What did you do today? I closed a company in existence since 1967.

[iamwhatiseem]

After a gut wrenching past 3 years, and trying to bend numbers by shear will - I recommended the closing of a company that has been in business for 46 years. A company that I recommended a $2 mil expansion of in 2007. Well that didn't work out.
Another dead company that has fallen prey to the dwindling margins of smaller businesses everywhere. One of 32,000 in this industry that has closed since 2008, with another expected 15,000 by 2015. Large, massive regional corporate production facilities that are spreading across the nation in the past 10 years have consumed one of the last breathing industries that was still predominantly privately held-single entity companies.
After 2015, only 40% will be remaining...with a bleak future for them. A $76 billion annual revenue industry that is quietly dying without fanfare, no news stories, just another victim of the corporatism of America.
We will bury the remains next July. And another empty building will dot the road, not much noticed...so many others.

 

[Sunshine]

Sorry to hear that, iam. Had you tried any online sales? With this pulmonary hypertension, I find that shopping is the last of the things I am very much able to do. So, I buy a lot of stuff online. I have come to enjoy shopping on Amazon, no surly clerks to deal with, no problem if an item doesn't work. I don't see many crowds at any stores in Murray, I think they are all losing to the online sellers.

 

[Trajan]

After a gut wrenching past 3 years, and trying to bend numbers by shear will - I recommended the closing of a company that has been in business for 46 years. A company that I recommended a $2 mil expansion of in 2007. Well that didn't work out.
Another dead company that has fallen prey to the dwindling margins of smaller businesses everywhere. One of 32,000 in this industry that has closed since 2008, with another expected 15,000 by 2015. Large, massive regional corporate production facilities that are spreading across the nation in the past 10 years have consumed one of the last breathing industries that was still predominantly privately held-single entity companies.
After 2015, only 40% will be remaining...with a bleak future for them. A $76 billion annual revenue industry that is quietly dying without fanfare, no news stories, just another victim of the corporatism of America.
We will bury the remains next July. And another empty building will dot the road, not much noticed...so many others.

I am very sorry to hear that bro...I know of what you speak, and, well, I am aware of your trials and tribulations over the last what, 6 years? I am sorry it had to end this way.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Sorry to hear that, iam. Had you tried any online sales? With this pulmonary hypertension, I find that shopping is the last of the things I am very much able to do. So, I buy a lot of stuff online. I have come to enjoy shopping on Amazon, no surly clerks to deal with, no problem if an item doesn't work. I don't see many crowds at any stores in Murray, I think they are all losing to the online sellers.

It is a B2B business (business to business) so there is no retail, consumer based platform.
Although online selling is certainly a part of it, if you don't have a web storefront in just about any business today - you are out of your mind.
The problem today is the commoditization of virtually everything. Thus dwindling margins. Foreign, primarily Chinese, material suppliers have just wiped out American raw material manufacturers in our industry. (And every other).
A little piece of info...corporate profits have had two record years in a row. Small business margins are at a 27 year low.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I am very sorry to hear that bro...I know of what you speak, and, well, I am aware of your trials and tribulations over the last what, 6 years? I am sorry it had to end this way.

yeah...remember me telling you about the expansion? Those were good days. Man.
I'll be fine, I haven't decided what I will do. I have been pretty wise about finances over the years, so I have time to figure it out. And obviously I am not walking away empty handed.

 

[boedicca]

I'm very sorry to learn this, Iam.

The Real America of people who just want to be left alone to work and be part of their local community is being systematically destroyed by Big Government & Big Cronies.

I made a comment to someone the other day that our Dear Leaders are turning us all into financial derivatives.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Fair and simple taxes, baby. That alone will solve a LOT of these problems by giving smaller enterprises a level playing field with the corps.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I'm very sorry to learn this, Iam.

The Real America of people who just want to be left alone to work and be part of their local community is being systematically destroyed by Big Government & Big Cronies.

I made a comment to someone the other day that our Dear Leaders are turning us all into financial derivatives.

Very true, sadly most Americans have absolutely no idea that America is dying. None whatsoever. We are being drained, we are becoming pawns in a culture where wealth and the fruits of production are being funneled into fewer and fewer ultra-elites.
Obviously I am as pro-business as one gets. But that does not mean pro-corporate, in fact the opposite. The corporatism of America is removing one industry after another from the hand of individuals into the windfall of the few.
At the same time, our governance is no longer a republic. We have no representation anymore.
The most dangerous thing in America is the fact that with each passing year, fewer and fewer people remember America before the big boxes and franchises took over. Today...every town is anytown, USA...same restaurants, same retail box stores, same grocery super stores, same clothing stores...etc. etc. etc.
In just 20 years, 100% of commercial property will be owned by less than 1% of the population. It is happening before our eyes and we don't even see it.

