Small Business Economics
Entrepreneurs to the Economic Rescue
Entrepreneurs are the only pool of businesses currently adding new jobs to their payroll, yet our political and economic leaders have yet to even consider using stimulus money to incentivize entrepreneurs for taking the risks that they are taking in seeking to create new economical and social value.
Unemployment, now at 10.2% is expected to stay above 10% for a while and potentially even increase.
The 10.2% does not take into account the "underemployed" who are working, but barely making enough to live on as well as those who are no longer on unemployment. Many small businesses are going out of business, many have implemented hiring freezes, and the demand for jobs is well above the current supply.
With the dreadful job market as it is, individuals and families have opted to go into business for themselves, and many have succeeded in doing so, yet the Obama administration has done nothing to help incentivize those willing to act to create new value and new jobs through their entrepreneurial efforts.
Entrepreneurs are the risk takers, yet are not justly incentivized by government programs. The risk-taking entrepreneurs are the ones creating new economic and social value as well as the ones creating new jobs rather than eliminating them. We have Congress bailing out our nations largest companies in the auto and financial services, yet very little, if not any of the bail out money went to helping stimulate small business or new ventures.
Obama has stated he will make it a priority to address the nation's high unemployment rate, but our political and economic leaders have failed to even publicly make a recommendation on how the unemployment rate can be attended to. The extremely low supply of jobs along with the fierce demand for those jobs has dug an extremely deep unemployment hole that many economists predict we will not get out of for at least 10 years.
Rather than trying to force new job creation with existing businesses, Obama and our political leaders should be evaluating ways that they can incentivize entrepreneurs through various tax credits and other incentives. How about providing a tax credit to entrepreneurs to cover their health insurance during the first year of their business? Helping aid entrepreneurs get their ventures off the ground and providing them with some cushion and stability will greatly help many more laid-off entrepreneurs seek out their own ventures, rather than trying to fight their way back into a seemingly impossible job market.
The economy has now lost jobs 23 straight months in a row and it is clear from recent reports that today's corporations do not plan on significantly increasing their payroll anytime soon. There simply is no supply of jobs today that will make a significant dent in the 10.2% unemployment rate. The only near-term solution for addressing the unemployment rate is providing proper incentives to entrepreneurs to encourage more unemployed to go into business for themselves. Even though, not every single entrepreneurial venture will succeed, some will, and in doing so, those successful ventures will not only eliminate unemployed personnel, but they will also increase the supply of new jobs, something that established businesses are not doing today.
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