Wealthy Are Dumping Assets Fast Before Year's End... Including Their Business Or Maybe Your Job

Just read this article (www.cnbc.com...) about how the wealthy here in the US are "dumping" their assets before we all go over the "Fiscal Cliff" next year. As the tax cuts expire and spending cuts come into play at the end of 2012, they are selling what all they can in order take advantage of the tax laws that are still in place. Prime example: George Locus. He sold his Star Wars enterprise for $4Billion to Disney and bypassed HUNDREDS of $$MILLIONS in taxes by transacting before the end of this year. That doesn't concern me as much as the little guys who have businesses that hire folks like me & you and most of the American workforce. Not sure about you, but I see businesses selling left and right in my city. Why? Because they want out. They find uncertainty crippling them with Obama lingering around as POTUS for another 4 years. That uncertainty, coupled with the economic roller coaster ride we'll all be forced to endure if these tax measures aren't addressed, has business owners running scared. Which, in turn, has employees wondering if their job is on the line. Let's all hope the "Fiscal Cliff" doesn't swallow us whole if we have to take the dive. I need my job! Anyone see their employer getting a little twitchy?

...And they all said 'just tax the wealthy more, that'll fix the problem'. They wont sell off assets. They won't slow the economy. They won't hand out massive layoffs and take their businesses elsewhere. This will work trust me.

Yeah right

So your theory is that being held liable for corporation tax is going to take America of this cliff you speak off?

Pretty sure it will be bond market stagnation that does it, but just to clear it up.

You believe the government taking tax from the sale of a busines will cause the American Economy to collapse?

Cause all this sounds like is a few folks want to dodge tax in the near, which is fine, who doesnt?., perfectly natural.

reply to post by davcwebb


It only shows how greedy the wealthy are, all they care about is their wealth. Their employees are just a means to that wealth

reply to post by davcwebb

They're worried about the "fiscal cliff," which is when tax cuts expire and spending cuts are set to go into effect at the end of the year.

Makes sense if they are trying to avoid higher taxes but "spending cuts"? Since when is it bad to cut spending, especially considering the fact that our government borrows 40% of every dollar it spends...

Are they implying that there are businesses which survive on government handouts?

Of all the bizarre main stream media agendas, this has to be the most puzzling. Too much spending and borrowing is causing the collapse of one nation after another. DRASTIC spending cuts is what this country needs.

The only ones to benefit from more debt are the banksters. Debt is the lifeblood of banking profits and only results in debt slavery for the American people.

Yeah.. it blows. I knew I should have cashed out my AAPL share (singularity not a typo) last month when it peaked.

I am personally aware of four businesses that have laid off employees since the election. Additionally, my partner and I have converted all of our employees to 1099 independent contractors. Only 2 did not want to make the change, so they now can go collect their unemployment for however long that lasts. Beyond that, I know one business that has already closed, the owner decided to just retire and shut his doors after selling all of the fixtures and inventory. That is another 60 people on the dole now. I also know of another business that is for sale with the owner very motivated to sell before December 31st. Good work electing the socialist people. I am willing to bet that these scenes are repeating in most communities all over the country.

reply to post by Murad


I look at all this in a more selfish manner. The question I ask is, will this "Fiscal Cliff" crap effect ME?? Yes it will. I know smaller businesses will start laying off employees as their taxes climb. It's inevitable. Large corporations will do the exact same thing. And for the sake of argument, as someone smack dab in the middle class, I don't have an extra $3K/yr to pay on extra taxes. That's roughly $300/mo that's coming out of my family's budget. It makes me ill to think I will have to pay one cent more in taxes if the existing tax cuts are not renewed.

reply to post by davcwebb


I'm not sure if my employers are getting twitchy, but the workers are. The head office muckity-mucks have been hanging around our terminal lately..."observing" operations, saying that they want to "improve" their business.

So yes, in a sense...people are getting twitchy.

Yup. This is what is happening alright. EVERY business in the U.S. is going to sell (not sure to whom) or close and the entire economy is going to stop.

Look around the world. This isn't a U.S. problem. It's massive, pervasive and Global. You've got to be mainlining something really strong if you think the 'Romney Plan' (whatever THAT was) would have changed anything. The bottom line is this: if there is a consumer demand for something, someone will be willing to meet that demand and business will expand or contract accordingly. Paid employee benefits are tax deductible. They reduce your tax liability (against your profits) not increase it. If demand for your business is too low for you to stay open you fail. If you close a thriving business to avoid paying taxes you're an idiot.

reply to post by davcwebb


Blame the rich because they (the rich) don't want to just hand over all their assets to the government for wealth distribution.

