(Lake Martin Specific)
111,170 messages
Updated 5/28/2024 5:46:58 PM
Lakes Online Forum
83,644 messages
Updated 5/28/2024 9:14:08 AM
Lakes Online Forum
5,193 messages
Updated 4/3/2024 3:47:36 AM
(Lake Martin Specific)
4,170 messages
Updated 5/28/2024 5:21:13 AM
Lakes Online Forum
4,169 messages
Updated 4/15/2024 11:05:05 PM
Lakes Online Forum
4,261 messages
Updated 5/28/2024 6:31:10 AM
Lakes Online Forum
2,976 messages
Updated 3/20/2024 11:53:43 PM
(Lake Martin Specific)
169 messages
Updated 5/31/2023 1:39:35 PM
Lakes Online Forum
98 messages
Updated 4/15/2024 1:00:58 AM
|
|
|
|
Name:
|
MartiniMan
- 
|
|
Subject:
|
Martini
|
|
Date:
|
3/1/2010 11:41:07 PM
|
|
GF, actually the greed of dentists is one factor impacting the revenue side of the equation. By far the biggest impact to his business is on the cost side. Unless you are a small businessman it is hard to comprehend the cost of a single employee. The overwhelming majority of them, if given the opportunity, would prefer to have local employees doing the work. They are willing to sacrifice profits to create jobs and keep jobs but they cannot, nor should they be expected to lose money just to keep jobs in the U.S.
What the government could do is multi fold. First and foremost they could lower taxes on individuals. The vast majority of small businesses are s-corps, LLC's or partnerships and all are taxed as a parternship. What that means is the revenue and costs flow through to the owners per their ownership percentage. So if you had a company that made $1M in profit and the owner retained all of that in the company to fuel new jobs and growth they would still be taxed on that profit. So on average in that tax bracket they would pay close to 50% in taxes (depending on the state they are in). That is real cash taken away from small business.
Next we need to look at the cost of an employee, much of which is forced on small businesses by government regulations. We have FICA and medicare taxes, unemployment taxes, the cost of compliance with HR rules like HIPAA, ADA, etc., etc. We have the trial lawyers with Dems in their pocket costing U.S. businesses billions. We have the incredible cost to comply with complex tax laws and government regulations. That doesn't even begin to address state and local regulations. We don't need an MBA to study this, spend some time on the Heritage Foundation or CATO Institute websites. They do an excellent job chronicaling the real cost of government on small business.
As for my friend's greed that is the usual obnoxious liberal slander of honest, decent business people that put everything on the line, including personally guaranteeing loans, sacrificing profits to keep employees and so on but when they find themselves stuck between making a profit or going out of business they will be forced to make a rational decision. The only greedy people are the ones that expect to live at the expense of others by using the taxman to take money from the productive at the point of a gun.
The quality of the Chinese crowns is as good as and in some cases better than what he was making in the U.S. I don't know if the patients know where the crowns are being made but if they knew how much the dentist actually paid for them (regardless of where they were made) they would be offended. Especially when they blame the lab for the high cost. Even if they did know I suspect most would not care. Look around your house and you will see how much of it was made in China.
As for real life input, he and I speak regularly and at great length about our businesses. I have watched and listened to his struggles for the last 2 years and he agonized about the decision. I actually told him he had no choice but to modify his business model to reflect the new economic reality or he was destined for ruin. You see GF, this is not an academic exercise, it is real life with real consequences and I can assure you he made the right decision and the only one he could. If his cost of employees and his tax burden were lower maybe he could have the luxury to take it in the shorts to keep Americans employed. No such option existed and when he looked at the current government he figured it was only going to get worse.
|
|
Reply
Back
Search
Off-Topic Forum
»
Alabama Lakes
»
Lake Martin
Login
|
Home
