Comments about ‘Small businesses are canaries in economic mine’

I've heard this complaint often. I don't understand why businesses think this is an area that needs regulation. Why don't businesses just pass the fee on to customers, either with price hikes or by actually assessing a charge to use a credit card. Gas stations do it. And before you say they can't compete and do this, explain what disadvantage they are at compared to their competitors, who also have to pay credit card fees that eat profit margins.

Small business will always lose out to big, corporate interests. That's just the way it is. Small business is just that: SMALL.

Since small businesses don't have the economic clout of large corporations (they don't have the lobbying muscle of the big guys), they don't generally benefit from the activities of the conservative agenda.

Small businesses come and go. They get lip service paid to them by their governmental representatives, but for the most part they are on their own. They are like their worker brethern who either work for a small business or a large business, invisible!

The same economic hardships that plague individuals also plague small businesspeople. Whether it is family businesses, small mom-and-pop shops, or individually-owned business, they just don't figure into the equation.

The Republican Party and their corporate backers like to use small business to show how they are "connected" with real people, but in the end they could care less about them unless the small businesses happen to get some of the scraps coming out of Washington earmarked for large corporations and their international interests.

The whiners are, and will be, out in force today with this topic. Should be fun! LOOK: Not every tom, dick or harry is capable of being a successful businessman like me. Just accept reality for once!

And Jay what would have happened to the economy without the intervetionist tcatics,or the stimulus monies?

It is really hard for some of us to feel sorry for the people known as “small-business owners”. It’s almost as hard as it is to feel sorry for the big banks and corporations.

Small business owners are probably the no. 1 cause for the vast numbers of illegal aliens in this country. Their quest for low wage workers is the honey that draws poor people across the border.

Watching TV brings witness to many commercials by tax lawyers who will settle tax cases for pennies on the dollar. The sums mentioned of $10,000 or better pretty well indicates that these tax cheats are not working people.

It is probably the practice of paying people “under-the-table” that causes many of their tax problems.

My personal problems with small businessmen is with construction contractors. First it is difficult to get paid what is promised and then later finding out that the contractor didn’t pay the taxes he withheld over to the government.

Then there’s the Tea Party group. They appear to me to be mostly if not all business people who are working to prevent health care reform.

And that’s just for beginners.

I don't know about anyone else but the only
tea party people I know are ordinary people fed up to the back teeth of government spending, waste, and ever increasing taxes and diminution of freedom.

I am not a business owner and don't know any tea party people who are, but if there are business owners among us so what? They are also an important part of society.

Hey Ultra Bob! Tell us what you really think. The hatred you are spewing is mind boggling!

Some of us seem to have so much to be thankful for. Perhaps we should just crush all business and destroy prosperity and give all control to the completely moral political leaders in our government? Wealth is clearly bad and those with money & power should be compelled to follow Ultra Bob's philosophies. We would all be a lot happier....right?

And there is the matter of INDIVIDUAL freedom. Millions upon millions of Americans are in lock down bondage because of our health care financing system. What about that?

Without the intervention, businesses engaged in risky practices would have failed, assets worth saving would have been sold, re-structuring would have taken place, and values would have been re-established at more realistic levels. Lessons learned, life goes on. Most natural recoveries occur fairly quickly.

As it is now, everything's been propped up for a little while. No one knows what anything is worth. No one feels any sense of certainty about what the government will or won't take from them. Conditions are set for the next economic bubble.

When we avoided the pain, we also avoided the recovery...which is nowhere in sight.

The list shows less government is the best government.

Why don't businesses offer a 4 or 5% discount for cash. I would use cash if they did.

What would less government entail? What would you cut? How would this result in lowered costs? Be specific.

We all hear the demand for less government, but never what to cut and have it acceptable to everyone else Even among conservative Republicans, everyone wants their share of the pie and make the cuts only affect those they don't like.

The reason you can't offer a discount for cash is because the banks/credit card providers will cancel your account in a heartbeat if they find out that you are doing that. Everybody is getting their little one percent back not realizing that that credit card is adding on close to four percent for every transaction. It's a huge scam run by the banks very effectively and if we are going to ever get free there will need to be a law passed allowing merchants to offer a discount for cash.

It is a previlage to be able to accept credit cards and gives credit to anyone that wants to use it in my store. Otherwise I would have to offer my own credit program, which I can't afford.Government intervention did not work in astrailia when they capped interchange fees. the merchants did not lower there costs for goods. Add an ATM machine to your store. No Fees to pay for the merchant! In business there are costs, If I would not have offered credit card acceptance I would not still be in business for the last 30 years. Accept checks instead, but take away payment options and watch customers opt for your competition. bottom line, it's the cost of doing business ! Get Over It !

Jay, I find it interesting that someone with your editorial background would mention economic freedom and especially about small business. Wasn't it just a few months ago that you were arguing against liquor law liberalization? Asking what possible benefit there was in that freedom -- one that is simultaneously economic AND personal?

If you really believe in economic freedom, ask yourself, where is the climate more friendly for a small business like a bar -- Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, or Utah?