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To: LS
First, sounds like you teach a great course. Good work.

I have only had 2-3 who did not have a family member who owned his own business or who had owned one.
That is an amazing stat. But in my own family, yea, there's an uncle who owns his own biz. Interesting.

Most of the family businesses (I'd say 30%) are restaurants/catering/carry-out. ... Another 20% or so are computer-related home businesses that either do on-site work, at-home consulting (I've had several home-based computer sales, everything from labels to gadgets), and general diagnostic. The balance of the firms are insurance, tax preparation, small manufacturing (aluminum siding, special parts, even some heavy machinery).
Alright, this is great. You have actual hands-on experience with American businesses. Excellent. Now, the types of businesses described above probably don't have that much exposure to offshore outsourcing (with the exception of the co's. in the last sentence) - can we agree on this?

I think I'm coming to an understanding of your point-of-view. However, I think that outsourcing is a threat to middle-class folks who are employed by fortune 500 firms who sit in cubicles. These people are at risk, imho.

I'm for free trade as an ideal, but for fair trade in order to cushion the blow.

Now take off your freaking nasty hat.
It's off, but I think you had the same hat on in some of your own posts. Thanks for the post. Oh hey - any good books you can recommend on starting a small biz?

185 posted on 08/04/2003 8:30:46 AM PDT by searchandrecovery (America will not exist in 25 years.)
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To: searchandrecovery
Ok, sorry, but I've been testy since harpseal said I should be EXECUTED as a traitor because I don't believe in tariffs!

Now, as to books, heheh. Look at my book on Amazon, "The Entrepreneurial Adventure: A History of Business in the U.S." (Harcrourt, 2000).

I do deal with the offshore stuff, though my book came out in 2000, and was completed in 1999, when Japan, not China or India, was the concern. However, you might be interested in the dozen 1990s "self-made men" or women who started all sorts of unusual and successful businesses.

BTW, what I find most rewarding is the number of black students I have who gain a new appreciation for entrepreneurship and for the hard work required to make a business "go." And, as I said, what I find surprising is how many businesses (of those associated with my students) are successful (of course, I guess the failures can't afford to send their kids to a private school, though!).

186 posted on 08/04/2003 8:42:58 AM PDT by LS
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