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Mom & Pop Stores are Dying

Cowpuncher

Well-known member
and its not because of Walmart, Targtet, Safeway, Etc.

We moved here near Castle Rock, CO about twenty years ago. It was a small town and it was just full of small businesses. The other night, we could think of only a couple that are still here.

The only small business where Mom & Pop can survive is SMALL business. Antique stores, Locksmiths, Auto Repair, consumer plumbing and electrical are types that can survive because big business can't be that small.

It is a lot of work to keep a small business running. If you add in the government regulations and taxes, it is a hell of a lot easier to get a decent job in the Denver Tech Center, make twice as much money and enjoy your family. Small business have accounting requirements that require at least some knowledge.

And don't forget employment taxes, 15.30 percent for the owner and half for all the employees. Add in Federal Unemployment, State Unemployment, Workmens Compensation, Property Taxes or Rent, State and Local license fees, liability insurance etc. And all of these agencies have the right to come into your business and to do an audit if they suspect the owner is not paying enough.

Sure, Mom and Pop stores here have disappeared here. But they have also disappeared in small towns all over the country because it is easier to make a decent salary without the hassle. Walmart and friends are not responsible for this. This is the demand of economies of scale. Would you expect a manufacturer to give the same attention to M & P that Walmart and Target get. Of course not.

This county was once purely agricultural with dozens of small ranches and farms all supporting families. You can't support a family on 100 cows or 160 acres of farm ground.

Farmers in the area we ranch generally farm 10,000 acres or more with one or two helpers. Those people will survive, but the poor devil who is still trying to scrape a living our of half a section is one tractor breakdown from being gone.

This county, Douglas, once was 43rd in population in Colorado with a couple thousand residents. I read today that there were almost 80,000 school children. We have eight highschool with a ninth under construction.

We can all remember the good old days. But the world is not going to change for us so we has just as well get used to it.
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
Cowpuncher said:
And don't forget employment taxes, 15.30 percent for the owner and half for all the employees. Add in Federal Unemployment, State Unemployment, Workmens Compensation, Property Taxes or Rent, State and Local license fees, liability insurance etc. And all of these agencies have the right to come into your business and to do an audit if they suspect the owner is not paying enough.

One of the problems for small business is that our PC government views small business and large business exactly the same. A Tyson or Wal-Mart doesn't have to hire a lawyer to deal with government regulations, they already have one on retainer. The government can favor small businesses in tax codes and regulations...and I think they should. The business atmosphere is skewed to favor large business...the example is all the mergers that wouldn't have happened 50 or 100 years ago. Change is not necessarily something that just happens...too often it is a result influences in government's regulation.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
I don't understand why our system favors big business when it's not even debated that our economy is driven by small business. On second thought, I do know why - "contributions".
 
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