Most of us know small businesses are the lifeblood of this country’s economy. If we don’t know it for sure, we suspect it.
Sure, we have our big corporations. But in many ways we are a nation of shopkeepers. And hair dressers. And body shop operators. And law practice folks. And dentists. And small builders. And caterers.
You get the message. And yet, somebody else does not. Somebody pretty important.
Most of our new jobs would never come into existence without small businesses. The Small Business Administration reckons they create 97 percent of new jobs. Others calculate they create 75 percent of new jobs. Whatever. Without the jobs they create we would be in trouble.
And yet...
Lots of these small businesses employ only the owner. At least for now. For many years women and Hispanics – especially Hispanics – have started new businesses at a faster clip than anybody else.
In addition to the new jobs, our small businesses employ over 50 percent of all people who work in the private sector. (More. We know lots of small operators never appear on the radar screen.)
You might wonder why they don’t employ a higher percentage. Since they create most of the new jobs. It is because the really successful ones get gobbled up by bigger businesses. Or they become bigger businesses. And, of course, lots of them fail.
So, our small businesses are vitally important to this country. In more ways than one. For instance, they support their local communities a lot more than big businesses do.
It is not unusual for a small retail business that does $500,000 a year in business, and makes $35,000 profit, to give away $5000 for local causes. Meanwhile, the supermarket chain down the road does $20 million in business. And gives $5000 for local causes.
Beyond all this, it is small businesses that come up with the innovations, the new ideas, by the zillion. We cannot add up all the successful businesses that were born in garages. Their parents were a few borrowed bucks and an entrepreneur’s dream.
Now if small businesses and entrepreneurs are so vital to this country, I have a request. Would you please go to the websites of the candidates for president of this country.
When you do you first get screens that urge you to sign up and to give money. Naturally. Wade through all that and find the heading “Issues”. Click on that and make your way through the issues they feel are important.
One of the candidates has a fair bit to say about small business. And about entrepreneurs. And about what hurts and helps them.
Strangely, two of the candidates mention small business and entrepreneurs only in passing.
Our small businesses are the biggest job machines the world has ever known. Yet two of our candidates cannot be bothered to include them on their websites.
Nor did they talk about them in their debates. At least not in the debates I listened to.
We heard lots of gab about how many jobs they were going to create. Which is peculiar when you think about it. They will create no jobs. Government really does not create jobs. Or very few. Entrepreneurs create our jobs. Small businesses create our jobs. You would never think so from these websites. Websites of those who want to lead this country.
If you don’t believe me, please take five minutes to check out the websites. Go to all three. On two of them you will have to wonder whether the candidates live within the same economy as the rest of us.
This is no small matter. The economy is the biggest ingredient in most of our lives. And small businesses and entrepreneurs are the biggest ingredients in the economy. Yet they barely get a mention on the websites of two of our candidates for the White House.
From Tom...as in Morgan.