 

[idb]

I'm very sorry to learn this, Iam.

The Real America of people who just want to be left alone to work and be part of their local community is being systematically destroyed by Big Government & Big Cronies.

I made a comment to someone the other day that our Dear Leaders are turning us all into financial derivatives.

Very true, sadly most Americans have absolutely no idea that America is dying. None whatsoever. We are being drained, we are becoming pawns in a culture where wealth and the fruits of production are being funneled into fewer and fewer ultra-elites.
Obviously I am as pro-business as one gets. But that does not mean pro-corporate, in fact the opposite. The corporatism of America is removing one industry after another from the hand of individuals into the windfall of the few.
At the same time, our governance is no longer a republic. We have no representation anymore.
The most dangerous thing in America is the fact that with each passing year, fewer and fewer people remember America before the big boxes and franchises took over. Today...every town is anytown, USA...same restaurants, same retail box stores, same grocery super stores, same clothing stores...etc. etc. etc.
In just 20 years, 100% of commercial property will be owned by less than 1% of the population. It is happening before our eyes and we don't even see it.

Corporatisation isn't just happening in the US Iam - the creeping homogeneity across the globe is depressing, frightening and dangerous.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I'm very sorry to learn this, Iam.

The Real America of people who just want to be left alone to work and be part of their local community is being systematically destroyed by Big Government & Big Cronies.

I made a comment to someone the other day that our Dear Leaders are turning us all into financial derivatives.

Very true, sadly most Americans have absolutely no idea that America is dying. None whatsoever. We are being drained, we are becoming pawns in a culture where wealth and the fruits of production are being funneled into fewer and fewer ultra-elites.
Obviously I am as pro-business as one gets. But that does not mean pro-corporate, in fact the opposite. The corporatism of America is removing one industry after another from the hand of individuals into the windfall of the few.
At the same time, our governance is no longer a republic. We have no representation anymore.
The most dangerous thing in America is the fact that with each passing year, fewer and fewer people remember America before the big boxes and franchises took over. Today...every town is anytown, USA...same restaurants, same retail box stores, same grocery super stores, same clothing stores...etc. etc. etc.
In just 20 years, 100% of commercial property will be owned by less than 1% of the population. It is happening before our eyes and we don't even see it.

Corporatisation isn't just happening in the US Iam - the creeping homogeneity across the globe is depressing, frightening and dangerous.

Oh I know...just speaking of my own experience of course.
And yes it is spreading globally.
How is it possible that the markets/corporations are doing so amazingly well right now - while clearly middle class is dying, and more and more rights of individuals is disappearing and we all bicker over left vs. right.
Man we are dumb.

 

[idb]

Very true, sadly most Americans have absolutely no idea that America is dying. None whatsoever. We are being drained, we are becoming pawns in a culture where wealth and the fruits of production are being funneled into fewer and fewer ultra-elites.
Obviously I am as pro-business as one gets. But that does not mean pro-corporate, in fact the opposite. The corporatism of America is removing one industry after another from the hand of individuals into the windfall of the few.
At the same time, our governance is no longer a republic. We have no representation anymore.
The most dangerous thing in America is the fact that with each passing year, fewer and fewer people remember America before the big boxes and franchises took over. Today...every town is anytown, USA...same restaurants, same retail box stores, same grocery super stores, same clothing stores...etc. etc. etc.
In just 20 years, 100% of commercial property will be owned by less than 1% of the population. It is happening before our eyes and we don't even see it.

Corporatisation isn't just happening in the US Iam - the creeping homogeneity across the globe is depressing, frightening and dangerous.

Oh I know...just speaking of my own experience of course.
And yes it is spreading globally.
How is it possible that the markets/corporations are doing so amazingly well right now - while clearly middle class is dying, and more and more rights of individuals is disappearing and we all bicker over left vs. right.
Man we are dumb.

Yup.
The global corporates are bigger than governments now so I don't know what can be done.
Good luck to you and your colleagues.

 

[MikeK]

Sorry to hear that, iam. Had you tried any online sales? With this pulmonary hypertension, I find that shopping is the last of the things I am very much able to do. So, I buy a lot of stuff online. I have come to enjoy shopping on Amazon, no surly clerks to deal with, no problem if an item doesn't work. I don't see many crowds at any stores in Murray, I think they are all losing to the online sellers.

