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Hernando Today

Small Business The Engine Of America

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By DOMENICK J. MAGLIO, Neo Traditionalist

Hernando Today

Published: September 5, 2008

As soon as there is a critical downturn in the economy, large corporations turn their lobbyists loose to go to the government trough to get bailouts. Automobile giants to agricorps to mega financial institutions like Fannie May or Freddie Mac are behind the scenes with their hands out for money to solve the problems they created.
There are no small business people in the U.S. who would ever think the government is going to throw them a lifeline during hard times. Even though small businesses are in every sector of the economy, the businessmen know they have to succeed on their own in spite of government. Yet most new jobs in the United States are produced by small businesses. It is the strength of our free-market economy.
Usually, startup businesses are given a disincentive instead of an incentive to begin and stay in business. The best sweetheart deal a business owner can hope for from government is to be left alone. This means that bureaucrats should refrain from over-regulating or creatively interpreting existing laws or raising the myriad taxes that businesses must pay to stay in business. Any success will come from the owner's ability to endure the everyday struggle to make their business work.
Anyone in small business can tell you the same story. When they started their enterprise, it was slow and difficult to obtain the smallest loan. Although as soon as they no longer needed it, they would have to beat off loan officers offering more money than needed. Although many people give lip service to help, few do, while others are behind-the-back doubters.
Finding the right location and working at night and on weekends to get the business ready for opening day has to be a labor of love. The continual upgrading of the business and having the constant anxiety of paying bills, especially the employee payroll, sours some start-ups, forcing them to fold while most find ways to stretch their dollars to make ends meet. These real war stories of persevering to make the dream a reality create a sense of pride and connection with customers and employees.
Scrimping and saving prepares small business people to adapt more efficiently and rapidly than larger corporations. The owner family and sometimes long-term committed workers remember the hardships of the start-up years. This intimate knowledge of the history of the business and all tasks of the business help everyone involved to make the sacrifice to offer great service at a reasonable price.
The personal involvement, with all the people affected by the enterprise, is a tremendous motivator. This incentive keeps the business running regardless of the economic conditions outside the control of the owner. Sometimes it means the owner or a trusted employee plugs the hole caused by people coming down with an illness or leaving without notice for a different position. When revenues unexpectedly drop from an accident, catastrophe or societal preference change, the entrepreneur's intimate knowledge of the market, flexibility and motivation enables him to make the necessary changes to keep the business going.
Unlike million dollar corporate heads, who are isolated in their headquarters, the small business person is in the trenches with a ground-floor perspective. Large corporations that rely on connections to high places to save them, the little guy's self-reliance, ingenuity and responsibility directs him to quickly change course to weather the storm.
The entrepreneurs' personal commitment to make the business work motivates them to overcome any obstacle that is placed before them. The lean organization gets the job done without much waste or fanfare. There are fewer multi-layers of managers to appease in order to execute decisions. The efficiency allows them to take risks placing the business on the innovative cutting edge. Many of these entrepreneurial advances are gobbled up by large corporation's improving or diversifying its bottom line.
Millions of small businesses throughout the nation are the engine that runs America. The larger international corporations that have the ear of Congress and receive our tax money are nothing more than takers not contributors, draining our national assets. Our government representatives are working for us, the American people, not for corporate special interest.
Government regulations and taxes can kill the "golden goose" forcing us into a controlled or centralized economy. When international corporations are in cahoots with government it is called fascism. An economy centrally controlled by government bureaucrats leads to socialism/communism. Only when a nation has many thriving small businesses will you have a competitive, free capitalistic economy.
The free enterprise system is the most efficient and rapidly adaptable economic system that can deal with the reality of ever-changing circumstances. It is the small business owners throughout a free market economy who are the key to keeping the economy humming.
Encouraging, not discouraging small business, is the key to our continued economic growth, success and freedom in America.

Dr. Domenick J. Maglio, Ph. D., is the author of "Invasion Within" and "Essential Parenting." He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

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