Businesses

The Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner

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going out of business

– The Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner (ZeroHedge, Nov 14,  2014):

Confused why despite endless daily propaganda that the US economy is getting better – after all “just look at the record high S&P 500” – fewer and fewer Americans believe the narrative, as the Democrats and Obama found out the very hard way in last week’s midterm elections? Then the following explanation written by the owner of a small business – the segment of the US economy that has historically led every single recovery but this time was left behind – should help answer some questions.

The reason small businesses are disappearing written by a small business owner.

Read moreThe Reason Small Businesses Are Disappearing, As Explained By A Small Business Owner

Russia opening gov’t-backed startup accelerator in Crimea

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– Russia opening gov’t-backed startup accelerator in Crimea (Venture Beat, April 26, 2014):

The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian), a government-backed fund supporting startup development, will open a remote regional accelerator in Sevastopol, Crimea, as soon as this summer, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported last week.

The fund is expecting to support five to seven projects, which will be evaluated on the local and national levels. Funding will be received based on the results of three month’s work in the accelerator.

Read moreRussia opening gov’t-backed startup accelerator in Crimea

New Company Allows Organizations To Hire Fake Protesters

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When a reporter asked a paid protester in the above image what this protest was for- he told the reporter, “It’s a day to ban guns, I think.”
-The Event was actually for a new movement called “Purge Day” dealing with mental illness.

– New Company Allows Organizations To Hire Fake Protesters (Benn Swan Full Disclosure, Aug 9, 2013):

So, no one supports your cause? No problem. You can hire supporters- even protesters. A company started last October by 22-year-old Adam Swart provides just this service.  In a telephone interview I spoke with Swart about his new found success. “I came up with the idea on a visit to Estonia,” says Swart. At the airport, Swart says he saw a man who was being swarmed by a crowd of excited onlookers. He tells me, “I thought- Why can’t I have that kind of attention?” And so, Swart’s company, Crowds on Demand, was born.

Swart says that business is doing extremely well. According to their website, their office is located in a swanky downtown LA office suite. He says his biggest client so far was a $10k contract, but he would not disclose the client. Not bad for a 22-year-old kid. “We do most of our business through word of mouth. We are able to provide our customers with top-notch service, so they spread the word to other potential clients,” says Swart.

Read moreNew Company Allows Organizations To Hire Fake Protesters

ECONOMIC COLLAPSE: Each Day 134 Retail Outlets Close In Italy … ‘It’s A Massacre’

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Retail association ‘Confesercenti’.

– Crisis is closing ‘134 retail outlets’ a day in Italy (ANSA.it, June 19, 2013):

Confesercenti describes situation as a ‘massacre’

Rome, June 19 – Each day 134 shops, restaurants and bars close in recession-hit Italy, retail association Confesercenti said on Wednesday. Confesercenti, which represents small and medium-sized businesses in the retail and tourism sectors, said 224,000 enterprises had closed their shutters since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008.

“It’s a massacre,” said Confesercenti President Marco Venturi.

“Every day five green grocers, four butchers, 42 clothes shops, 43 restaurants and 40 bars and catering business close down”.

Killing Small Business: Percentage Of Self-Employed Americans At Record Low

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– They Are Murdering Small Business: The Percentage Of Self-Employed Americans Is At A Record Low (Economic Collapse, May 2, 2013):

The percentage of Americans that are working for themselves has never been lower in the history of the United States.  Once upon a time, the United States was a paradise for entrepreneurs and small businesses, but now the control freak bureaucrats that dominate our society have created a system that absolutely eviscerates them.  This is very unfortunate, because by murdering small business, the bureaucrats are destroying the primary engine of job growth in this country.  One of the big reasons why there are not enough jobs in America today is because small business creation is way down.  As I mentioned yesterday, entrepreneurs and small businesses are being absolutely devastated by rules, regulations, red tape and by oppressive levels of taxation.  If anyone doubts that small business in the United States is dying, just look at the charts below.  Sadly, this is what the bureaucrats that run things want.  They don’t want us to be independent of the system.  Instead, they are much more comfortable when as many of us as possible are heavily dependent on the system in one way or another.  If all of us have to go running to the government or to one of the big corporations for a job, then we are much easier to control.  But as the control freaks continue to construct their bureaucratic utopia, they are also killing off what once made the U.S. economy so great.

