The buck starts here, but stops elsewhere
I have to agree wholeheartedly with David DeCristoforos latest blog on the sad state of small business. But theres yet another factor, I think. Davids thoughts, and those of the…
I have to agree wholeheartedly with David DeCristoforos latest blog on the sad state of small business. But theres yet another factor, I think.
Davids thoughts, and those of the L.A. Times article he cites, are right in that the hiring that pulls us out of the economic dumper usually begins with small business. But what hasnt been mentioned is that much of the spending that has to occur to jumpstart a down economy must also begin with small business.
Sure, for any recovery to be meaningful, consumers must start spending again. But for small businesses to even function, they must spend, too. When consumers dont spend, they often can simply do without; but when small businesses dont spend, they are forced to as David phrased it park. Except on the most basic level of just staying alive small businesses dont grow, they dont hire, they dont produce, and they dont pump needed dollars into the economy. To paraphrase the old line, the buck starts here. With us, small businesses. And until small business can start spending again, that buck isnt going to stop anywhere.
Like David, Im parked until more work comes my way. Im hanging in there, but theres no boost to the economy coming from the Hamler house. I suspect many of you are in the same situation.
What we should have done or not done regarding those big bailouts is moot now, and while now we can accurately point to that money doing more good directed toward small business, it wasnt. Thus, its water over the dam, spilled milk, and whats-done-is-done. Pick your own cliché.
Solutions? I dont have any. Like you, Im waiting for someone bigger than me to recover first, so my small business can reap the trickle-down benefits, and then begin the trickle-up process that happens when small business starts spending again. Then, of course, as soon as small businesses start to recover, theres that repressive, crippling self-employment tax just biding its time, lying in wait for its next opportunity to hobble us.
But thats a whole nother blog.
Till next time,
A.J.

A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.