Why It’s Worrying That U.S. Companies Are Getting Older

WSJ ^ | 8/4/14 | Asma Ghribi

[Nachum]

Not only is the American population aging, businesses in the U.S. also are growing older.

Older firms are increasingly controlling the largest market share in different sectors of the economy, according to a paper by the Brooking Institution

[Nachum]

Obamanomics.

[Nachum]

The list, Ping

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[EBH]

I think it is worrying as it indicates a lack of entrepreneurship and innovation.

[Nachum]

I think it is worrying as it indicates a lack of entrepreneurship and innovation.

And it represents the destructive influence of government policy on the same.

[sasquatch]

Beretta started in something like 1526. They’re OK.

[deadrock]

In before....ah forget it.

[Varda]

It's the power of taxes to destroy younger companies and start ups. It's why big corporations love big government.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

This is kinda interesting. Seems to me the more “smart” regulation we get the more barriers we put up for new businesses.

[Paladin2]

K Street Lobbying payz off..........

[BipolarBob]

1526?? What’d they make?? Catapults, flails and trebuchets?

[right way right]

What’s it?

[Jonty30]

Regulations are meant to keep established companies in business and newbies out.

[Milton Miteybad]

They made arquebuses, a type of early smooth-bore matchlock used from the 15th through the 17th centuries.

[sasquatch]

...Whips & chains...

[sasquatch]

I think it was actually gun powder.

[OneWingedShark]

I think it is worrying as it indicates a lack of entrepreneurship and innovation.

I believe you're right; however, I am inclined to think these are symptoms rather than causes.
The causes are, I think, a combination of the following:

1. Confiscatory taxation — there is little incentive to make when there is no profit in it.
2. [De-]Motivation — it used to be that you could start at the bottom and work your way up; this is rapidly becoming untrue [at least in tech].
   I think a lot of it has to things like software patents and intellectual property — one friend I have left Google because they were trying to get him to sign on a new contract that would have made his own years-long research [starting years before they hired him] their intellectual property. (And anything else he produced in his free-time.)
3. Male-Despising Society (Institutionalized Misandry)
   We now live in a society where being male is liability, frowned upon and, if we're honest, despised — this extends to those 'male' attributes like logical-thinking. We can see the disregard here easily in the legal-system where in order to challenge a statute which is on-its-face contrary to the Constitution requires you to violate the statute and thereby implicitly acknowledge its authority, and are forced to the weakened position of the accused.
4. Cronyism
   Why play the game when the rules are changed to favor the special and punish the little guys?

[GeronL]

bump

[Diana in Wisconsin]

How about we ALL realize that those of us that will thrive, then, now and into the future, are those that understand that we are ALL Free Agents. Always were, always will be.

Needed, salable Skills matter. If you can’t make/create/repair/care for something, you’re useless.

And yes, that includes awesome nunchuck and computer hacking skills. ;)

[Grams A]

I think it is worrying as it indicates a lack of entrepreneurship and innovation.”

I used to have a mid-sized company but costs kept increasing so started downsizing to total of two. Impossible to grow beyond a certain point without increasing staff but I make a lot more money than I did when it was larger. Many friends in their early 50’s who absolutely cannot afford not to work have started their own cottage type businesses when they were phased out by the larger corporations.

There are lots of little niches out there to fill. It would be interesting to see exactly how much these types of businesses have increased over the past ten years. It definitely is the era to be creative, at least in this aspect of business.

[JSDude1]

Thanks Obama, and the Obameconomy.