It's become too expensive to do business in the US - worker's comp, health insurance, dozens of taxes, and an endless stream of rules and laws that don't amount to a rat's a--. Case in point. Every trucking company in the US is supposed to file an MCS 150 each year. It reports how many trucks, trailers, drivers, and so on to the feds. We've been out of business (see above explanation) since 11/07. Haven't turned a wheel since. The other day I got a letter from the feds saying if I don't file an MCS 150, even though they know we've been shut down since '07, the fine is $10,000 for failure to file. There's no fee involved, it's just yet another of the US collection of 28,000 grab a-- paperwork exercises one needs to do to stay in business.
A CT state sales tax auditor showed up at our door one day in her brand new Mercedes station wagon. The next CT state fuel tax auditor showed up in his brand new Lexus. At the time, ('07) I drove a 95 mini van. If that scenario were a movie, it might be funny.
It wasn't and it isn't.
Our last ace in the hole on the world market is food production. We're doing our damnedest to F' that up too.
And we wonder why jobs go elsewhere.
And as for local issues - we the people have become experts at worrying about what the neighbors are doing, and so to develop or build has become a crime against humanity. The guy who built Chelsea Piers in New York City (
Roland Betts ) wanted to build a luxury golf course with million dollar homes around it here in the woods. Imagine what that would do to the local tax base - millionaires sending no children to local schools, yet paying large local taxes to own a home there. We're not talking about building a maximum security prison for the criminally insane, or a nuclear waste dump - we're talking golf course with grass, trees, etc. etc.
The neighbors shut it down by non-stop b'tching and moaning. I call it the Gladys Kravitz factor.
That's enough gripin' out of me for one post - I have to go put my sales tax return & local tax payment in the mail by 4:59 pm.
OK - one more burp and I'm out - The US airlines have all (except one) been operating at a loss for many years, and long before the economy crash of 11/08. Could it be they all have no clue about running a business, and haven't figured it out for the past 20 plus years? Obviously not.
To me that one issue speaks volumes about operating a business in the US.