Name 1 thing government could do to help your business

kpotter · Dec 12, 2011

I have been thinkin about this since all these corporations seem to think the government owes them somethin. What could the government do for me. I want them to tax the holy crap out of stuff imported from 3rd world countries. No ranting just one wish.

Bobw · Dec 12, 2011

Cut down on the damn forms. 2 employees, and its fricken ridiculous. Seems like every day or 2 its one form or another and sometimes a check that goes off to some agency or other.

Sometimes its a form that has to go out that summarizes other forms, or a summary of some crap entered on a web site. IRS, SEC, State department of revenue, Unemployment, county, village.

Then they change their web sites every 10 minutes and change the forms and procedures and policies constantly, which just wastes more time. New system, need a new password, which we can't give you here, you need to send this form out and then we'll send you a new password, and in the meantime you'll be late filing form BullShit-101, which will cost you $50 in late fees.

Why can't they just simplify all that crap, or give me a damn book keeper for free.

mfgbydesign · Dec 12, 2011

Tarrifs & stop the free trade agreements.

I wouldn't have said this 6 months ago, but things are getting out of hand.
I tried to buy some USA made tires, and the saleman told me there are very few any more, they all come from NAFTA countries.
Does Obama REALLY think Koreans are going to buy more Fords?
On the tarrif issue, consumers can't be trusted to make good choices, and buying imported crap 'cause it's a dime cheaper is COSTING US billions in: unemployment bennies, food stamps, debt, you name it. Where does it stop?
I tried informing a friend of mine that the outrageous buying of imports was increasing the national debt and he didn't get it. He thought it was good for the economy.
On a positive note I DID convince some of my relatives to buy US products for Christmas.

peter.blais · Dec 12, 2011

Sort out health care. It is very, very hard for *small* business, like 4-5 guys- to provide health care at the moment. Especially when you have 3-4 guys who don't need it for whatever reason, and then 1 guy who is 50+ and smokes... The "pool" is so small that one high risk guy like that just absolutely makes it a no go.

I would love to provide it but not at those prices, so right now any resume for somebody 50+ goes right into my garbage can.

SteveM · Dec 12, 2011

I'm not in business like many of you. I admire those of you that start and run companies. I can't see how anyone would do that these days, but I'm damn glad that there are those of you that do.

Here's something that I see:

Regulations need a cost/benefit analysis.

We're in an environment where if 10 parts per trillion is good, then 1 part per trillion is better and damn the cost and who it puts out of work and what products are now unavailable. The people making the decisions seem to work under the assumption that money grows on trees.

Every regulation has the potential to cost jobs and to kill companies. This needs to be weighed against the benefits.

Steve

iwananew10K · Dec 12, 2011

get out of the business of insuring bad debt and re-direct the cash into small business. give you what you need to comply with all the regulations.

can that count for one thing?

SND · Dec 12, 2011

One thing for my country which has sales tax(GST, PST or HST) would be to just cancel it completely on business purchases and sales to other tax registered businesses. This ties up a fair bit of money for up to 4 months(quarterly returns) just to have it them reimbursed or do a balance payment if you sold more than you bought, but then if your customer is registered, they get the refund on what they paid to you in sales tax, and so on. Overall a lot of paper work and money tied up for nothing. Say I buy a 100K machine, I have to pay $115K, if I buy it on 1st January its not until end of march that I can balance the quarter, then another month easy to have it sent/processed, I'd rather hold on to it and not even have to do any of that paper work at all unless I sold to the public, which is really the only place it finally gets collected. And if sold to another country, you went through all that for absolutely nothing cause you can't charge them sales that anyway.

powerglider · Dec 12, 2011

eliminate the Federal Reserve monopoly on printing money and creating it out of nothing, thus diluting the value of each dollar in my pocket every day.

It's the worst theft that I can think of.

lazlo · Dec 12, 2011

TDegenhart said:
You old farts remember what OSHA did back in the 1970's - 80's.

THE OSHA COWBOY

Nixon created OSHA in 1970, because occupational injuries and death were spiraling. Asbestos was prevalent in many industries...

OSHA At 30 - JSHQ Article Reprint on OSHA's 30th Anniversary

The late '60s was a turbulent time in America. The nation faced serious concerns both abroad and at home. Civil rights, women's rights, Vietnam, and the environment all demanded the country's attention.

At the same time, occupational injuries and illnesses were increasing in both number and severity. Disabling injuries increased 20 percent during the decade, and 14,000 workers were dying on the job each year. In pressing for prompt passage of workplace safety and health legislation, New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. said, "The knowledge that the industrial accident situation is deteriorating, rather than improving, underscores the need for action now." He called attention to the need to protect workers against such hazards as noise, cotton dust, and asbestos, all now covered by OSHA standards.

On December 29, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, also known as the Williams-Steiger Act in honor of the two men who pressed so hard for its passage.

lazlo · Dec 12, 2011

david n said:
And if it's a worthless gov't agency like Dept of Energy or the Dept of ED, nuke it!!!!!!

