Denmark to scrap world's first fat tax

Thrilla said:

a fat tax is an incredibly stupid idea.

if being morbidly obese , having heart problem, diabetes, and a whole host of physical problems isn't enough to deter people from stuffing sweets down their gullet.. a tax isn't going to either.

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No, but it pays for the healthcare costs of those things.

The Danes should have taxed their individuals, not businesses, by weighing them at places such a drivers license renewal or passport application or welfare applications.

notquiteright said:

Small business is defined as 100 to 1500 employees depending on the category of business.

The mostly self funded businesses are called micro or mom and pop.

It is a dodge of the right to use the label small business for micro or mom and pop business.

Most micro and mom and pop businesses struggle and fail, which includes being little more than a hobby, in their first year due to undercapitalization- not much of a job creator if you ask me.

Nit picking the start of a consumer fad doesn't change the facts. If the fad, new toy consumers didn't know they wanted, is not wanted by consumers then no jobs are created. For every winner there are a dozen things consumers didn't know they wanted that stayed just that way.

My point is business isn't the 'Job Creator'- without consumers paying for the new toy there will be no new jobs. All the fancy funding or brave risk taking aside- no line of consumers eager for the product- no new jobs.

Business no more deserves the title Job Creator, than consumers, finance houses, rich parents bankrolling the project.

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Once again, I ask you to quote me if you are going to respond to what I said.

You definition on the size of a small business is skewed. You are correct in that the SBA recognizes small businesses by employee numbers, but it also uses funds generated. To be included in the SBA.gov, you have to register and be selected. If you are not selected by them, you aren't a small business? If you lead in your field, but only employ 30 people, you aren't a small business?

SBA.gov is a growth and loan wing of our federal government. They give out money. Just because they don't loan money to a mom and pop, doesn't make a mom and pop small business. Main street is the heart of small business.

If a company struggles for a year, and then fails...money moved. Monetary movement is the driving force of our economy. The mom and pop store employed the mom and pop, a place was rented, services purchased, legal fees, electricity used, ads placed, that is a lot of monetary movement. That creates jobs. Their need for resources, even if they didn't make a penny and the lost their entire investment, moved finances and helped maintain a job in another industry/company or create one.

Those mom and pops stores that you don't recognize as small business usually fail because they failed to meet the market expectations, or they created a product with no demand. They still created jobs, whether the demand was there or not.

Your original point was:

Next the rich and or business owners are not job creators- consumer demand does that. If a business owner was making money hand over fist but there was no increase in demand- do you really think he would be wise or prudent to hire on more people just because his profit is increasing?

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Wouldn't the wise and prudent business owner start a new endeavor with his increased earnings? Would that not create jobs?

First off this is a general discussion, don't care if you do or don't respond- there are other opinions I'm interested in.

Last point first, many people who make money diversify rather than keep all their eggs in one basket. There are many ponzi fund schemes out there to put money in that don't create new jobs but move money around. Investing in shorts or longs in the market for instance. Can make money but creates no new jobs. If a business owner is making money like crazy without having to increase his staff then why increase the staff? Only if DEMAND requires more hands on deck is increasing staff warranted.

Next, using money earned by a small business as a metric doesn't change anything, we were speaking of- CREATING JOBS

We were discussing the mantle of JOB CREATOR given to small business rather than consumer demand.

Main Street micro businesses are not the back bone of jobs in this country- I can't think of a single mainstreet business with 100 employees. Fast food places perhaps can create jobs though technically each franchise is a micro business, but 'welcome to McDonald's' isn't a phrase leading to a strong middle class.

Walmart and Cosco have driven a spike into the heart of mainstreet shopping. Least out here in Oklahoma.

Not all consumer demand created American jobs, or at least not efficiently. Importing stuff from China doesn't create factory jobs here, maybe a few logistical ones but not the numbers a made in America product would but none the less there would be many fewer working in logistics if consumers didn't line up for imported sneakers or electronic gear.