The other day I came across the following two charts in an article by Charles Hugh Smith, and I was absolutely stunned by what I saw.  This first chart shows that the number of unincorporated self-employed Americans has dropped back to levels that we have not seen since the mid-1980s even though our population has increased by tens of millions of people since that time…

Read moreKilling Small Business: Percentage Of Self-Employed Americans At Record Low

Record 2,564 Spanish Firms File For Bankruptcy In Q1, 45% Higher Than Year Ago

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– Record 2,564 Spanish Firms File For Bankruptcy In Q1, 45% Higher Than Year Ago (ZeroHedge, April 8, 2013):

Perhaps the best measure to gauge the European recovery is by the soaring number of companies going bust, because only from this perspective is Europe finally “fixed.” As Reuters reports citing a report by Axesor, a record 2,564 companies filed for “insolvency proceedings”, a more palatable version of the word bankruptcy, in the first quarter – an increase of 10% from Q4 and up a whopping 45% from Q1 2012. The reasons given: “tight credit conditions and meager demand.” Or in other words: no actual cash flow to fund demand for products and services. Obviously it will take some truly phenomenal massaging and manipulation to represent GDP as rising in this environment, but we are confident the Spanish authorities are already on it, and somehow the Spanish pension fund, already 97% filled with Spanish government bonds, will somehow have a finger in yet another completely unbelievable economic print which will fool most of the algos most of the time on flashing red Bloomberg headlines.

Per Reuters:

“Most Spanish businesses did not prepare for a crisis this big or this long, which could be a determining factor,” said Javier Ramos-Juste, head of economic studies at Axesor.

Spain has been in its second recession in five years for the past 18 months and unemployment is more than 25 percent.

Read moreRecord 2,564 Spanish Firms File For Bankruptcy In Q1, 45% Higher Than Year Ago

An Entrepreneur In France: ‘I Need To Hire More People, But The Government Won’t Let Me’

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– My Talk With An Endangered Species: An Entrepreneur In France (Testosterone Pit, April 5, 2013):

“I need to hire more people, but the government won’t let me,” said my friend, an internet entrepreneur in France, one of the intrepid figures still slugging it out over there—in a country whose relentlessly deteriorating unemployment problem is gnawing at the very fabric of society.

We spent an hour and a half on Skype, talking about topics that were a bit, let’s say, delicate under the current regime in France. So he and his company, both well known, will remain unnamed. He has been successful in the startup sense: his company has had two solid rounds of funding from venture capital investors. VCs are another phenomenon that hasn’t gone extinct in France yet, testimony to the mind-boggling human capacity to adapt and survive no matter how hostile the environment.

Read moreAn Entrepreneur In France: ‘I Need To Hire More People, But The Government Won’t Let Me’

$529 Million In Federal Funding And All Jobs Destroyed Or Lost

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Flashback:

– Total Karma Recall: Fisker (Received $529 Million In Federal Subsidies) Pulls All Cars Due To Fire Risk

– Taxpayers Lose Another $118.5 Million As Next Obama Stimulus Pet Project Files For Bankruptcy (Video)

– $529 Million In Federal Funding And All Jobs Destroyed Or Lost (ZeroHedge, April 5, 2013):

Pop quiz:Q. What is the fiscal multiplier on $529 in government stimulus?

A. If you are Fisker Automotive, zero.

While the terminal fate of the federally-subdizied car company was no secret to anyone, there were some questions when this latest example of idiotic government “capital allocation” would get Solyndraed. The answer is now.

GigaOm reports:

According to several sources, electric car maker Fisker Automotive is planning to lay off many of its employees today. Sources tell me that there is a company meeting at 8AM today where the company will announce this to the employees.

I’ve also heard that law firm Outten & Golden has been looking into initiating a class action law suit to represent Fisker’s employees should Fisker fall into bankruptcy. The firm is looking into whether Fisker (like Solyndra) will or already has violated the WARN act.

Read more$529 Million In Federal Funding And All Jobs Destroyed Or Lost

List Released With 132 Names Who Pulled Cyprus Deposits Ahead Of ‘Confiscation Day’

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– List Released With 132 Names Who Pulled Cyprus Deposits Ahead Of “Confiscation Day” (ZeroHedge, April 1, 2013):

With every passing day, it becomes clearer and clearer the Cyprus deposit confiscation “news” was the most unsurprising outcome for the nation’s financial system and was known by virtually everyone on the ground days and weeks in advance: first it was disclosed that Russians had been pulling their  money, then it was suggested the president himself had made sure some €21 million of his family’s money was parked safely in London, then we showed a massive surge in Cyprus deposit outflows in February, and now the latest news is that a list of 132 companies and individuals has emerged who withdrew their €-denominated deposits in the two weeks from March 1 to March 15, among which the previously noted company Loutsios & Sons which is alleged to have ties with the current Cypriot president Anastasiadis.

From Sigma:

Money transfers made within 15 days, namely from 1 until March 15. On Friday, March 15, had met the Eurogroup, which officially decided to impose a tax on deposits by companies and individuals in all financial institutions in Cyprus.

These 132 companies and individuals have withdrawn all deposits in euros, dollars and rubles, which were transferred to other banks outside Cyprus.

Read moreList Released With 132 Names Who Pulled Cyprus Deposits Ahead Of ‘Confiscation Day’