Why we Can't "Spend, Spend, Spend"

[azbob]

I guess I should never assume that anyone here understands even the most basic concepts.

Duff...you are right, businesses grow when demand is increased (more customers) but, they don't wait around for that to happen.

They promote/advertise, develop new products, increase R&D, find ways to control current costs, identify new markets, spend on capital projects, buy new equipment etc.

Joe expands the menu to include fresh seafood because a supplier is now available. (he's afraid to take chances in a down economy because of the product shelf life so he says no)

Ford adds 1,000 shifts at their Mexico plant because US regulation and the unions have driven them there. (you can substitue The Obama's old best friend Jeffrey Immeldt adding shifts to his GE Radiology operation in China)

UPS needs more trucks to hire those men but, environmental regulations have added $12,000 to the cost of each truck and they are unsure of the healthcare costs for the new drivers so they put that plan on hold and decide to use OT and contract services for the holiday rush.

Nobody gets new customers without innovation and investment. Just read a book, watch the news or pay attention and you will see leaders at every company quoting exactly the issues I have noted above.

Business is fearful and decision making is paralyzed. A little confidence building and leadership will go a long way...unfortunately we still have 18 months to wait to get either.

Finally, if you don't want to accept these universal truths, retail sales were up 3.7% last month and the unemployment rate increased by .1%. Maybe you didn't go to college or ever run a business but, c'mon...just pay attention.

 

[Duff Miver]

I guess I should never assume that anyone here understands even the most basic concepts.

Duff...you are right, businesses grow when demand is increased (more customers) but, they don't wait around for that to happen.

They promote/advertise, develop new products, increase R&D, find ways to control current costs, identify new markets, spend on capital projects, buy new equipment etc.

Joe expands the menu to include fresh seafood because a supplier is now available. (he's afraid to take chances in a down economy because of the product shelf life so he says no)

Ford adds 1,000 shifts at their Mexico plant because US regulation and the unions have driven them there. (you can substitue The Obama's old best friend Jeffrey Immeldt adding shifts to his GE Radiology operation in China)

UPS needs more trucks to hire those men but, environmental regulations have added $12,000 to the cost of each truck and they are unsure of the healthcare costs for the new drivers so they put that plan on hold and decide to use OT and contract services for the holiday rush.

Nobody gets new customers without innovation and investment. Just read a book, watch the news or pay attention and you will see leaders at every company quoting exactly the issues I have noted above.

Business is fearful and decision making is paralyzed. A little confidence building and leadership will go a long way...unfortunately we still have 18 months to wait to get either.

Finally, if you don't want to accept these universal truths, retail sales were up 3.7% last month and the unemployment rate increased by .1%. Maybe you didn't go to college or ever run a business but, c'mon...just pay attention.

Duck and dodge, azzbob, duck and dodge, but you ignore your own claim - "no business is going to hire in an environment where you don't know what regulations you will have to enact in the very near future."

Let's see whether I can put this in one or two syllable words for you.

Biz hires only when they have demand for more orders or product than they can supply with current staff* Maybe that demand comes from innov., maybe from simple increased demand. Doesn't matter. End of lesson.


There ya go, azzbob, nothing over two sylb.

* current staff can be used OT when it makes more sense than adding more. Time-and-a-half is sometimes less expense than more staff. Temp help sometimes makes sense, but it puts more folks to work.

Just ask any businessman which he prefers - stable regulations or more orders than he can fill.

I'd gladly give 10:1 odds that you've never had a sniff of bottom line responsibility.

What is your occupation - Insurance agent? Used car salesman? Golf pro?

 

[ssd]

ummmm.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/bernie-marcus-knocks-obama-adviser_n_909917.html

a few excerpts:
"It is Obama that is responsible for this fear in America," Wynn said on a conference call with investors last week. "The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest -- they are holding too much money. You know, we haven?t heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody is afraid of the government and there is no need soft-pedaling it. It is the truth."
I am a Democratic businessman," Wynn continued. "I support Harry Reid, I support Democrats and Republicans, and I am telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he is gone, everybody is going to be sitting on their thumbs."

Still, one of the themes being hammered by JCA participants is that it is harder now to start a business in the U.S. than it has been in the past. They cite regulations promulgated by federal agencies, uncertainty over future levels of taxation and rising health care costs.

"It was a lot easier for me to start my business 30 years ago than it is for an entrepreneur starting out today to do the same thing," said Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, in a recent Bloomberg TV interview.

(and OMFG, it's from huffpost)

:142smilie

 

[The Sponge]

ummmm.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/bernie-marcus-knocks-obama-adviser_n_909917.html

a few excerpts:
"It is Obama that is responsible for this fear in America," Wynn said on a conference call with investors last week. "The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest -- they are holding too much money. You know, we haven?t heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody is afraid of the government and there is no need soft-pedaling it. It is the truth."
I am a Democratic businessman," Wynn continued. "I support Harry Reid, I support Democrats and Republicans, and I am telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he is gone, everybody is going to be sitting on their thumbs."

Still, one of the themes being hammered by JCA participants is that it is harder now to start a business in the U.S. than it has been in the past. They cite regulations promulgated by federal agencies, uncertainty over future levels of taxation and rising health care costs.

