Forum Post: I am a small business owner. I am the 99%.
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 16, 2011, 4:21 p.m. EST by cerca565
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I am a small business owner. I have a job. I create jobs. I am the 99%. I am planning to take my children to see how democracy works in this country. I am willing to take a day out of my life to support this movement. I would be creating more jobs right now if the banks in this country were not looking out for only their own bottom lines, which would be fine if they were not taking help from the government in addition to helping write the laws that benefit themselves. NO ONE came to my business and offered to help me when we were struggling. NO ONE gave me any money when it was needed to save jobs. I DID NOT take a large salary and bonus and then lay off a huge portion of my company but many of the largest corporations in this country have done just that. That is worth giving up a day in my life. If everyone who felt this way would give up at least a day that would help tremendously. I work. I protest. And it will help.
I am an small business owner too. I don't need lower taxes-- I need demand from a growing economy, not contraction from a dying one. I would welcome national health like "medicare for all" because the health insurance costs for small business is much higher than it is for big business (to say nothing of foreign competition that exists in countries with national universal health coverage).
YUP! SBO here too! I want to employ more people, but I keep getting screwed over and over and over by the corrupt government and ridiculous payroll taxes! Why should I pay enormous payroll taxes when those bastards offshore jobs! GIVE ME A CHANCE TO HIRE SOMEONE!
Right-On!!!
Hi SBO'types, i'm not a SBO, is your small business income subject to taxation as your personal income or is there a separate system (like for corporations) that is applied to "small businesses"?
The reason i ask is that i think it would be good to distinguish between "small business" and wealthy individuals for tax purposes, giving preferential treatment for the former. A common refrain to the idea of raising taxes on high income earners is that it hits "small businesses". So i'd like to know if the tax code can make the distinction between some guy with a large trust fund and the hard working small business owner. And if not, why not?
SB's pay same taxes as Big Corps - we just dont have the same loopholes that allow us to in essence pay NO corp taxes... just like lower middle-class people, we SB's pay MUCH more of our corporate 'income' in taxes than do Big Corps - pretty much a dead-on matchup in the IRS statistics bandied about for the wicked-rich vs. everyone else
Good luck hope you and you children will have a nice day
Thank you for this post!
I was a partner in a small business until a couple of years ago when the dreadful economy caused us to close. My brother-in-law's pizzeria, voted the best in his major city, is barely scraping by and may have to close thanks to the lousy economy. Nobody offered to bail him or me out. Yet the banks that caused this meltdown get bailed out by the trillions.
Economic royalism. How many people (especially tea partiers) realize that the reason for the Boston Tea Party wasn't that there was a tax on tea, but that the East India Company (one of the biggest corporations of its day and with lots of royal and other government connections) was exempt from that tax while smaller businesses had to pay. I fear the return of economic royalism has the Founding Fathers rolling in their graves.
Well said. I am sorry to hear you have been effected by the economy downturn in such a harsh way. What many people don't seem to understand is that if everyday people can't afford to purchase your goods no matter how well you manage your business or prepare for bad times you will not be able to sustain your business. Also do not think that this is limited to main street businesses I know many JV partners who lost a ton because business who have been strong for many years (and under any normal predictable economy should have been strong) went under. When one of us goes under there is a domino effect....this has and will reach people who never thought they could be touched.
Thank you for your support.
Too bad corporations are dominated the political conversation these days. Trickle-down economics doesn't work... Creating a system that prevents campaign contributions from corporations may help correct the broken laws that benefit the top 1% at the expense of the rest of society. We need more small businesses like yours!
i am a small business owner that cannot get a loan to expand my business or hire new employees. i am told by the same banks that their credit card for small businesses are what i should do - but at 22-25% interest. Before the financial crisis hit i had an untouched $100k business line of credit - that was revoked when the banks caused the economic boat to turn over... i had a large construction project that was under way - and in the middle of it, when the banks were hitting bottom, they decided to stop funding the loan - yet they still demanded that I continue to make loan payments?! the banks and companies that control the financial markets would love to see us argue back and forth about who's fault the problem is - all the while happy to see us forgetting the focus on that THEY were the root of the problem.
I have nothing to add but cheers. The myth of the 1% creating all the wealth and jobs by dint of vast, mysterious and magical financial management powers needs to die.
Good luck to your business, I hope your employees are thankful to you and you to them, and that you all work hard and succeed.
And NO ONE told you what you did or didn't have to do. It's your business and we let you run it the way YOU want to run it. But somehow YOU are ready to tell other business owners (bank shareholders) how to run their business?
I want the banks to do what they are charged to do not work the system by creating lobbying for vague laws in order to get around things. The banks were given money for SBA loans. In my state we had federally backed SBA money that banks were to turn into loans. They replaced their EXISTING SBA loans in order to make sure the loans they already had were federally backed. They created not 1 new loan. That was not the spirit of the law but they made sure they follow the letter of the law. If they were not lobbying our politicians I would have no problem with them following the rules that were handed down but I don't get to help set up the rules I have to follow the way that they do.
Therein lies the problem. "Charging" a private business to do anything is wrong. Would you be in favor of us "charging" you to run your business a certain way?
If I took money from the Federal Government I would be expected to follow their rules...oh wait when I get federal contracts I am REQUIRED to follow their rules. I guess if they don't want people to tell them what to do they should not sell shares and not take federal money then they can do whatever they want....but that was not the case.
