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The ability to start a succesful business has long been an important part of social mobility as well as "the American dream." But now, we see that big business is favored far more than the little guy. Small business has been relegated to niche roles as big industries (food & consumables, homecare products, automobiles, banking, railroads, retail (online and physical), heavy industry, and so forth) have overtaken the market. It's near impossible to open a local retail store and compete with the big boxes-if you open a grocery and a Target opens up nearby, you're screwed. Want to start an automobile company? That's too damn bad, there are enough-there's no local market to serve. But you can always start a grocery store, right? No, forget it; there's a Schnucks a couple blocks down the road. It's pretty difficult to compete with such well-emplaced oligopolies.
While I understand that these businesses have thrived because they've conducted business well, at what cost has this come? What kind of customer-business owner friendships have been forsaken in the name of a 20-cent-cheaper box of Cheerios? What sort of small, friendly environments have been given up for cheaper prices? What kind of community bonds have been surrendered for convenience? Big-box retailers like Wal-Mart dont give a crap about their customers, and hardly see them as much more than a potential resource to be drained. They aren't providing jobs because they care about the community's well-being, they are hiring because they need (easily-replaceable) cogs to run the machine. Businesses are only in it for business any more. While I know that that was what businesses were designed for, they could be much more than that-they could be integral members of the communities they serve. But that's becoming more and more rare as we continue to "progress."
So what should we do about it? I think it is our obligation, as Americans, to support small business in whatever ways we can. We should aim to purchase their products, even if it costs a little extra. We should get to know the people that run them, and give them our support. We should encourage government to give big business far less sway in politics, with our mouths and the ballot. Not only this, but we should encourage big business to live up to our standards. We should show to them that they will only be welcome in a community if they actively participate in it. We must change the way we shop-if we choose local for our suppliers, they will in turn go local, and it will create more demand for small business and this more job opportunities for all. It will enable businesses to shrink their focus on smaller areas and thus dedicate themselves more to their community.
Now before I close this off, let it be known that I'm not screaming "death to big business!" I want them to thrive too. But I want little businesses to thrive more, and if that has to come at the expense of bigger companies, so be it. By their very nature, larger chains are going to be less connected to their community because they serve a larger community and have to spread their focus. Now, I'm not opposed to chains altogether; I will still shop at local, smaller chains that I enjoy and that don't obviously dominate their market. I will take my money to whatever place is at least somewhat rooted in my community, regardless of size; but I feel like smaller businesses will remain more strongly connected to the community than larger ones. Regardless, my money will be spent at places where I feel I can get a return beyond what I purchase. I hope you will all do the same.
Part of the problem here is over regulation. Case in point the lead scare with toys. Mattell toys being imported from China were found to have high levels of lead. The knee jerk reaction is mandate testing of toys which sounds great at face value but not so good for small business. A company like Matell might be testing lots of thousands of toys so the cost of testing which might be hundreds of dollars is spread across all those products and they have the resources to do it in house. If you're Joe the one man show wooden toy maker the testing cost more than you are selling the toys for. End result is the company that caused the issue in the first place is actually benefiting.
As another example locally before 2000 there was literally hundreds of what were referred to as "bootleg" mines. These weren't illegal operations, they got that moniker because they were very small operations operated by handful of people. These would be 5th and 6th generation miners, usually family owned and operated. These were some of the safest mines in the country, you have to consider it's your son or neighbor that is working the mine. MSHA came in and started giving them a hard time demanding they meet the same rules and regulations being used in larger mining operations, many of these rules weren't even designed for the type of mining they were doing and in some cases actually unsafe practices. The cost was too great, no more "bootleg" mining except for the larger companies.
I don't know what the answer is here but what I do know is as the government piles on more rules and regulations it becomes more difficult and costly to run a small business.
The ability to start a succesful business has long been an important part of social mobility as well as "the American dream." But now, we see that big business is favored far more than the little guy. Small business has been relegated to niche roles as big industries (food & consumables, homecare products, automobiles, banking, railroads, retail (online and physical), heavy industry, and so forth) have overtaken the market. It's near impossible to open a local retail store and compete with the big boxes-if you open a grocery and a Target opens up nearby, you're screwed. Want to start an automobile company? That's too damn bad, there are enough-there's no local market to serve. But you can always start a grocery store, right? No, forget it; there's a Schnucks a couple blocks down the road. It's pretty difficult to compete with such well-emplaced oligopolies.
While I understand that these businesses have thrived because they've conducted business well, at what cost has this come? What kind of customer-business owner friendships have been forsaken in the name of a 20-cent-cheaper box of Cheerios? What sort of small, friendly environments have been given up for cheaper prices? What kind of community bonds have been surrendered for convenience? Big-box retailers like Wal-Mart dont give a crap about their customers, and hardly see them as much more than a potential resource to be drained. They aren't providing jobs because they care about the community's well-being, they are hiring because they need (easily-replaceable) cogs to run the machine. Businesses are only in it for business any more. While I know that that was what businesses were designed for, they could be much more than that-they could be integral members of the communities they serve. But that's becoming more and more rare as we continue to "progress."
So what should we do about it? I think it is our obligation, as Americans, to support small business in whatever ways we can. We should aim to purchase their products, even if it costs a little extra. We should get to know the people that run them, and give them our support. We should encourage government to give big business far less sway in politics, with our mouths and the ballot. Not only this, but we should encourage big business to live up to our standards. We should show to them that they will only be welcome in a community if they actively participate in it. We must change the way we shop-if we choose local for our suppliers, they will in turn go local, and it will create more demand for small business and this more job opportunities for all. It will enable businesses to shrink their focus on smaller areas and thus dedicate themselves more to their community.
Now before I close this off, let it be known that I'm not screaming "death to big business!" I want them to thrive too. But I want little businesses to thrive more, and if that has to come at the expense of bigger companies, so be it. By their very nature, larger chains are going to be less connected to their community because they serve a larger community and have to spread their focus. Now, I'm not opposed to chains altogether; I will still shop at local, smaller chains that I enjoy and that don't obviously dominate their market. I will take my money to whatever place is at least somewhat rooted in my community, regardless of size; but I feel like smaller businesses will remain more strongly connected to the community than larger ones. Regardless, my money will be spent at places where I feel I can get a return beyond what I purchase. I hope you will all do the same.
And I love small businesses too, but they have many obstacles to fight. Small businesses often pay twice the tax rate of large corporations, and this hinders them greatly.
That's because you are being taxed as an individual, in a corporation the CEO down to the lowest employee is paying individual taxes. On top of that the coporation pays taxes. For a small business you're just paying the individual tax. If you were to incoporate a small business you are now going to pay yourself a salary which is individually taxed and then you will also pay corporate taxes on the business possibly incurring a higher tax burden.
The big stores were once small businesses: so at what point do small businesses stop getting our love?
That's an excellent question. Perhaps when they no longer are concerned about the community? Or when they start swallowing up other small businesses against the will of those businesses? I can't quite say for sure, that's a really good thought.
The Dems have decided that small business owners don't vote for them, so they're determined to drive them OUT of business.
Could you provide proof? Pointing fingers without giving evidence to back it up will only distract everyone from solving the issue at hand (not enough small business) and cause infighting on what should be a united front.
There's been a Democrat sitting in the WH for 5 years now.
Nothing's changed.
The Dems are just as beholden to the big corps as the Repubs are.
Neither McCain nor Romney got voted into office.
Obama did..twice and nothing has changed.
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