August, 03 2009, 10:15am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Alan Barber, (202) 293-5380 x 115
US Small Business Sector One of the Smallest Amongst Comparable Countries
WASHINGTON
Contrary to popular perceptions, the United States has a much smaller small-business sector (as a share of total employment) than other countries at a comparable level of economic development, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) . The CEPR researchers observe that the undersized U.S. small business sector is consistent with the view that high health care costs discourage small business formation, since start-ups in other countries can tap into government-funded health care systems.
"We think of ourselves as offering the most business-friendly environment in the world, but almost every other rich country in the world does a much better job creating and sustaining small businesses," said John Schmitt, a senior economist at CEPR and an author of the report.
The study, "An International Comparison of Small Business Employment," reviews the most recently available, internationally comparable data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to measure the share of small businesses in 22 rich democracies. The report finds:
- The United States has the second lowest share of self-employed workers (7.2 percent).
- The United States has among the lowest shares of employment in small businesses in manufacturing - only 11.1 percent of the U.S. manufacturing workforce is in enterprises with fewer than 20 employees. Eighteen other rich countries have a higher share of manufacturing employment in small enterprises, including Germany (13.0 percent), Sweden (14.4 percent), and France (18.0 percent).
- U.S. small businesses are particularly weak in high-tech. The United States, for example, has the second lowest share of computer-related service employment in firms with fewer than 100 employees and the third lowest share of research and development related employment in firms with fewer than 100 employees.
"In the rest of the world, entrepreneurs who want to start a new business don't have to think twice about where they and their employees will get health insurance," said Schmitt. "In the United States, talented people thinking about starting a new business often have to choose between following their dream or going without health insurance."
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options.
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'Harris Voters for Human Rights' Work to Defeat Trump—and Fight for an End to Gaza Genocide
"To voters who can't yet entrust Harris with their votes because of the genocide, the fascist Trump will make it even worse for the people of Gaza, and you can trust us to fight to push Harris to end it if we put her in office together."
Nov 05, 2024
Warning that a victory for Republican nominee Donald Trump would bring even greater catastrophe for Palestinians, a coalition of progressive organizers and activists is vowing to both back Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in Tuesday's election and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the White House to demand an end to U.S. complicity in Israel's assault on Gaza.
The coalition, dubbed "Harris Voters for Human Rights," declares in a pledge shared with Common Dreams that "we are fighting to end the horror in Gaza AND defeat fascism."
"We believe Trump will be even worse for Palestinians," the pledge states, echoing the sentiment expressed by Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim community leaders in Arizona and elsewhere. "We know he will be a disaster for women, working families, immigrants, democracy, and life on planet Earth. Whatever the VP says or not, know this: You can count on the Harris coalition base to fight for Palestinian human rights."
While the coalition is pushing for a Harris victory, organizers said they intend to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the White House on November 12 "regardless of the election result"—unless a cease-fire deal is reached or an arms embargo against Israel is implemented by that date.
"To Biden and Harris, we—your voters—will escalate our pressure to end our complicity in this horror," said Kai Newkirk, a founder of the coalition and co-chair of the Arizona Democratic Party Progressive Council. "To our fellow Harris voters who support Palestinian human rights, put your body where your mouth is. To voters who can't yet entrust Harris with their votes because of the genocide, the fascist Trump will make it even worse for the people of Gaza, and you can trust us to fight to push Harris to end it if we put her in office together."
The planned protest date marks the end of the 30-day period in which the Biden administration told Israel to take "urgent and sustained actions" to improve humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip or face a possible cut-off of U.S. military support.
In the weeks since the administration issued its notice, Israeli forces have continued their relentless bombardment of Gaza—particularly the northern part of the enclave—and the country's lawmakers have moved to ban the United Nations agency primarily responsible for administering humanitarian aid in the territory. Experts, human rights groups, and progressive lawmakers have argued that U.S. law requires an arms embargo against Israel, given its repeated obstruction of American humanitarian assistance.
The "Harris Voters for Human Rights" coalition is "calling on Biden and Harris to uphold U.S. law, which Israel is violating egregiously in Gaza, where it has killed tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women, children, and the elderly," and "decimated" the enclave's infrastructure.
The effort comes as Harris and Trump made their final pitches to the U.S. public ahead of Election Day, with the candidates in a dead heat in battleground states that will decide the outcome of the high-stakes race.
"As president," Harris said during a campaign rally in Michigan on Sunday, "I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination."
Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, said in a statement Monday that "the first essential step is defeating Trump."
"He has made clear his intention to ruthlessly suppress pro-Palestinian demonstrations, making a mockery of our right to free speech while undermining the foundations of our democracy," said Minsky. "To prevent this, we need as many Democrats as possible to join our pledge. That will send a powerful message to dismayed voters who've lost faith in our party; and it will push Biden and Harris to do more to win them back."