You are misinformed my friend. The banks never asked the Govt for a dime. After Lehman collapsed, the Govt got nervous and called the largest banks to come to DC. The so-called bailout consisted of loans that the banks were pressured into taking to instill confidence in our bank system. Most of those have been repaid with interest. The other method was equity ownership. The Govt bought preferred shares of the banks. The Govt has sold many shares at a huge profit. Do your research and you will find that the taxpayer made out like a bandit and it worked beautifully.
Not true. The bank, who would loan me plenty a couple years ago, now thinks my 18 year business that has shown a profit every one of those years, isn't as safe a bet any more. So they TELL me NO when I need to borrow for new equipment, etc. Obvious you've never been self-employed or you wouldn't say such a naive thing.
Actually I am and I also spent many years in banking. Why do people like you feel "entitled" to someone loaning you money just because you "need it". No one owes you anything including your bank. If they don't want to loan you money, why do think that is wrong? Would you feel good about being told that you have to loan your neighbor money? Shouldn't it be up to you to say yes or no?
Actually... I DONT feel entitled to a loan. HOWEVER, what the banks have done was taken what in theory should be a standard environment where companies that need loans apply and are approved (and yes, many NOT approved - and that is how the ball bounces) and the small biz gets their cash and the bank makes a moderate profit, and everyone wins --- but now the situation is the banks DONT offer loans to anyone (look up small biz lending rates comparatively then and now if you are telling us we need to be educated here) and instead offer unworkable and unaffordable business credit cards with usurious interest rates - these same banks also took Billions if not Trillions in NO interest govt. short term lending rates to prop up their own profits, have stockpiled vast amounts of cash (and one MAJOR part of many of their charters is to be in the business of LENDING money), and made RECORD profits. This is profiteering pure and simple. I am not expecting them to work and LOSE money, they are entitled to a profit. But they are NOT entitled to rape and pillage the economy at the expense of the rest of us. What i DO expect is they NOT limit their "lending" to only giving out extortionate rate credit cards (this is in NO way a 'loan'), and they like any other regular business not be allowed to monopolize, dominate, unduly influence, and profiteer within their industry. There ARE in fact plenty of laws and regulations on the books about just this sort of thing. Right now, these laws are just NOT being applied across the board with ANY sort equity. Period.
Listen selfmademoron - I was answering your comment about businesses getting to do whatever they wanted - nobody gets to do whatever they want - your statement was BS and you know it. You're a banker huh? Find that a little hard to believe.
Are we a little upset that our business sucks and we weren't prepared for a slowdown in business? Are we a little upset that we are on our hands and knees begging our banker to loan us some of their successful customer's money and they are saying no? Poor over leveraged soul.
God you're a douche - IF you had actually read my post, you'd know that we've had a profit every year - have trouble staying on point? You are the "banker" heehee - that claims" business owners can do ANYTHING they want" - hello?
The banking industry is one of the most regulated industries in this country. Do some research you debt addict.
I'm not in debt superdork - as a banker you should know that - yeah they're regulated - that worked so well didn't it? Can you spell b a i l o u t ?
if i am a gas station owner, and i leak gas - by LAW i have to clean it up or face the consequences... if i am a truck driver, and overload my truck, and it wrecks and kills someone - i will go to jail... if am a builder, and i do a crappy job and the house falls down - i will be SUED and lose my license... as a small business owner i CANNOT just run it the way that I want to. I CANNOT not listen to rules and regulations ---- YET the banks and financial corporations apparently ARE allowed to do whatever they want, and NOT face any consequences. There ARE many laws/rules/regulations that were broken, there were MANY more things that our federal govt. either FAILED to regulate or had DE-regulated - but at the end of the day, by their actions they have caused TRILLIONS of dollars of financial losses worldwide, and caused MILLIONS of Americans and (many more worldwide) hardships, loss of their homes and jobs, loss of healthcare / food / basic necessities... YET they are STILL not being held accountable!? This is what I do not get. This is why the 99% are done and not wanting to take it anymore.
How is helping a SBO restructure their debt with the backing of the SBA instead of foreclosing on them doing something illegal? Thousands of SBO's butts were saved through the cooperation of the SBA and the banks. It was a form of bailout for SBO's.
The entire purpose of the ARC-Loan program was to provide NEW lending in an environment when NO new small business lending was happening. What ended up happening was that the banks that administered and gave SBA loan simply stole those funds to basically insure their current portfolio. Yes, it was technically not illegal, however it was entirely through a loophole and not the spirit and intent of the legislation that created the ARC-Loan program. Look up what happened and how it went down.
Totally and perfectly legal. And the SBA accepted each and every loan.
And that is what we are upset about....the legal ways that these banks and businesses are operating to crush everyone else. If they have influence over the laws then they can write them however they want and everything they do will be legal in a very crooked way.
It's a free market society. If 99% of the people aren't happy with their bank then go find a different one. Problem is, the 99% expect to pay no fees, get every loan they apply for, and be protected from financial self-ruination by their bank. Good luck, that business model doesn't exist.
No, that rule just applies to the banks... be 200% protected from self-ruination by themselves, with the bill footed by EVERYONE else - not only can they risk everything on their gambles, but then they get bailed out and THEN still make record profits! (and for the record, NO one in this conversation ever asked for a free or guaranteed loan, not to pay a fee ever, or anything else like that... i think you are confusing this conversation with some other rant you are trolling