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Dawn Lafreeda began working at Denny’s when she was 16, making her way up from hostess to waitress. In 1984, at the age of 23, she bought her first store. She now owns over 70. “When I was a kid, I told myself that I was going to be self-employed when I grew up and have a better life and have the things I’d never had,” she told Entrepreneur magazine this past summer. Franchising was Dawn’s ticket to a better life. She’s not alone. Franchising has been a successful business model for Americans wanting to own their own businesses and...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) made a very strange decision last week to rule that McDonald's MCD -0.23% the corporation, was a joint employer of the staff in the franchised restaurants. It was, of course, at the urging of those labour activists who would like to union organise in the sector. Dealing with one national company is obviously going to be easier than dealing with thousands of independent business owners. There’s a number of problems with this decision ranging from the way that it overturns what has long thought to be settled law, to it obviating already signed contracts...

Would you like to own a small business someday? If so, sorry — the Service Employees International Union would rather you didn’t. SEIU has convinced the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to eviscerate the franchising model that many small-business owners rely on. Under the current model, these small-business owners pay for the right to use a corporate brand. The franchising corporation researches appealing products. It also does marketing to promote the brand. In return, the local franchisees agree to produce those products to fit certain price and quality specifications. The local franchisee handles all the hiring and employment. This division...

Another day, another radical move from the Obama administration. In a big win for the more opportunistic corners of the organized-labor movement, the National Labor Relations Board decided this week that, in a range of labor cases involving McDonald’s, it will consider the corporate parents of franchise businesses liable for the labor agreements reached between franchises and their employees. The NLRB has maintained otherwise for 30 years, refusing to consider corporations with franchises to be part of a “joint employer” arrangement. Why decide that corporations are employers of employees whom they don’t hire, don’t pay, and can’t fire? Because the...

Quiznos has filed for bankruptcy protection, five days after the Sbarro pizza chain did the same. Executives at the restaurant chain, known for its toasted sandwiches, agreed to a restructuring plan that will reduce its debt by more than $400 million, the company said in a statement Friday. All but seven of Quizno's 2,100 restaurants in the United States and 30 other countries are independently owned franchises, and will remain open and operating as usual. Quiznos once had more than 5,000 stores and could have threatened rival Subway's hold on the sub market. But now, Subway has nearly 20 times...

And so the solstice passes and a new year dawns, leaving “newsmen” everywhere with a dearth of “news” to report (since the government bureaus close down, issuing no new edicts for the “newsmen” to interpret and praise, which should give you some indication of what really passes for “news,” these days.) Traditionally, those in the “news” business respond by taking a stab at predicting noteworthy events of the year to come. We can predict the future quite accurately. Unfortunately, accurate predictions are a bore. The sun will rise 363 more times this year. When I ask for extra salt and...

For Robert Moore, buying and starting a franchised business was a lot like his first skydive when he turned 40 a year ago. "A tad frightening, but exhilarating," said Moore, who is lining up customers for the Spectrum Home Services business that he and his wife, Amy, run out of their McCandless home. Sometimes, he said, "You just have to jump, so we did." Professionals who have lost their jobs or who feel like they're going nowhere working for a corporation tend to consider investing in a business franchise when times are tough. That happened after the recession of nearly...

The Jack White and Alicia Keys song for the next James Bond movie finally has a video, and it's way way worse than you could have ever imagined.

Many people with whom I talk about politics with are stunned by my constant assertions that America is not supposed to be a democracy. I credit public education for this. The fact is that most people are almost totally ignorant of history and completely brain-dead about the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers did not give us a democracy, nor did they intend to. They were very well-educated men (especially by today's standards), and they knew, historically, democracies had never worked, even on the small scales when they had been attempted. They knew if democracy wouldn't work on the small scale of...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2007 – Members of Daniel Acosta’s family already had a lot on their minds when he arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio from serving in Iraq with injuries that ultimately cost him an arm. And shortly thereafter, his wife, Sandy, delivered their third child. To ease part of their burden, Maid Brigade is lending a hand with weekly household cleaning as part of a national partnership with Operation Homefront to serve military families in need. Operation Homefront is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program that highlights the ways Americans...

