10 Things to Consider Before You Start a Business in the United States

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The following article covers ten areas that anyone wishing to start a small business had better think about before moving forward.  Here's a glimpse at No. 7:

Foreign Competition

Especially if you are creating a small business that does manufacturing, you are going to have to deal with foreign competition.

So are you going to be able to compete with the companies in your industry that pay their workers on the other side of the world less than a tenth of what you are paying to your American workers?

On the other side of the world, companies often don’t have to worry about unions, worker’s comp, health benefits, retirement benefits, nightmarish environmental regulations, crushing taxes or miles of paperwork and red tape.

Are you certain that you can compete against that?

Read the entire article here.

NAFTA: A Curse or a Blessing?

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It's the politics, stupid. When it comes to the US economy, trade has replaced the devil as the reason things go bad.

A Fortune magazine poll conducted this January asked Americans what the most important reason for the recent economic slowdown was. The largest number—28 percent—answered "losing jobs to economies where labor is cheaper" and an additional 7 percent mentioned "foreign competition." Fully 78 percent of the respondents said that trade has made things worse for American workers.

Is NAFTA a curse or ... you decide.