*shakes fist at the rich*

Who will the government be forced to steal from??????

Oh yeah, the middle class.

reply to post by LiveEquation


Are you mentally defective? Why would I as a person who worked untold hours and risked my personal wealth and that of my families livelihood not want to protect what I had built, yes all entrpenuers and wealthy with the exception of the trust fund babies understand that without the help which was PAID for, a company could not be successful. What is wrong with being wealthy, once you become wealthy you learn how to maintain and protect your wealth. Employer/Employee relationships are just that a relationship, it isn't slavery. You have the choice if your employer is unfair to quit, find a new job or possibly sue, it is a choice. Every succesful business has to weigh the costs and contributions of it's employee's vs the economic climate and conditions. Unfortunately this POTUS will cost american jobs, it is sad but true.

Robin Hood is a fairy tale, Obama's 2nd term a nightmare. Start your own business, take some risk, become wealthy and then let some knucklehead tell you that you should be giving it away, or taxed unfairly, let them take your families inheritance away to give to those who expect to be taken care of. It's all BS

far from being rich...i still have rebalanced my small portfilio before 1 Jan 2013 to lock in the olde tax rates and dividend rape by government (double and perhaps even triple taxation)


~perhaps shrewd judgement will allow my revamped IRA positions to flourish even in the next 4 years of anticipated double digit inflation...
my head is above water for 16 years now, whereas the DOW Jones, S&P have all lost double digits in retaining their values---knock on wood

Originally posted by micmerci
...And they all said 'just tax the wealthy more, that'll fix the problem'. They wont sell off assets. They won't slow the economy. They won't hand out massive layoffs and take their businesses elsewhere. This will work trust me.

Yeah right

So who is buying the business, an alien race?
What makes people think that the selling of a business makes all those jobs vanish? They don't vanish, they move, that's all.

And for every massive corporation that sinks, another ten companies have room to appear or to grow. The idea that trade and commerce simply evaporates is a retarded myth spouted by the corporate scum controlling all the markets and used as a threat to not tax them!

We have a great example of this in the UK right now. Starbucks BS their way out of paying corporation tax in the UK, but far from it just being a dent in the government tax revenues, it also creates a vastly unfair market.

For every one branch of Star*ucks not paying corporation tax on its profits in the UK there is probably another independent coffee shop that DOES have to pay their proper taxes and CAN'T afford to use offshore accounts and sneaky loopholes.

So what will happen if the UK told Starbucks to GTFO of the UK?

All those small independent coffee houses suddenly see a 100% increase in sales, they can afford to pay more staff - the ones Star*ucks fired when they left the country - and the government actually gets MORE tax from those thousands upon thousands of smaller businesses now growing and creating a fair market between them.

Not only that, but the revenues of those small companies actually stays in the UK too, in a smaller market, instead of being funnelled out of the country to an offshore haven where it builds up for the bloated shareholders and CEO's to pocket.

People here are very simplistic when it comes to corporations and business. You preach about the "capitalist" system as though it is fair, when it really isn't and millions of people can see that it isn't. We haven't had a real capitalist system yet, it's all smoke and mirrors intended to give idiots the impression that there is a fair market and "anyone can make it". It's BS, and it's time people woke up to it.

I wouldn't worry about those corporations dumping their assets and closing down their businesses. There are hundreds of thousands of ethical people willing to start a business and take their place. The business will continue, and hopefully it will create a more level playing field and increase opportunities, real competition, and keep your economy at the local level instead of allowing the extraction of wealth to continue unchecked.

Oh, and BTW, blaming Obama for this is so asinine it's unreal! You do realize that Romney would have to face EXACTLY the same problem as president too, right? That was one reason I actually wanted Romney to win, because he would have enraged so many rabid Republicans with the actions he would have HAD TO TAKE regardless of the corporate idiocy of his party.

By all means, PLEASE LEAVE, and prove that the rich are foolish as well.

To give up the open market is to leave the market to competitors. Capitalists are as expendable as any other corporate entity in USA.

You leave, another will take your place, and reap whatever you had foolishly or ineptly left behind. The world stops for no one.

And as you had been selfish in not paying your taxes and paying right to americans - GET THE HELL OUT!!!