SAN ANTONIO - Gov. Rick Perry's forces fended off an effort Saturday at the Texas Republican Convention to call for a repeal of the new business tax that Perry pushed through the Legislature to pay for public school property tax cuts. ''The Texas Republican Party has now had a vigorous debate and endorsed the Legislature's action,'' said Perry. ''I am honored to have the continued trust and support of grassroots Republicans.'' But the contentious nature of the debate and the fact almost 45 percent of the convention voted in favor of a platform plank calling for the business tax's repeal...

UPS's purchase of Mail Boxes Etc. looked great on paper. Then came the culture clash. By RICHARD GIBSON May 8, 2006; Page R13 When United Parcel Service Inc. announced it was acquiring the Mail Boxes Etc. shipping chain five years ago, franchisee Dana Houser thought his entrepreneurial dreams were finally coming true. UPS was one of the biggest names in the business, known for prompt, reliable service. Mr. Houser figured the company's reputation would send customers surging into his Mail Boxes Etc. store in Lincoln, Neb. UPS, he recalls, told him that outlets would see so much more volume they...

Package Deal UPS's purchase of Mail Boxes Etc. looked great on paper. Then came the culture clash. When United Parcel Service Inc. announced it was acquiring the Mail Boxes Etc. shipping chain five years ago, franchisee Dana Houser thought his entrepreneurial dreams were finally coming true.

. . . "S.A. Saints tickets are a big, easy sell." . . .  the headline said a lot more, something city leaders and the team's owner had been discussing sotto voce for days, a conversation that had now gone public: The New Orleans Saints, a franchise without a city or a certain future, might be ripe for the picking. . . . all pretense was dropped that the good people of San Antonio are only providing the team a shelter with goal posts and hash marks. At a breakfast meeting that included a who's who of the city's business...

Three former employees of the state Franchise Tax Board have been arrested and charged with embezzling more than $380,000 by cutting fraudulent tax refund checks to 43 accomplices who gave the state workers a share of the money, according to court documents and authorities. Beora Hart Jr., 46, of Sacramento, and Robin Maria Vaughn, 43, of Sacramento, are scheduled to appear in Sacramento Superior Court today on felony charges tied to allegedly using the state's computers since August 1999 to embezzle the funds, officials said. Court documents indicate Hart allegedly issued fraudulent refunds adding up to $372,000. Anetta Louise Leslie,...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 - An estimated 1.5 million former convicts are unable to vote in 14 states around the country because of state policies that make it cumbersome, confusing and difficult for them to return to voter rolls after completing their sentences, according to a new study. Fewer than 3 percent of felons in those states have managed to register to vote after finishing their sentences, according to the study released Wednesday by the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit research group that favors more liberal sentencing policies for criminals. In Mississippi, for instance, just 107 of more than 82,000 felons have...

In cities across the nation — Phoenix, Seattle, Indianapolis — owners have used the absence of a Los Angeles franchise as leverage. They have extracted concessions worth hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers while threatening — though it is rarely said explicitly, and doesn't have to be — to move to L.A. "I'm suspicious whether the NFL owners really want to fill that void — or whether it is in their interest to keep Los Angeles without a team," said Louisiana Rep. Joe Toomy, a Republican. "Financially, they are taking full advantage of this, and it has worked against...

Angela Moser supports her family with her Copper Cup espresso shop near the corner of South Reserve Street and Highway 93 South. She recently spent $20,000 to hook up to the city sewer. Please, she asked the Missoula City Council on Monday night, don't jeopardize my business by letting the Starbucks coffee chain build a store with a drive-up window in the ShopKo parking lot at Reserve Street and South Avenue. "I'm tired of seeing the big corporations taking over Missoula," she said. "We ask that you support our local coffee shops." Moser was one of many who spoke against...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

HOLLIS, MAINE - On a winding country road in the middle of nowhere, a building that once housed an antique shop now holds groups of women working out. Curves, a no-frills fitness club for women, can be found in the oddest places. Targeting women in small-town America is part of the company's business strategy — and it's working. Curves has grown to more than 8,400 franchises in all 50 states and 28 countries, making it by far the world's No. 1 fitness center in terms of number of clubs. One in every four fitness clubs in the United States is...