Economic Death Spiral: More American Businesses Dying Than Starting

In a stunning Tuesday report, Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton revealed that “for the first time in 35 years, American business deaths now outnumber business births.”

Clifton says for the past six years since 2008, employer business startups have fallen below the business failure rate, spurring what he calls “an underground earthquake” that only stands to worsen as lagging U.S. Census data becomes available.

Read more at Breitbart.com Read More......

Five Points for Resetting America’s Economic Foundation

Speaker Boehner addresses the American Enterprise Institute (AEI):
As reported by Newt Gingrich: Speaker Boehner began with what the House Republicans have accomplished in the last four years, despite Democrats controlling both the Senate and the presidency. Some of their record may surprise you. Republicans cut total federal spending for two straight years--the first time that's happened in half a century. They guaranteed that 98 percent of Americans would not see permanent income tax hikes. And they pushed through free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama. These are historic accomplishments. They have real meaning for the lives of millions of Americans. And they create room for future economic growth.

Watch video or read more at www.speaker.gov Read More......

Study reveals who's really running America

To Hillary Clinton, it was a right-wing conspiracy that was causing all the problems. Barack Obama's administration got more specific, blaming the GOP and George Bush for everything. In time, the tea party became the whipping boy. But a new study suggests something far different actually is running America these days ... and it's bad news for ordinary folks …

Read more at WND

Related
Washington Free Beacon: Oligarchy in the Twenty-First Century - Think rich conservatives rule the world? Think again. Read More......

U.S. CEO's less optimistic about economy

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The leaders of America’s largest companies are turning more cautious about the U.S. economy’s growth prospects.

The Business Roundtable on Wednesday said chief executives expect to spend and hire less over the next six months than they previously planned. The group’s economic outlook index fell to 89.1 in the second quarter from 96.9 in the first quarter — the first decline in nine months.

Top executives are increasingly worried about potentially big changes in U.S. tax and spending policies in 2013— the so-called fiscal cliff — as well as the spillover effects of the financial crisis in Europe.

Read more at Market Watch Read More......

You have been fed a load of crap!

You're not supposed to be this well informed! If you agree, don't read this...
2012: The Progressive Elite vs. the American Hard Hat by By Larry Leonard, published by Oregon Magazine

April 21, 2012 — You have been fed a load of crap. It comes to you in two types. The first is in the form of a lie. Something is this, and the liars tell you that it is that. The second type of lie is more subtle, and is created by omitting information from a story. These are known as lies of co-mission and lies of omission. Used simultaneously, they throw a blanket of fantasy over reality. ✧ We’ll use energy as a model for this essay, but remember that the process works in education, campaign speeches, the presentation of history, economics — you name the topic and somewhere in each information pot you will find deception of the type described above.  

Energy and the American Economy - All this week, from all the news sources in America, you have been misinformed by both the liberal MSM and fair and balanced FOX. The MSM did it intentionally. FOX did it unintentionally. To set up this section, here’s something you’ve heard for weeks: “The president says that if he opened up government energy locations, it would not lower the price of gasoline.” ✧ That is a beautiful attempt to sidestep the key political issue today by way of what sounds like a reasonable lie about another, related subject. I’ve been waiting for weeks for FOX to pick it up. They haven’t, so it’s time Oregon Magazine did. Read more at OregonMag.com...

I particularly like Mr. Leonard's summation, "...Euro-socialism or a dynamic economic revival. It’s up to you." --bc Read More......

What is Laissez-Faire?

The latest data show that book sales are way up this season. So much for the prediction that books will be killed by technology. On the contrary, technology has enabled the great literature of the ages and the present to be put in the hands of everyone. I can’t think of a better time to begin refurbishing Laissez-Faire Books (founded in 1972), because it is the market that laissez-faire celebrates that has made all the literature we love more accessible than ever.