And leave the new market opportunities for genuine americans to share wealth together, on american soil, with tax incentives, funding, innovation and international partnerships/protection.

FINALLY, the exploitive rich are leaving...never thought I would be alive to see this day.

Small to medium businesses are the result of true democracy and take huge amounts of business away from big corperations as a whole... Those same corporations who bank roll governments and the legistar want that peice of the pie back... So how do they do it? They cause a worldwide financial meltdown and stop lending to small to medium businesses so big corp can buy them up..

SME's were the last hurdle to a worldwide corporate takeover..

My advice is to shop at your local independant stores and fk any big corp outlet off.. Also.. Close your bank accounts... Starve these mofos... Because without YOUR money and help? Trust? These fkers who have put our future kids in financial slavery?

They die

WTF people??? Look at what tax rates were in the pre-Bush years? This isn't tax armegeddon. Up to 39%. That's just over HALF what it was back in the 60's. The economy was booming during the Clinton years... the upper tax rate was 39.6%. Under Regan it started out at 70%. He lowered that percentage year by year from 70% => 50% => 38.5% => 28%. But he also lowered the floor of the top tier thereby pushoing the top tax bracket into the middle class $212K => $106K => $90k => $29,750. And then we had a recession.

Bush lowered the top tier from 39.6% to 35%. Where did THAT get us? A super recession. And during that time although the economy imploded, the top 1% accreted more wealth than at any other time in history. So much for lower top tier tax rates creating jobs.

Net Job gain/loss:

2001: -3.1M
2002: -432K
2003: +18K
2004: +2.1M
2005: +2.1M
2006: +1.7M
2007: +744K
2008: -3.6M
2009: -5.5M
2010: +1.3M
2011: +1.9M

So with the all-so-important Bush tax cuts helping businesses hire we only LOST 3.6M jobs.

Research it yourselves. Try and correlate top-tier tax rates with job creation and economic expansion. I dare you.

Sure, cause rich people were already creating jobs and passing out millions of dollars into the economy right?

Wrong.

Source

Sorry, Republicans, but rich people are not "job creators." They never have been and never will be. No one ever invests in anything to create jobs. Employing people is a by-product of capitalism.

Those are the views of the venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, a multimillionaire who was recently invited to speak at a TED conference. The conferences are well-known gatherings featuring talks on a variety of topics and can be viewed online.

Update: Initially, Hanauer's speech was not posted online, which spurred a controversy that TED reacted to Thursday. The speech appeared on YouTube Thursday, and you can see it here.

Rich people don't create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a "circle of life" like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me.

Hanauer added this little zinger as well: "So when businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it's a little like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it's the other way around."

The views of Hanauer, who made his fortune as an early investor in Amazon (AMZN +0.07%), are not that radical.

The Republican focus on cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires is all wrong. For one thing, wealthy people -- ones with smart investment advisers -- know to put a good chunk of money in tax-free investments such as municipal bonds. Some also minimize their tax burden by putting their money in off-shore tax havens. If those people paid less in taxes, odds are that the windfall would wind up in those accounts. Few, if any, jobs would be created.

Ignore the anti-republican stance, as it's not applicable here.

THe point is the that the rich and greedy and hoard resources as MUCH as possible, regardless of the economic circumstance. This is just them further showing their greed.

Until we start rewarding folks for investing in our own countries, instead of rewarding them for operating overseas, we are doing this to ourselves.

~Tenth

I wish them well on their way out. It is going to be a new economy and new way of living because Sandy sounded the warning. Smart entrepeneurs will realize this.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
I am personally aware of four businesses that have laid off employees since the election. Additionally, my partner and I have converted all of our employees to 1099 independent contractors. Only 2 did not want to make the change, so they now can go collect their unemployment for however long that lasts. Beyond that, I know one business that has already closed, the owner decided to just retire and shut his doors after selling all of the fixtures and inventory. That is another 60 people on the dole now. I also know of another business that is for sale with the owner very motivated to sell before December 31st. Good work electing the socialist people. I am willing to bet that these scenes are repeating in most communities all over the country.

they won't be on the dole...because businesses will be taxed for going 1099, that's one of the loopholes that got closed....this has been going on for years, my company converted all of us to "contractors" back in the nineties. if this was a socialist country, you wouldn't be allowed to make a profit, period...and as far as those businesses closing, there will others opening, that will fill that need, work within the system, and do just fine. go sit in your rocking chair and grumble all you want, because there are inovative people out there, waiting to take your place.