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Most self-employed people are in a ghetto and it seems they are only able to make it look like self-employed/small businesspeople earn an average of $42,000 a year by including doctors and lawyers! Sheesh. Many self-employed people only have a net profit of a few thousand dollars a year. And we get no benefits and pay double Social Security tax on the first dollar.
If they want to help self-employeds/small business, they can do two things that would greatly strengthen small business in this country:
1) Universal health insurance given to all U.S. citizens so that talented people can take a chance and innovate even if they are over 40 or have a sick kid -- two very common situations where a person can never quit a large corporate job for fear of not being able to get health insurance at any price.
2)Preserve bankruptcy laws that allow people to take a chance and innovate -- if bankruptcy becomes nearly impossible and starting a business means indebting your family for life (most small businesses fail within 5 years) then the most knowledgeable, caring people cannot start a small business out of concern for their family's future.
Most self-employeds are aware that they are in the lowest 10 percent -- we can see it when we do our taxes every year. Clearly, someone who can get a job, and benefits including health insurance, without taking any financial risk, is going to come out ahead of self-employment/small business 90 percent of the time. We are not self-employed because it's so wonderful, we're self-employed because there are not enough jobs out there. Moving more people (especially women) from real jobs to self-employment is not something to brag about; it is a reflection of how weak this economy really is.
--self-employed for 20 years and in no position to tolerate the fantasies about it.
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