Addison Wiggin, president of Agora Financial, and I were discussing the various challenges ahead of us as we infuse new life into an old and venerable institution. He drew my attention to a point that I’ve overlooked. Most people don’t know the term “laissez-faire.” They don’t know how to say it (that very day, I was introduced for a speech, and the host mispronounced it) and they don’t know what it means. Once in common circulation, this term has not been in common use, even in libertarian circles. So we have some work to do, in helping people even understand the name of the bookstore at lfb.org.

The pronunciation in English is lay-say-fair. Its French origins date back to the late Renaissance. As the story goes, it was first used about the year 1680, a time when the nation-state was on the rise throughout Europe. The French finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, asked a merchant named M. Le Gendre what the state could do to promote industry.

Read more at Laissez-Faire Bookstore Read More......

Ayn Rand Was Right: Wealthy Are on Strike Against Obama

By Wayne Allyn Root (Hat tip: John H. Detweiler)
The U.S. economy is crumbling. Businesses are collapsing in record numbers. Jobs have disappeared. Tax revenues are down dramatically. Coincidence? ∴ Everything happening today under Obama resembles the storyline of Ayn Rand’s famous book, Atlas Shrugged, one of the most popular books of all time, selling over 7 million copies. Now, under President Obama, Atlas Shrugged has come to life. Rand prophesized a country dominated by socialists, Marxists and statists, where looters, free loaders and poverty promoters live off the productive class. To rationalize the fleecing of innovative business owners and job creators, the looter class demonized the wealthy, just as Obama and his socialist cabal are doing in real life today. Read more at Big Government... Read More......

State Rep. Greg Smith Amends Tax Bill to Benefit Oregon Bound Companies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2011 (via email)
SALEM- Rep. Greg Smith (R-Heppner) has asked the Joint Committee on Tax Credits to extend provisions of the Oregon Investment Advantage program. A key program that helps attract new businesses to Oregon, and more specifically hard-hit rural communities. The committee adopted Rep. Smith's amendments to HB 3672 and will be sending the measure to the House and Senate for final consideration.

"These amendments offer a 10-year income tax holiday to businesses that relocate from another state and guarantee at least five full time jobs," Rep. Smith said. “The businesses would apply for acceptance to the program and when accepted, would have to operate for two years before receiving the tax holiday. During this holiday, the new businesses are eligible for a waiver on income and excise taxes."

The Oregon Investment Advantage is available to counties that have high unemployment rates and low per capita incomes relative to other Oregon counties. Due to shifting economic data, several counties including Morrow and Umatilla Counties stood to lose eligibility. Rep. Smith's amendment to HB 3672 offers an exception to these counties so that the program can continue to serve as an economic development tool in much of rural Oregon.

"The Oregon Investment Advantage is a proven economic development tool that creates jobs where they are needed the most," said Rep. Smith. "Today's committee action is a significant accomplishment for rural Oregon, which continues to struggle during this slow economic recovery."

“This legislation helps the Port of Morrow, Morrow County and other rural areas continue to be competitive in attracting businesses to Oregon. We appreciate the hard work Representative Greg Smith continues to do to promote economic development and job creation,” said Gary Neal (Port of Morrow General Manger).

Video: Representative Greg Smith Read More......

Stossel: Don't Give BACK

FOX BUSINESS, 4/27/2011 by John Stossel - "I’m annoyed by businesses’ discomfort with business. Too many act like there’s something wrong with making money. Billionaire Eli Broad gives billions to charities and talks about “giving back." I gave him a hard time about that, and he responded, 'Well, I'm not sure what the difference is between giving and giving back.'

I like how GMU Economics Professor Don Boudreaux explained the difference today in this letter that he wrote to a hotel chain:

Dear Ritz-Carlton:

Thanks for your e-mail celebrating your and your employees' participation in "Give Back Getaways" - activities in which you and your employees (along with some of your customers) "give back to the community."

