Posted on 12/13/2008 8:50:55 AM PST by SeekAndFind
When the jobs report for November came out last week, many so-called "experts" were shocked at the massive loss of an estimated 533 thousand jobs. Even a Time /CNN organization called "The Curious Capitalists" were at a loss to explain it.
Let me attempt to help out these "curious capitalists" (though I am still skeptical that anyone working for CNN or Time is either curious or a capitalist). I caused part of this job loss and I know precisely why; the election. The results portend big trouble for small business.
The job destruction process has started. We are about 20% of the way through our ramp down process and on schedule to complete the shut down by spring 2009. Watch the financial news and you will see continued job cuts each month. We are not alone in our strategy. Far from it. Atlas has shrugged all over the country.
Like many business owners, we are no longer willing to take all of the financial and legal risks and put up with all of the aggravation of owning and running a business. Not with the prospects of even higher taxes, more regulation, more litigation and more emboldened bureaucrats on the horizon. Like others we know, we are getting out while the getting is, well, tolerable. Many who aren't getting out are scaling back.
We learned just this week that getting out of business is harder than we thought. Take Republic Windows & Doors of Chicago, where being out of money and out of paying customers apparently does not give a business the right to shut down. Nor does it give that business' bank the right to withhold credit. According to the unions, Jesse Jackson and the Governor of Illinois (yes, THAT governor), this company must continue to pay its employees salaries and benefits.
But pay them with WHAT? Liberals seem to be clueless as to where "the money" comes from. They love to tax, regulate and redistribute wealth -- all the while decrying the very profit motive that created it -- something they do not understand. If they did, they would not naively insist that a business that is out of money, out of customers and out of credit stay open so as to pay employees.
And that is but one example of why the lay-offs of November 2008 - which will be part of George W. Bush's statistical record - fall in reality on the Obama election. Business owners understand that the election of 2008 just gave a lot more power to people who think like these liberals in Illinois. For crying out loud, an Illinois liberal is now "President elect" and he chose another one for his Chief of Staff. He chose Michigan liberals for his economic team. Illinois and Michigan are broke!
It is no secret that owners circulated endless emails leading up to election day discussing lay off plans were Obama to win. Entrepreneurs instinctively understand the danger posed by larger liberal majorities in power. The risk-reward equation and fierce independence spirit of start up businesses are anathema to the class warfare, equality of outcome and spread the wealth mentality of the left.
We have very little appetite to have our lives run by elected or un-elected officials like Barney Frank and Jamie Gorelick. We have no appetite to be taxed even more by the likes of Charlie Rangel. These clowns destroyed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and our entire economy as a result. Congress, by their own admission, cannot even run their own damned dining room with a captive customer base! Some of them refuse to pay their own tax burden. Why in the world would we subject ourselves to their ilk armed with the unchecked powers of the Oval Office and both houses of congress and a massive army of bureaucrats?
We got into business to be independent. We will get out for the same reason.
The fact that Obama is not in office yet is irrelevant. Businesses must see "around the corner" and plan accordingly. Rightly or wrongly, business owners see a huge anti-business shift in motion and they are making preparations NOW. We do not want to have business illiterates like Chris Dodd dictate our decisions from the comfort of his home made possible by a quid pro quo Countrywide mortgage.
(As the owners of Republic Windows are finding out, government will nose their way into your business even if you are not thriving.)
Most of the kind of people who start and run businesses are by definition trying to opt out of depending on anyone else -- be it a large corporation or government -- for their welfare. We take on tremendous risks and responsibilities. We do so expecting a better than average return. Since we require nothing from government, most of us deeply resent and resist being pestered by government.
For nearly 30 years, I have been one of these business people. It was an amazing journey and literally involved blood, sweat and tears. But now I am done. This election screams that we are going to see a deterioration of the risk-reward equation and the ability to be left alone. Apparently, any appreciation of our crucial place in the economy is lost on over 50% of the voters as well as those they elected.
