From an Employer's Perspective
A little background, I run the sales side of a company which converts large rolls (15,000#) of paperboard into smaller rolls and sheets for all types of markets all over the world. My family has been in the paper industry and designing machinery for textiles for four generations. In the past it has been a fairly profitable line of business, although the barriers to entry are high intial costs for machinery and the unpublished nature of the contacts within the industry which work to deter most new comers. Our industry, like most manufacturing, has consolidated in mass. We have been fortunate, we do not live lavishly, and plow profits into business assets instead of country club dues like many competitors. We have always run our with out borrowing from banks whether we pay ourselves or not.
End of last year just after the election we were beginning to look at moving into a building double our current size with a rail siding where we could unload 10 rail cars at a time. We had started with appraisals, contractors for modifications, environmental studies, etc etc. this is all running through March into April and business is unseasonably slow, everywhere. The people manufacturing products are not selling them so they don't need paper to package things in. The papermills working on projects were on hold, everything is on hold.
I have been talking with other owners and managers and asking what is happening?
The number one reply.
We can't do anything right now, Washington is trying to ram so much through that we can not possibly plan for anything in the future, everything is on hold until there is some certainty as to what they are going to enact in Washington.
We (business owners) are all paying more attention to the idiotic legislation than we are to running businesses because we believe if we don't keep on top of these traitors we may have a business in the short run but will have no business nor country in long run.
I personally cannot wait till they are on recess so I can actually get some work done vs calling all of the idiots on a daily basis.
PLEASE STOP ENACTING LEGISLATION SO WE CAN EXPAND OUR BUSINESSES, HIRE EMPLOYEES, AND BUY EQUIPMENT.
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...oh the investment we were on track for was 1.5 mil in building and equipment and 15 new jobs in a state with over 12% unemployment... guess that's just not enough for the government.
I work in the printing
I work in the printing equipment sales end of the printing business, (roll to roll, roll to sheet flexo) press sales, UV and dryer systems, etc. I have recently seen a dramitic increase in press and dryer equipment sales. Has anybody else seen this as well?
"The price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance"- Thomas Jefferson
There is no Left or Right -- there is only freedom or tyranny. Everything else is an illusion, an obfuscation to keep you confused and silent as the world burns around you." - Philip Brennan
"Invest only in things that you can stand in front of and pr
I've got a used late model Creo VLF plate setter...
The Liberty a society retains is inversely proportional to the number of Lawyers in the Government.
The Liberty a society retains is inversely proportional to the number of Lawyers in the Government.
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Robert Higgs, the economic historian, has identified uncertainty as a cause of the continuation of the first Great Depression. His research indicates that "regime uncertainty" lead to stagnation and deferred action until the New Dealers were replaced and FDR was dead. This is simply a repeat of the idiocy of the New Deal. The energy and time that is wasted on speculating and implementing methods to mitigate governmental encroachment is directly removed from the potential output of the productive sector of the economy. Higgs would agreed whole-heartedly that the solution is for the government to cease acting so erratically. Let the market adjust. Ideally, government would meticulously remove itself from the market and productivity would flourish, but like a doctor, it should at least first do no [more] harm.
http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_01_4_higgs.pdf
republic
AS a small business owner....
I say " what business?" The economy has dried up thanks to Bush and Odumbo.....but I sympathize with what you said....
Ron Paul'08
As a business owner I shout a big "hooo-rahhh" to that..
Things seem to be at a standstill for us as well and I would really like to get back to bizznezz..
Mathew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
First of all I wish to
First of all I wish to sincerely commend you for reinvesting a substantial portion of your net profits back into the business and for communicating a desire to rebuild the US economy instead of stripping it bare. Employers such as yourself are a dying breed.
Aside from whatever responsibility the federal government may have in terms of making it more difficult to do business, would you agree that after weighing all factors the US does not compete on an even playing field with emerging markets?
I hold the opinion it's impossible to compete with nations that pay their employess pennies to the US dollar, don't pay overtime, don't provide vacation or sick leave, are free to pollute , aren't obligated to provide a safe working environment, and on top of it all bleed the US of consumer dollars.
I'm not a executive or private businessman but from my perspective free trade is a misnomer when there's two sets of rules on the playing field. I'm curious as to your perspective on the matter.
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."
Thomas Jefferson, 1799
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."
Thomas Jefferson, 1799
Level fields
Given a level field or even slightly tipped to my disadvantage I will be profitable, in order to survive in a commodities market we strive to be the low cost provider mainly by maximizing capacity utilization, we also work to develop high value niche markets.
Basically there are too many BS regulations on everyone, the pendulum was way far the other way after the industrial revolution, the environment was trashed, by companies financed by the same banks who are now touting carbon trading etc. They Raped the land of it's natural resources and now they are Raping us of the remainder of our false wealth(debt money).
We don't have anything remotely close to free trade... unless it's free who cares?
Americans refi'd houses in order to send that money to China for Tv's, plastic crap etc. China turned around and bought government debt. If Americans bought the gov debt they would own the govt. and not tv's LOL...
The Liberty a society retains is inversely proportional to the number of Lawyers in the Government.
The Liberty a society retains is inversely proportional to the number of Lawyers in the Government.
It's more like, please stop enacting legislation so we can
retain the employees we have & not go into debt trying to earn a living, b/c that defeats the whole purpose.
For some reason, we're expected to know every law that exists in America & in our state so we don't break it. We're supposed to know this when we're 18. There's no litmus test for them, as in the 10 commandments or rhyme or reason. C.U.R.E.