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.
I suppose.
I'm old enough that by the time they get around to the war crimes trials with any luck I'll already be dead...
Mark for reference.
“Me. May as well, can’t find a job...”
Thanks for the best laugh I’ve had in awhile.
Ah aims tuh please...
SFL
Hard times came yesterday, and so I let the Obama supporters on my staff go.
Let Obama help them know, they got what they wanted. Good riddance to bad trash, I say.
I did the same thing yesterday. Didn't it feel good to take out the trash?
Sounds like he works for the same Bank I do. Our "bailout" was an offer we could not refuse also. The CEO and CFO were called in by the Feds, a paper was placed in front of them and they were TOLD they were taking bailout money. That money would purchase preferred stock in the bank, and could not be used for acquisitions or mergers. It HAD to be lent out.
The Thugocracy is just beginning.
The owners should be personally liable.
I hate to admit it but it did feel good to $hi+ can those 3. They worked for the company when I bought it. The freak with the ring in his nose and multiple tattoos was marked on day 1. The other 2 had Obama bumper stickers and liked to talk about “him” on my time. Since they all had trouble showing up for work on time and were hungover on 11/5 I had no trouble “taking out the trash” as you say.
Change they'll have to believe in. :-D
Way to Go!
Sounds like people who want to CONTROL the banks, rather than merely HELP them.
Adjusting the Business Plan For the New Regime.
Fellow Business Executives: As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.
To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.
So, this is what I did. I strolled thru our parking lot and found 6 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.
These folks wanted change; I gave it to them.
Who do you lend it to? Qualified borrowers are all pulling back, not expanding. I'm a real estate developer and mgr and we've pulled back on 2/3rds of our rehabs for next year so we won't have to borrow.
Again, exactly what I said. The only thing the employer owes is what they agreed upon with the employee “for the work done”. The only intrinsic value to society, the employer and the worker is in the work performed. Everything else is compensation, and contrary to popular opinion, it's not the money that has value, it was the work done.
“Lots of businesses, especially small ones, get lots back in terms of tax breaks, credits, low interest loans, etc”
You must be sure to list those goodies with some specificity. I’ve owned a small business since 1986 and have never received a “low interest” loan. The going rate is what businesses usually pay.
And tax breaks? Hmmm. Like what?
I can tell you that if you live in a state that has a tangibles tax, you get to pay a tax on your capital assets each year. This is a break? A business has already paid for the item, including the sales tax, and then it has the pleasure of paying a tax on owning the asset each year, as well. Some “break.”
I think most people in business would agree that small businesses enjoy the privilege of paying tons of “fees” and other such things not specifically called taxes simply because they are businesses instead of individuals.
And most people have no idea what a tax “write off” is. They think it means that you didn’t pay for something, that you’re getting something free. What it really means is that a business has perhaps experienced a loss on something it already paid for and can deduct the loss (write it off)from its tax liablility. Of if a business has made a donation to a charity, it can deduct that amount from its tax liability, as can individuals. The money is gone, has been spent, so the tax deduction or “write off” is puny compared to the money already spent. It ain’t no “earned income credit” !
I might also add that a lot of small businesses are afrid to hire people, because if they have to let them go, it can be a legal and/or financial nightmare. Everyone is protected except the business owner.
They don’t want this kind of highway robbery.
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