Does small business contribute to US economy ?

A

anotherhawkeye

I always wondered about what exactly the small businesses contribute to the US economy - not in terms of percentage of GDP, but what does they actually 'produce'. I dont consider your corner gas station, restaurant, grocery store, etc. as 'producing' anything. They are service companies that takes your money, passes on to some body else and produce nothing of value. They'll struggle in today's market and cannot get us out of this recession soon-to-become depression.

Only thing that can get us out of this depression is innovation. What percentage of small companies innovate and contribute to our society and how many are just retail shops and law firms ?
 
No replies and 1 star. So either the post is uninteresting or idiotic or both :) .

Small businesses amount for majority of jobs, so I'm curious whether they'll lose more or whether they can innovate and produce new jobs. Make no mistake, I agree that every small business is valuable whether its a gas station or a grocery store, but my main question was about which businesses can take us out of this funk and whether they constitute a significant portion of all small businesses.
 
where does innovation occur? NASA? Depart of Health and Human Services.



small business and entrepreneurs.

All major growth comes form small biz, despite CNBC making you think the world revolves around the fortune 500 it does not.


In the 10 trillion pissed away so far have you seen any help for Small Biz?

Oh..Biden said they were going to fix bridges so people can get to flower shop.

There is no turn around coming because there is a systematic attack on the very thing that makes small business thrive, free market and low capital costs. Capitalists are public enemy #1.

We will be left in 20 years with a bankrupt country, state sponsored companies, and black market of underground small business.

I think the last 30 days have been very informative as a small business owner the message is clear. we are not welcome here except as tax source until we are bled dry.
 
Small guys subcontract for the bigger ones largely. I've worked for corporations, they all have very large lists of subcontractors. Even the Public Sector subcontracts to the private sector small businesses a lot.

Small business was way underestimated when California had it's big meltdown after the cold war ended. The idiots running the government were quoted as saying things like "I didn't know we were so dependent on Aerospace", and "I didn't know that small businesses employ most of the people". They are just as stupid nowadays, all they know is that small business owners are largely Republicans...
 
Small businesses may not contribute to GDP that much but they make mid income people's life much much cheaper and better quality.

Whoelse can dryclean my shirts for 69 cents, sell tacos for 50 cents, delicious quality ethnic full course ethnic food for 6 bucks and 1-bedrom house cleaning for 40 bucks in a metropolitan city?

If small businesses were not spread as much as it is today, I would pay much more than 600 bucks for my rent including gas electric pool jackuzzi, fitness center and 24 hour patrolling security and ample free parking in the middle of the city. Most of these services in my apartment are done by small businesses (contractors). I wish there was more competition like 8 years ago when I moved to this city when some apartments offered free cleaning days meaning they were cleaning inside your apartment once a month for free and there was free trash pick up.

I love small businesses, maybe they don't contribute to GDP but without them, I would have a much lower standard of living.

By the way I am in Houston.
 
First, "producing something" is really not that valuable in this day and age -- most of the profit comes from the service, not the substance.

Second, I live a county of 250,000 people and nearly 5,000 software companies. Most are tiny companies you've never heard of but some have been bought by Google and Microsoft.

There was a time when virtually every member of humanity spent 100% of their time hunting/gathering food. That time is long gone. And there was a time when most members of humanity spent most of their time manufacturing physical goods. That time is over, too. The percentage of the workforce devoted to food production and goods production will only continue to decline and the percentage of "good paying jobs" in these areas will surely diminish because they are largely commodity activities.
 
Quote from tickmagnet:

Small buisnesses screw the Gov. left and right. , what do you think they report cash transactions?
More...

"Screw the Gov." is rather harsh, I'd prefer that small business are not as "patriotic" as they could be.
 
Quote from Traden4Alpha:

First, "producing something" is really not that valuable in this day and age -- most of the profit comes from the service, not the substance.

Second, I live a county of 250,000 people and nearly 5,000 software companies. Most are tiny companies you've never heard of but some have been bought by Google and Microsoft.

There was a time when virtually every member of humanity spent 100% of their time hunting/gathering food. That time is long gone. And there was a time when most members of humanity spent most of their time manufacturing physical goods. That time is over, too. The percentage of the workforce devoted to food production and goods production will only continue to decline and the percentage of "good paying jobs" in these areas will surely diminish because they are largely commodity activities.
More...

I am not buying by the service oriented economy argument. I'm sorry. Service is more profitable, I agree but you need to
"produce something" to service it. Take IBM for example, one of the biggest services firm. Who/What do they service ? They service their own software that people use to "produce something" or they service companies that ultimately produce something. Financial engineering is big part of your services economy and we are seeing the effect of it now.
 
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