The Story of Business: competing for a future

Facing a slow economy and competition from India and China, Mike's manufacturing business has struggled to survive. Mike has even personally guaranteed the company's debt, putting everything he owns on the line.

Despite adversity, Mike has begun to hire new workers and recover. The only way he and the dozens of his employees have managed to stay afloat is by investing in capital that makes them more productive. But uncertainty from Washington and an ever-consuming tax structure is making it increasingly difficult to grow...

Watch Mike's inspiring story now.

This video is Part 3 in our series "The Story of Business," a joint project of Public Notice and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council.

For Part 1 of our series, "Moving forward in uncertain times," click here: http://bit.ly/f1z909

For the second video in the series, "When costs compete with passion," click here: http://bit.ly/h0ov4R

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• The Story of Business
• Bankrupting America
• Public Notice

[schwantz9]

an llc or corp doesnt go to your personal income tax. "if it goes bankrupt, i lose everything" Bad business strategy.

[schwantz9]

i made 300,000 but i didnt make a profit?

[parsonman05]

Dude you are not in the top 1% ! The top 1% that should be are those who have private jets , 30 feet boat to relaxing the people who have money to hiding there outside America people who are sucking the life from the US , they are the one who should face hight taxes and cut in befits !!!

[lcpaver]

Awesome video!

[gotrootdude]

@jetrpg22 Taxes would reduce demand if they weren't being paid back into the system through social infrastructure and benefit programs. Consumers build demand and government is also a consumer.

[jetrpg22]

@gotrootdude

taxes directly reduce demand, so...

Lets say if bread was free i would get 10 loafs, if it was $1 a loaf i would get 8, at $5 a loaf 4-5 and at $100 dollars a loaf 1 if any at all.

Because taxes consume 35-40% of every dollar made, i and everyone else buys just a bit less bread. But as a nation it is a lot of bread.

If i buy the same amount for more demand on something else will go down (as i have less money) thus taxes directly influence demand.

[gotrootdude]

@gotrootdude The thing is, taxes don't do much to change business. Business is all about demand. If there's demand, money will be found to hire employees. If there's demand, there's always a competitor that will gladly step in to fill any void. If there's no demand, no amount of money can fix it. 

[gotrootdude]

As a small business owner, I understand completely. I collect sales and use tax from my customers and then pay it forward. I hire employees and then have to pay the associated taxes. Still, I'm privileged to have a company where workers and families are supported. If taxes go up, prices go up, it get's passed along to the consumer. If the business has additional money then it gets put into business expenses. If my company fails, other companies rise up to meet demand.

[stratkeeper]

I agree! Give us a chance to succeed and we most certainly will! Folks who have never taken a chance at starting their own business will never understand the burden and pressure of making payroll and paying taxes.

[benscoot]

@NoMoreBlatherDotCom Despite what you may think about the Bankrupting America group, that doesn't take away from the truth of this man's experience as he shared it in this film. Perhaps you can let me know which part of this film you think was some big fat lie.