The Department of Energy runs our National Labs, develops and maintains our nuclear weapons, and regulates the nuclear industry and manages nuclear waste. Other than that, I agree, they're useless :rolleyes5:

...and who needs the Department of Education, I mean - our educational system is fine. Our children rank 14th out in the world for reading skills, 17th for science and 25th for math. We have plenty of unskilled labor jobs in the US -- no reason to improve our children's education.

metlmunchr · Dec 12, 2011

If you want to post something specific, feel free to do so. If you can't think of anything but another mindless "get rid of all government" rant, do it somewhere else.

David Ferguson · Dec 12, 2011

Lock the exchange rate for dealing with international transactions, by returning to the gold standard (ie currency backed by gold reserves).

This would prevent the printing of money by the unsupervised Federal Reserve Bank.

PeteM · Dec 12, 2011

Put a small business office in larger towns. The idea is to have one-stop-shopping for everything a small business needs. Have local, state, and federal agencies agree that just a handful of folks will represent them. Basic idea:

- One stop, as streamlined as possible.
- Fewer bureaucrats employed at every level.
- Small businesses would easily be assured they were in compliance.
- Towns that did this would attract residents, businesses, tax revenues
- The one stop notion would also mean that there would be one place to check (and fix) if things got silly.
- Have a process to review all fees, licenses, regulations etc. -- work to eliminate, revise, or add as needed
- Cost-effective private businesses (accountants, lawyers, etc.) might spring up around this.
- Ditto non-profit and other advisory services on small business, marketing, etc.

I think we want such things as safety and environmental regulations. I also think they should be streamlined,

thedave · Dec 12, 2011

I agree make the gov't side of business manageable to run. A business resource center that will tell us what forms need to be filled out, etc. A few years ago, I got a call about a bounced check, I called the bank to find out my bank account had been seized. After spending many hours on the phone, I found out it was because I had not filed the paperwork for the franchise tax (Texas). Took a week to get it sorted out. Partly my fault as I didn't read the fine print on the form they sent. It was because I didn't file, and put a 0 in the box indicating I didn't owe it.

Modelman · Dec 12, 2011

SND said:
One thing for my country which has sales tax(GST, PST or HST) would be to just cancel it completely on business purchases and sales to other tax registered businesses. This ties up a fair bit of money for up to 4 months(quarterly returns) just to have it them reimbursed or do a balance payment if you sold more than you bought, but then if your customer is registered, they get the refund on what they paid to you in sales tax, and so on. Overall a lot of paper work and money tied up for nothing. Say I buy a 100K machine, I have to pay $115K, if I buy it on 1st January its not until end of march that I can balance the quarter, then another month easy to have it sent/processed, I'd rather hold on to it and not even have to do any of that paper work at all unless I sold to the public, which is really the only place it finally gets collected. And if sold to another country, you went through all that for absolutely nothing cause you can't charge them sales that anyway.

I ought to point out, what SND wants is what we still have here in the US, but are in danger of losing if plans like Herman the German's 14-14-14 plan take root. Presently, sales tax is only at the state level here, so if I buy from out-of-state, no tax is collected. If I buy from an in-state supplier, my Illinois ROT (Retailer's Occupation Tax) # absolves the seller from having to collect tax, so the Gov't doesn't tie our money up for months. In the coming year, as different candidates play their different spiels about tax reform, keep in mind how much worse they can make it, even if they have good intentions.

Dennis

david n · Dec 12, 2011

I stated my one wish, didn't rant and it gets deleted. I guess asking for the size of govt to be smaller cuts into metlmuchr's socialist utopia that he so defends here through his biased regulation of MFG in AM and EUROPE forum.

lazlo · Dec 12, 2011

I used to work at a very large semiconductor company that you've all heard of, and it got *way* too bid in the early 2000's. We all knew we had to cut a bunch of people, but the company was comprised of warring factions, and no faction was willing to cough-up bodies.

Sound familiar?

So my suggestion was really simple: fire all the {even/odd} employees. As in, flip a coin, and heads you fire all the employees with odd employee ID's, tails, even. That way there's no politics, and you're not frozen with indecision.

Didn't happen, of course, but they created a bunch of panels to study the problem. That also should sound familiar.

SteveM · Dec 12, 2011

lazlo said:
...and who needs the Department of Education, I mean - our educational system is fine. Our children rank 14th out in the world for reading skills, 17th for science and 25th for math. We have plenty of unskilled labor jobs in the US -- no reason to improve our children's education.

My guess is that they probably ranked higher before the department of education.

Steve

Boris · Dec 12, 2011

Simplify the tax system
So that ordinary folks like me who end up paying 30-40% income tax pay the same rate as a multi millioniare who ends up paying 20%

Also with a simple tax system you can reduce the size of the IRS

win-win

Boris

jim rozen · Dec 12, 2011

"My guess is that they probably ranked higher before the department of education. "

Nonsense. We've had HEW since about the 1930s. Health, education, welfare.

Nobody complained about it then. Why now? Because the fox assholes are banging
that drum.

What one thing could they do? Prosecute folks who steal 1.2 billion dollars, that's
what. Then give the fines to local businesses to hire more. *Manufacturing* businesses,
NOT the financial industry.

Name 1 thing government could do to help your business

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