Private business ownership is on the decline (with one possible exception – boomers and seniors)

By: Jim Pettinger, President of UCanTrade, Inc.

According to many sources, private business ownership in the USA (and likely everywhere) is declining. Many reasons are cited, but our experience indicates increasing complexity and risk in two areas: technology and legal burden/liability. The former requires greatly increased up-front investment in people, education, equipment and software, all of which quickly depreciate; while the latter means more government and higher insurance premiums plus various other related costs. Both also require a greatly increased share of management time. Our favorite bastion of free enterprise is Texas, which has published this related article, Entrepreneurship on the Decline.

One possible exception to this trend is the number of boomers and seniors forming businesses, not only because they have the know-how and desire, but also because most feel they will need the extra income to “retire” and pay for medical expenses. One supporter of this trend is Wendy Mayhew who organizes the Wise 50 Over 50 Award and also provides other services for Canadian “Seniors in Business”.

One quibble we have in this context is with the deliberately confusing use of politically correct or misleading/misdirecting terms. “Entrepreneurs” don’t have legal liabilities; business owners do. And related, we would like to see more encouragement of “wealth creation” and less of “job creation”. We would also like to see the increasingly used term “Free Market” share the stage with (and not supplant) “Free Enterprise”. As President Reagan titled his famous 1977 speech at Hillsdale College, Whatever Happened to Free Enterprise. Let’s call it like it is!

TradeTips blog is published by UCanTrade, Inc., your cross-border experts since 1984.

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Website: www.UCanTrade.com

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