"It was a lot easier for me to start my business 30 years ago than it is for an entrepreneur starting out today to do the same thing," said Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, in a recent Bloomberg TV interview.

(and OMFG, it's from huffpost)

:142smilie

What exactly can Wynn do when nobody has any money? What regulation does he need to vanish that will bring him customers when once again they have no money? Maybe he can offer free rooms but again we have this problem of people having no money to fly out there and get the free room.

 

[The Sponge]

From the article i posted about Eric Slim boy Cantor

While obviously friendly to conservative interests, the plan broadly speaking views the slumping economy as a consequence of supply-side barriers. It aims money and laxity at employers, who, most economists agree, are sitting on trillions of dollars right now not because they may have to comply with certain new rules and laws but because they don't have customers.

 

[Duff Miver]

From the article i posted about Eric Slim boy Cantor

While obviously friendly to conservative interests, the plan broadly speaking views the slumping economy as a consequence of supply-side barriers. It aims money and laxity at employers, who, most economists agree, are sitting on trillions of dollars right now not because they may have to comply with certain new rules and laws but because they don't have customers.

Bingo!! I hope that's big enough for azzbob to see with his brown tinted spectacles

Every businessman wants to see more demand before he will hire and expand. Let demand increase, and all that cash will be used to expand business. The best run businesses are creating demand themselves, right now, today. That's why Apple has a valuation equal to XOM. Steve Jobs doesn't sit in the corner, sucking his thumb and whining. He innovates, promotes, designs, manufactures and markets, and he doesn't worry about government.

What ssd and azzbob cannot understand is that business always figures out how to comply with new regulations when they need too. Give a true entrepreneur an opportunity to sell more, to make more and he will get the job done.

Thirty years ago the sideline amateurs bitched and whined about "job killing" OSHA regulations. Today business is in compliance, and making money, and workplaces are safer.

azzbob's obvioulsy never had bottom line responsibility, and ssd's business consists of peddling a few thousand pounds of veggies. They're amatuers, crybabies, who couldn't run a real business if their lives depended on it.

They gobble up the neocon line, hook line and sinker, a line promoted by others who know nothing about business. I ask you, what do Boehner, Cantor, Kyl, Limbaugh and the like know? Nothing.

Are Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates ,Alan Mulally, Rex Tillerson, Jim Sinegal whining? Of course not - they actually know something and they are growing their businesses and making billions. Hell, even the great neocon hero Glenn Beck is expanding and growing his business.

 

[Chadman]

I honestly think most businesses aren't hiring because they have become comfortable with fewer employees doing more work. I don't think this will change any time soon. There are plenty of considerations in the hiring process, but business owners know that the people they are currently employing will probably not squabble too much about working harder with the current job market being what it is.

And in the larger corporations, I think this is magnified and multiplied - and BOD's and upper management certainly don't have to worry much about that fact. I'd guess they wholeheartedly support it. Fewer employees, fewer benefits, better bottom line, better stock price = higher bonuses for them.

 

[ssd]

Chadman:
The people that I know who own and operate businesses are not hiring for a variety of reasons - none of which is that they are comfortable.

I love seeing economists quoted on the business environment. Economists rank right up there with weathermen as to being constantly wrong yet keeping their jobs. So, they can sit there in their offices and postulate as to why the economy is sluggish and why businesses aren't hiring but I'll take the word of a business owner any day over the thought process of a theoretical genius like an economist.

 

[azbob]

Some of you ought to give up posting here a day and read a newspaper. Every business owner interviewed says exactly the same thing.

You can speculate based on your experience playing Monopoly but, real people in the real world have a different view...like SSD, that's the one I will go with.

 

[Chadman]

Let's put politics aside for a moment, SSD.

The human race dumps 90 million tons of heat-trapping emissions into the Earth's atmosphere every 24 hours.

Do you really believe that's having no negative impact on our environment? :shrug:

To me, this is the real "inconvenient truth" that no one who rails against scientists and the possibility that man has an effect on our climate and atmosphere can argue against. How can this not damage our environment and change our atmosphere, ultimately changing our climate? I think it's ridiculous to think otherwise.

It may not make sense to focus on this from a purely business and economic sense, but from a human being sense it has to enter into the conversation. However - IF what we are doing is helping to cause these catastrophic events it certainly is an economic concern for all of us.

 

[Chadman]

Chadman:
The people that I know who own and operate businesses are not hiring for a variety of reasons - none of which is that they are comfortable.

I love seeing economists quoted on the business environment. Economists rank right up there with weathermen as to being constantly wrong yet keeping their jobs. So, they can sit there in their offices and postulate as to why the economy is sluggish and why businesses aren't hiring but I'll take the word of a business owner any day over the thought process of a theoretical genius like an economist.

I would agree there are many reasons they are not hiring. Worry about the economy has to rank right up there. My point is, the business model for many businesses has changed, and I don't see hiring going up soon in large part because of that. I don't blame anyone specifically for this, I just think it is a reality of where we are now and will be for a while. I know this from personal experience, since you mention that in your comments as well.