"A public pledge to uphold our laws without exception would inspire hundreds of thousands of voters who may otherwise refuse to cast their ballots for her," Minsky added. "In the meantime, we will try to lead by example and inspire them to vote to empower the Democratic base that won't stop fighting until Kamala Harris delivers as president."
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A multinational survey commissioned by Greenpeace International and published Monday revealed that a majority of respondents favor making fossil fuel companies pay for being the main cause of the climate emergency.
Greenpeace International's Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign commissioned the strategic insight agency Opinium Research to survey 8,000 adults in eight countries—Australia, Argentina, France, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States—ahead of this month's United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
"Asked about who should bear the most responsibility for climate change impacts, the most popular option across all eight countries in the survey was making oil and gas companies pay, with high-emitting countries and global elites ranked second and third," Greenpeace International said in a summary of the survey, adding that "60% of all surveyed countries see a link between profits of the oil and gas industry and rising energy prices."
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Eight in 10 respondents said they were worried about climate change. However, more than twice as many people surveyed in the Global South said the climate emergency has personally affected them than respondents in the Global North.
According to Greenpeace International:
Imposing a fair climate damages tax on extraction of fossil fuels by OECD countries—proposed by the charity Stamp Out Poverty and supported by 100 NGOs, including Greenpeace International—is one example of a tax on big polluters. This could generate $900 billion by 2030... This would be key for annual climate-related loss and damage costs, estimated to be between $290-$580 billion by 2030 in low-income countries, as well as for reducing the emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and adapting to the impacts of the climate crisis in all countries.
"This research shows how taxing the wealthy polluters-in-chief—companies like Exxon, Chevron, Shell, Total, Equinor, and Eni—has become a mainstream solution among people, cutting across borders and income levels," said Stop Drilling, Start Paying co-chair Abdoulaye Diallo. "As governments debate how to finance climate action, they can be confident that making polluters pay is not only fair, but also far more popular and effective than placing the burden on ordinary citizens for a crisis for which they bear little or no responsibility."
The Opinium survey was published on the same day that Amnesty International called on the richer countries most responsible for the climate emergency to "fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods" in Africa.
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"This is a scorched-earth policy, a violation of the Geneva Conventions," said one reporter.
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As the death toll from Israel's 13-month assault on Lebanon passed 3,000, satellite imagery analyses published by multiple media outlets in recent days revealed that nearly a quarter of all buildings in 25 municipalities in the southern part of the Mideastern country have been destroyed or damaged in a ferocious campaign that has left entire villages in ruins.
Satellite photos examined by The Washington Post, Reuters, and the Financial Times showed vast destruction caused by Israeli bombing and controlled demolitions of towns and villages, many of whose residents are among the more than 1.2 million people forcibly displaced by the war.
"There are beautiful old homes, hundreds of years old," Meiss al-Jabal Mayor Abdulmonem Choukeir toldReuters. "Thousands of artillery shells have hit the town, hundreds of air strikes. Who knows what will still be standing at the end?"
Meiss al-Jabal native Fatima Ghoul toldThe Washington Post that "everything has been reduced to rubble" in the town of 8,000 inhabitants. Footage circulating on social media Monday showed large portions of the village, which has been inhabited for many hundreds of years, turned to dust in a simultaneous series of demolition explosions.
According to the Post:
Satellite imagery from Kfar Kila shows freshly turned soil where olive groves once stood, suggesting a clearance operation by Israeli forces. Dozens of crushed buildings line the town's main road. The destruction is most intense near the Israeli border. The village centers in nearby Ayta al-Shab, Mhaibib and Ramyeh have also been decimated, the imagery reveals.
Videos published on social media show a series of controlled explosions in at least 11 villages. In a video published to X on October 22, half a dozen buildings fall in an instant after an explosion, covering the 400-year-old village of Ayta al-Shab in dust clouds and debris. In drone footage published online the next day, an Israeli flag flies over the town—now reduced to a sea of broken trees and collapsed concrete.
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Religious and culturally important buildings are protected under international law. Scorched-earth tactics and disproportionate attacks are war crimes under international law.
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Israel began attacking Lebanon at almost the same time it launched its war on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Hezbollah has fired at least hundreds of rockets and other projectiles at Israel in a sustained yet measured campaign in solidarity with Gaza, where Israel's bombing, invasion, and siege have left more than 155,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more displaced, starved, and sickened in a war that the International Court of Justice is investigating for possible genocide. At least scores of Israelis have been killed or wounded by Hezbollah's cross-border attacks.
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