So, like many business owners, I will "stay home" so to speak. Others more brave than I are opting to try and stay in business by cutting way back on purchases and payroll. They have already started. They are not waiting for the little sign on Obama's lectern to be updated to the official Presidential seal. November 2008 job losses belong to "The Office of the President Elect." I know. I caused some of them, and I know why.
Pick the ones with the “obama” stickers first...
I have to agree with you there. And this is true for the employees also. When I worked in the shop, and had to go from shop to shop to follow the work, my saying was “ Notice, yeah I’ll give notice. They will notice me wheeling my toolbox out the back door
In spite of the bailout BA has no liability to the workers. The law was written to prevent sudden plant closures and move to a different location. The law is not applicable to a business failure.
The lost benefits can be claimed in the bankruptcy proceeding.
The loss of state business should be no big deal. Dealing with a crook is not a privilege.
I still see the current economic situation as only getting worse...
and I have seen no valid analysis from any reliable source
as to where the “bottom” is to this “cycle”.
It may be true that Atlas has shrugged and this is not a “cycle” at all.
Somebody send this piece to the WSJ. It’s excellent.
It is obvious you have never run a business.
You have to pay taxes before you get a "tax break" or "Credit". You have to be paying intrest before "low interest loans" are a benefit.
With all the parasites dragging your business down, it is hard to keep dragging along.
I know, all these people are standing behind you.
That is because that is where you keep your wallet.
I had a business about 20 years ago. I gave it up when the medical insurance cost increased to the amount of the employees wages.
I read Atlas Schrugged also. Now it is just my Wife and Me.
I'm certain that some of the $700 billion will be diverted towards the Detroit Big Three, it's almost like Bush is deliberately greasing the skids under the economy as a welcome mat for Zero. He's going to be up to his ass in alligators by Inauguration Day at the rate we're going.
How amicable of you. We business owners get breaks on burdens that shouldn't be imposed in the first place.
That was a big factor, but what doesn't get told is how property taxes also played a role. They were able to get a big tax break when they expanded operations, but when the tax break ended they had to sell the business. The new owner then sold the business to another party when the taxes went up again with the new reassessment. The last owner is now relocating the plant in IA, with non unionized workers.
Prosecuted for what?
Are you smoking dope?
You’re an anti-business troll. Go back to DU.
Oh yeah, the money just rolls in in heaps I tell ya. Them profits are just so easy to achieve.
You don't have a clue
I was going to respond to that post(er) too but I would have been banned for what I would have said.
You did good, thanks.
You said it. I fired 3 Obama voting, mouth breathing, slack jaws at the end of November. They got the change they deserved.
It guess it depends on the business. Ours is software development and consulting.
When we bid on a job, we figure the benefits, profit, overhead, and G&A into our rate. We only do time and materials (T&M) type contracts, do we get our profit regardless.
We have very low overhead and G&A, so we tend to get the work. Effectively, we have no office—just laptops and servers. Lately, we’ve just been using software hosting services, so soon we won’t even have our servers. Very low overhead. I’m a full-time professor and part-time business owner, so my benefits are already paid for.
If the customer wants to pay more, he can go somewhere else. We are also in a state “development” zone, so we tax credits based on our annual revenue increase and number of employees. Effectively, we make $$ instead of paying taxes.
You can accuse me of not having a clue, but we’ve increased revenue and profits every years since inception (5 years).
Excellent article, as well as is post #1 you appended to it. Atlas shrugged on November 4, 2008 and there is no magic winch to stop that falling globe, pull it onto his back and force him to carry its weight once more. It will take a little while yet for much of the liberal world to understand this law of physics due to the federal government’s smoke and mirrors pretense that they possess some kind of super secret anti-gravity engine. They don’t.
“Like many problems in today’s economy....just look to Congress for the answer...again!”
Every one of them took the signature of the one world socialist in the White House, Bush!!!
I don't see many of them anymore. I guess they know what's coming at them soon.
You can always become a member of Obama’s civilan force...</s>
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