Amazon is a pleasure to buy things from. They do everything right.

 

[alan1]

I'm very sorry to learn this, Iam.

The Real America of people who just want to be left alone to work and be part of their local community is being systematically destroyed by Big Government & Big Cronies.

I made a comment to someone the other day that our Dear Leaders are turning us all into financial derivatives.

Very true, sadly most Americans have absolutely no idea that America is dying. None whatsoever. We are being drained, we are becoming pawns in a culture where wealth and the fruits of production are being funneled into fewer and fewer ultra-elites.
Obviously I am as pro-business as one gets. But that does not mean pro-corporate, in fact the opposite. The corporatism of America is removing one industry after another from the hand of individuals into the windfall of the few.
At the same time, our governance is no longer a republic. We have no representation anymore.
The most dangerous thing in America is the fact that with each passing year, fewer and fewer people remember America before the big boxes and franchises took over. Today...every town is anytown, USA...same restaurants, same retail box stores, same grocery super stores, same clothing stores...etc. etc. etc.
In just 20 years, 100% of commercial property will be owned by less than 1% of the population. It is happening before our eyes and we don't even see it.

I don't mean to be the fly in the ointment here, but at one point in time most large corporations were a small business. They became a large corporation by providing for and servicing their customers better than anybody else in their industry. Just remember, WalMart used to be a single store. Apple started in a suburban garage. Coca Cola started in a backyard and only had $50 in sales the first year. In 1937, McDonalds was a single, simple food stand.

 

[freedombecki]

After a gut wrenching past 3 years, and trying to bend numbers by shear will - I recommended the closing of a company that has been in business for 46 years. A company that I recommended a $2 mil expansion of in 2007. Well that didn't work out.
Another dead company that has fallen prey to the dwindling margins of smaller businesses everywhere. One of 32,000 in this industry that has closed since 2008, with another expected 15,000 by 2015. Large, massive regional corporate production facilities that are spreading across the nation in the past 10 years have consumed one of the last breathing industries that was still predominantly privately held-single entity companies.
After 2015, only 40% will be remaining...with a bleak future for them. A $76 billion annual revenue industry that is quietly dying without fanfare, no news stories, just another victim of the corporatism of America.
We will bury the remains next July. And another empty building will dot the road, not much noticed...so many others.

Sorry to hear it, IamwhatIseem. People are afraid to let go of their money right now. With favor going to the community organizations' support of big government giveaways and away from supporting the mom n pops' small businesses, people are too worried to continue pouring money down the government drain of exponential medical costs and national debt increases that are truly frightening.
It's time to put America on my prayer list, I guess. It's gotten to be contentious over small matters as well as large ones.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I don't mean to be the fly in the ointment here, but at one point in time most large corporations were a small business. They became a large corporation by providing for and servicing their customers better than anybody else in their industry. Just remember, WalMart used to be a single store. Apple started in a suburban garage. Coca Cola started in a backyard and only had $50 in sales the first year. In 1937, McDonalds was a single, simple food stand.

Well that would be the highly optimistic and very favorable way of looking at it.
As you know - over the years politicians have made changes to voting precincts and engineered campaign laws to heavily favor an incumbent. Today it is very difficult for a new face to appear in Washington unless an incumbent gives his/her seat up.
Much the same with corporations. Politicians have made dozens of laws and amazingly beneficial tax code in favor of corporations. It is not only possible, but likely that a corporations can make 100's $millions in profits - and yet pay little to no taxes. At the same time the small business has no such tax favors.
I would have to write a chapter in this post to go into detail about all of the advantages corporations have over smaller companies that have zero to do with quality of the product or customer service.
A couple of suggestions:
Documentary -- "Beer Wars"--"Food Inc" ---"The Corporation" --"Inside Job"

Basically, over the past 30 years, the link between Washington and large corporations is becoming indistinguishable, one where monopolies are not only allowed - but encouraged.
Tax codes, environmental laws that are clearly designed to require expensive systems that are proven to be ineffective and less expensive methods work better but are not allowed. You would not believe how unfair many environmental laws are, ones where it is painfully obvious the law only exist to favor big business and to keep others out of it.
Not to mention laws of commerce. Take for instance the "three-tier system" in beer sales. It so overwhelmingly favors the corporate brewers over the small breweries that it boggles the mind that a law like this exist in America.
I could go on for pages.

 

[Spoonman]

Fair and simple taxes, baby. That alone will solve a LOT of these problems by giving smaller enterprises a level playing field with the corps.

and tarrifs or VAT so they can compete with off shore