Have you taken something that doesn't belong to you? If so, by all means give it back!...If, though, you've not taken anything that doesn't belong to you, you possess nothing that you can give BACK.

Being a profitable corporation, you certainly possess something that you can GIVE; and I applaud the generosity that prompts you, your employees and your customers to GIVE.

But, please…drop the rhetoric of "giving BACK." …It fuels the common misapprehension that corporate profits are either ill-gotten gains or, at best, wealth subtracted from that of other persons in society.

… your success at business means that you CREATE wealth. You value the $$$ you get for renting a hotel room by more than you value keeping that room vacant, and your guests value the opportunity to spend a few nights …

Your profits aren't pirate booty; they're legitimate earnings."

See article here. Read More......

Steve Wynn Takes On Washington

CNBC, May 29, 2010 (Hat tip: Carolyn Webb, via email on 8/3/2010, Subject: A reminder of how inept our government has become) - Steve Wynn, a casino resort/real-estate developer who has been credited with spearheading the dramatic resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip, talks about the Fall of America.

Read More......

Tax hikes create anxiety

PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/12/2010 by Andy Giegerich - Barely two weeks after Oregonians increased taxes on businesses [Measure 67], some doomsday scenarios are coming true, with businesses employing hundreds of workers planning layoffs, shuttering divisions, delaying expansions or moving their businesses altogether. ∴ Among the activity: Read more at OregonRepublicanParty.com... Read More......

WSJ: Why Chicago Loves Portland

WALL STREET JOURNAL/OPINION, 2/2/2010 (Hat tip: Linda Bartcher) - Mayor Daley has his eye on jobs from high-tax Oregon: The bright idea comes from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who is looking to lure employers from Oregon after that state's voters approved a huge tax increase last week. The tax hike in Oregon "will help our economic development immediately. You'd better believe it," Hizzoner told the Chicago Sun Times late last week. "We'll be out in Oregon enticing corporations to relocate to Chicago." Read more at WSJ...
Read More......

Hewlett Packard Opens New Mexico Support Center

CRM DAILY, 12/4/2009 (Hat tip: Jeff Kubler) - The expected economic boost of having HP in New Mexico came with a price. New Mexico invested millions of dollars in the form of tax incentives, job training and capital outlay funds to attract the Fortune 500 company to the state. In return, HP promised to employ more than 1,300 high-wage workers by the end of 2012. Read more at CRM... Read More......

Detweiler LETTER, 11/24

11/24/2009, Pre-Publication: LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Submitted to the Corvallis Gazette-Times by John H. Detweiler - On January 26th we are going to vote on raising taxes on nasty corporations and the undeserving rich. Presumably there will be negative consequences for all sorts of groups if we don't raise taxes. On the other hand, there will be negative consequences for business if we do raise taxes.

Corporations make decisions in their best interests as they see them. Raising taxes on corporations increase their costs of doing business in Oregon. If they can, they will raise prices on their goods and services to recover those costs. If they can't raise prices, they will cut costs other ways. They may fire employees. If they have to accept reduced profits, they will do so in the short run. In the longer run, they may move out of Oregon or choose not to expand in Oregon.

The rich also make decisions in their best interests as they see them. In the short run they will pay the tax increase. In the longer run, they will change their behavior to avoid the tax increase. If they are professionals, they may reduce the amount of services they sell because they don't earn enough to make the marginal work worthwhile. If they are small business owners, they may reduce the size of their businesses firing employees and contracting the economy. They may move out of Oregon.

If we treat corporations and the rich as endless sources of funds, they will make decisions to avoid being treated as money trees.

--
John H. Detweiler; web page => www.peak.org/~detweij Read More......

