obamacare
Despite ongoing assurances from economic officials that the U.S. economy is improving leading into 2014, small-business owners who have endured a financially tumultuous 2013 are pessimistic about their economic situations in the year ahead.
Increasing regulatory burdens, snowballing taxes and dysfunctional leadership in Washington were all cited by American small-business owners as areas of economic concern in the coming year, according to data compiled by the National Federation of Independent Business.
In a summary of its “Small Business Economic Trends” report for December 2013, the NFIB notes that negative feelings about the economy have been bad for several years since the so-called economic recovery began: “Owner sentiment increased by 0.9 points to 92.5, a dismal reading as has been the case since the recovery started. Over half of the improvement was accounted for by the labor market components which is certainly good news, lifting them closer to normal levels.”
The report continues: “Expected business conditions though deteriorated further — lots of dismal views of the economy coming next year. The Index has stayed in a “trading range” between 86.4 and 95.4 since the recovery started, poor in comparison to an average reading of 100 from 1973 through 2007.”
Throughout 2013, news headlines about an oncoming regulatory “tidal wave” have abounded; it is estimated that about one new regulation per hour is added to the books. For November, the majority of small-business owners (21 percent) cited government regulations and red tape as their single biggest problem.
“Compliance costs add up to about $1.8 trillion a year,” NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a video address.
Behind regulatory concerns, business owners told NFIB that their biggest concerns centered around: taxes (21 percent), poor sales (15 percent), cost of available insurance (11 percent), competition from big business (8 percent), labor quality (8 percent), labor cost (5 percent), inflation (4 percent), “other” (4 percent), and interest rates (2 percent).
Dunkelberg said that concerns in many of the aforementioned categories are tied directly to uncertainty about Obamacare in 2014.
“There is also a hint that employers are getting an inkling of what Obamacare might mean for labor costs, concern about the cost and availability of insurance bumped up 3 percentage points after a long period of no real change… ,” Dunkelberg said. “Small business owners who provide health insurance may soon find that their plans ‘unacceptable’ to Obamacare and be obliged to either pay more for the coverage or abandon it and pay the benefit in cash. This will be a major source of angst and uncertainty in 2014.”
Read the full report below:
Sunday, November 3, 2013
ObamaCrapCare Will Cream Small Business. Some Trying To Save $ By Renewing Early.
Small Businesses Race to Renew Insurance to Beat Obamacare Deadline
Sunday, 03 Nov 2013 09:34 AM
The brokers told USA Today that 60 percent to 80 percent of their small business clients who have 50 employees or fewer want to renew their policies early to keep their costs lower. Larger companies, who employ more than 50 full-time workers, can't adjust their renewal dates.
According to the National Federation of Independent Business, nearly half of the 7 million small businesses with 50 or fewer employees offer health insurance for their workers. On Friday, the group released a survey showing 64 percent of 921 owners reported paying more for insurance in 2013 than in 2012.
Some agents say they're seeing increases of 30 percent up all the way to 100 percent on companies' premiums, especially if their workers are younger. According to Obamacare rules, companies are limited charging older people more than they charge younger workers, so premium prices are rising to make up the difference.
But while companies and their employees will save money on premiums by moving up their renewal dates, they'll miss out on changes that take place on Jan. 1, including limits on out-of-pocket expenses, mandatory dental coverage for children and paid preventative care doctor visits.
Wendell Potter, an industry watchdog and former spokesman for Cigna Insurance, said that plans offered by small businesses often have "skimpy coverage or very, very high deductibles," and insurance policies through Obamacare will have much "much better" value.
But insurance broker Allen Wishner said most of his clients' plans already have the required benefits in place, so changing the renewal dates should not harm employees much.
Wishner said his clients' rates are varying depending on their renewal dates. One company will save $100 a month by renewing on Dec. 1 over what it pays now, but would have to pay $4,200 more a month if it renews on Jan. 1 or later. But another of his companies was to face monthly premiums of $6,500 if it renews on Jan. 1, but would have to pay $2,000 more than that if it renews on Dec. 1, so it will stick with its usual January renewal.
Annual insurance hikes are nothing new for most small businesses, reports The Cleveland Plain Dealer. If an employee has a serious illness, or has been hospitalized recently, small businesses often know their premium rates will rise.
"I’m not certain about all that many things that surround my life," said Paul Nachtwey, vice president of the employee benefits practice at Beachwood-based Todd Associates, a brokerage and advisory firm. "I am certain of that. It will be bad out of the gate, and it will only get worse."
Related Stories:
- Obamacare Insurance Premiums to Soar in Some States
- Aetna CEO: Obamacare Likely to Double Small Business, Individual Insurance Premiums
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
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