What kind of business do you think the US economy needs?

Answer 1

My goodness! The US economy is so huge and diverse that I'd say a business that provides a needed service at a fair price with decent working conditions and thoughtful treatment of it's customers. I mean frankly any kind of business can fit that bill.

Answer 2

A much greater focus on small business--especially community-focused businesses. To a great extent, these have been undermined by the growth of "superstores" (e.g. WalMart). The economic rationale for these large scale enterprises is that they actually benefit consumers and workers by lowering prices and creating jobs.

But these benefits are, in my opinion, overstated--and the price we pay is high. Smaller businesses often do charge slightly higher prices--but htey also generally pay workers more. And they provide more jobs, not less. When a shift to large scale distributors is made in a community, the number of local jobs decreases as smaller firms are forced out. In addition, such changes are destructive of community cohesion and lifestyles--of the social fabric, if you will.

But there is a nother, broader economic cost--long term. small businesses of all sorts--whether the traditional sort I just talked about or the high-tech "start-up" in Silicon Vally--are by a wide margin, the sources of new innovations and new job creation--and tend to grow much faster than large corporations. Spurring continued technological and business innovation--and economic growth--is much better achieved by promoting small-to-medium sized firms. It also tends to promote efficiency by increasing competition--and for their claims, many large firms arre not very efficient simply because they have little real competition to keep themon their toes.

BTW--one interesting trend (early on at this point) is the fusion of small businesses with the internet. Many small retailers and manufactureers in the US--and world wide--are finding that they can bolster their small scale businesses (often community-based) by both marketing through the internet--and by using it to search out and secure cost savings (e.g. finding the best prices for supplies and equipment). Its going to be interesting to see how this new trend develops.

Answer 3

more small businesses.

The US would also do well to borrow a few socialist policies from Australia, Canada, and Western Europe (who actually rank higher than the US on the world scale for the standard of living).