Business Closures Exceed Business Startups, FIRST TIME IN HISTORY

[J P Sousa]

I wondered why this has NOT been reported before now.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the total number of new business startups and business closures per year -- the birth and death rates of American companies -- have crossed for the first time since the measurement began. I am referring to employer businesses, those with one or more employees, the real engines of economic growth. Four hundred thousand new businesses are being born annually nationwide, while 470,000 per year are dying.   

  Let's get one thing clear: This economy is never truly coming back unless we reverse the birth and death trends of American businesses. 

http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/180431/american-entrepreneurship-dead-alive.aspx

[DLR Pyro]

obama's legacy

[Rick]

I wonder if they are being started under ground, system D, and are not being admitted too and counted.

[thundley4]

More people have joined the food stamp programs than have gotten jobs.

[DumbAss Tanker]

There are greater and greater tax, regulatory, and permitting barriers to entry every year, and crippling costs to making any mistakes.  The small licensed-and-taxpaying business my wife and I run will never have any employees because any gain in productivity would be destroyed by overhead costs and time wasted in compliance.

Rick has a point too, there is a lot of underground business going on, particularly on eBay and CraigsList, that live in the grey zone between occasional sales or services and a business that is fully compliant with licensing and other rules.

[JohnnyReb]

There are greater and greater tax, regulatory, and permitting barriers to entry every year, and crippling costs to making any mistakes.  The small licensed-and-taxpaying business my wife and I run will never have any employees because any gain in productivity would be destroyed by overhead costs and time wasted in compliance.
Rick has a point too, there is a lot of underground business going on, particularly on eBay and CraigsList, that live in the grey zone between occasional sales or services and a business that is fully compliant with licensing and other rules.

When I first went in business I was making "X" profit and I wanted to double it. I added a couple of pieces of equipment and an employee....it went up maybe 50%....so I added a third thinking that would get me to doubling my profit.....it went up maybe another 25%....I added a couple more pieces and 2 more employees and finally about doubled the profit....then fuel shortage, price controls came along, then Jimmy Carter and hellish inflation and I damn near went under....cut back and stayed that way until the mid 80's.

Damn government will hassel you to death if you try to be honest and I did.