Victor Davis Hanson: Obamanoia

At WORKS AND DAYS, on 10/21/2009, Mr. Hanson wrote (page 2, paragraph 5):

"But imagine that you are a small business owner, and just consider—why expand now or rehire? since (a) I have no idea what the new taxes will be; (b) I have no idea about what all these new regulations, cap and trade, card check; etc will cost me; (c) I am beginning to think all this trash talk about bad doctors, insurance companies, the Chamber of Commerce, CEOs, the wealthy, etc. suggests this administration does not like me or what I do; (d) the government is everywhere: Ford now must compete against Government Motors; Banks against government-affiliated Citibank; Blue Cross against the public option; and so on. If I have a business, somewhere down the line there is going to be a government-run rival, sort of like your local can’t go broke PBS station in every avenue of commerce. Why insist on ensuring hustling employees when the rival, overpaid DMV-like work force can’t go broke whatever they do?"

Hanson covers much more than business in "Obamanoia." Read more at Works and Days... Read More......

Profits We Should Cheer

The Quest for Profit Can Benefit Health Care
WASHINGTON POST, 7/30/2009 by Stephen L. Carter - A specter is haunting America: the specter of profit. We have become fearful that somewhere, somehow, an evil corporation has found a way to make lots of money. ∴ Flash back three years. In 2006, Exxon Mobil announced the highest profit in the history of American corporate enterprise. Politicians and pundits stumbled over each other to call for an investigation and for some sort of confiscatory tax on the money the company earned. Profit, it seemed, was an evil, but large profit was even worse. ∴ Today, the debate on the overhaul of the health-care system sparks a shiver of deja vu. The leitmotif of the conversation about the coming shape of health insurance is that the villain is the system of private insurance. "For-profit" firms come under constant attack from activists and members of Congress. Read more at the Washington Post...

Hat tip: John Detweiler
John writes, "Something else to make you uneasy." Read More......

ORGOP: CALL TO ACTION - HB 2157

From: Andrew Over, Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Dear Supporters,
The Republicans in the Legislature need your help! As we knew would happen, Democrats in the Legislature are trying to raise your taxes! This week, the Senate Democrats have called a special floor session to push Oregon HB 2157 through the Senate with almost no discussion or debate. The vote in the Senate on HB 2157 is scheduled for this Thursday, February 12th. HB 2157 was already rushed through the Oregon House and if passed in the Senate would:

• Disconnect Oregon from the federal tax code and deny Oregonians and Oregon companies the benefits of a federal stimulus package if it is passed by the U.S. Congress;
• Eliminate incentives included in the federal stimulus package to encourage businesses to purchase machinery, equipment, software and other items for sustaining manufacturing and production operations;
• Negatively impact Oregon’s business community and their ability to sustain or create jobs;
• Increase taxes on Oregonians receiving unemployment benefits; and
• Result in nearly $100 million in increased taxes on Oregonians and Oregon businesses.
  

Don’t stand by and watch the Democrats in Salem raise taxes in the middle of the current economic crisis! [Please take action]

Republican proposals for putting more money back in the pockets of taxpayers and giving incentives for businesses to create family-wage jobs have been ignored by the majority Democrats in Salem. But don’t let them ignore you! Please take a moment to call or email Democrats in Oregon Senate and tell them to vote “NO” on HB 2157!

The number for the capital switchboard in Salem is 503-986-1187 or toll-free 800-332-2313. You can also email one of the Democratic Senators below and urge them to vote “NO” on HB 2157.

Senator Alan Bates (Medford): sen.alanbates@state.or.us
Senator Betsy Johnson (Scappose): sen.betsyjohnson@state.or.us
Senator Rick Metsger (Welches): sen.rickmetsger@state.or.us
Senator Bill Morrisette (Springfield): sen.billmorrisette@state.or.us
Senator Martha Schrader (Canby): sen.marthaschrader@state.or.us
Senator Joanne Verger (North Bend): sen.joanneverger@state.or.us
Senator Vicki Walker (Eugene): sen.vickiwalker@state.or.us
Senator Richard Devlin (Tualatin): sen.richarddevlin@state.or.us

Read More......