Business and Credit

None of the small business owners I know depend upon easy credit to make their payroll. When things get to the point where you need to borrow to pay your employees, the end is near. Most small businesses fail in the first few years, in large part because business is not easy, it is hard. Not everyone is good at it. But it is an essential part of free trade and the market economy that businesses fail, so that new, better ones can arise in their place.

Few small businesses depend upon easy credit. Banks are generally reluctant to lend to small businesses, with good reason. Most small businesses are funded by owner's savings. Sometimes start-up money comes from loans by parents or friends. While I can understand that small businesses involved in building houses might profit from easy credit, the market is sending unmistakable signals that there are too many houses that are too expensive. Flooding the system with still more easy credit can't be the cure, it is the problem.

There's no denying that life is easier with easy credit, at least until the bill comes due. But there is an alternative: savings. Before my firm hires a new employee, we save enough to buy the equipment they will need, and to pay their salary for the weeks or months it will take to train them. Those savings come from our profits.

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