Thanks to the taxes paid by small businesses, banks are bailed out. They thank by higher bank charges, higher interest rates, and cutting back credit allowances for small businesses. Therewhile, the multinational companies stop paying their bills to small businesses for up to 105 days. A conspiracy of the rich.
Small businesses all over the world have to bear the brunt of the financial crisis caused by incompetent bankers. Everywhere governments have bailed out their inept bankers and insurers while completely forgetting that the taxes are paid by the small businesses and not by the multinational parasites.
The multinational companies who were laggardly payers for years, having the audacity to pay invoices after 90 days where everybody else paid within 30 days, have added insult to ineptitude and upped the payment date to 105 days. This results in the illiquidity of a lot of small companies who should pay wages and rent.
It is a well known fact that the CEOs of the multinational companies cash in heavily in salaries, like Novartis CEO Vasella who earns a whopping $30 million a year. I am positive that he gets his money exactly on time, whereas the small companies have to wait for the high and mighty company to pay at leisure in 105 days; and this probably at a discount as well. It is just too frustrating to see how the governments are always helping the rich and never think of the tax payer who pays his full taxes, not some nominal little dribblet like the multinational companies.
In Switzerland the voters have taken a first step, submitting a new law by initiative to parliament on restricting the over bordering salaries of the lard asses in CEO chairs. This means, that parliament has to discuss and pass this law in full by spring and bring it to a popular vote shortly thereafter.
In Britain the government has issued orders that all bills from small companies to government agencies must be paid within 10 days, to bring cash to the small businesses. It strongly urges local and county governing bodies to do the same. Obviously this has no impact on the real culprits, the multinational companies.
Having bailed out the banks and insurance companies, the expectations that these entities would start doing business as normal has proven a further mirage. Instead they are making life difficult for small businesses where ever they possibly can. It is a shame that these bankers after having been saved with the tax money from the small businesses are now hell bent on ruining them.
It is obviously high time that governments in general start to crack down on this criminal behaviour which will not only accentuate a recession, but really kill off any possibility of a fast recovery. For one, the salaries of managers have to be scrutinized. I don’t say that they should be limited, but it would be easy to get additional taxes in. A limit should e drawn at $1 million; everything that is paid over that limit, a company tax is payable of 50 per cent or more on higher salaries. For multinational companies, it should be possible that these taxes are payable in every country where this company has offices or affiliates.
Bank charges are just going up for small businesses, but the service of the banks is getting worse for more money. Governments should start to penalize banks for this behaviour by putting a separate tax on bank charges. The tax would start at VAT level; for every individual sacked by the bank during the next 12 months, the tax should go up by 1 per cent irrespectively of where in the world the person was sacked. This would allow any government to cash in on the guys who really should foot the bill for the bailouts. To really foot the bill of the bailout, the banks should be made to pay a special tax of 90 per cent of year end profits until they have repaid every cent of what they owe the tax payer. After that the same amount again to put into a holding company that would look after future bailouts. Because one thing is sure, not one banker is intelligent enough to have learned anything at all from the present predicament.