Campaigning in Colorado today, Hillary Clinton made a few salient points. Visiting the Knotty Tie Company,
a tie and scarf manufacturer. She made some points on the issues of
small businesses and homemade American goods. They employ refugees and
have a lovely website and great products including a whole Hillary Clinton collection! Check them out!
DENVER,
CO - AUGUST 3: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, right,
meets Jeremy Priest, left, and Mark Johnson, middle, co-founders of
Knotty Tie Company on August 3, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The company
makes it's custom ties, scarves and bowties in the United States while
employing legal immigrants from all over the world. The company seeks to
build and create meaningful employment opportunities for resettled
refugees. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
DENVER,
CO - AUGUST 3: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, left,
meets with seamstress Hibo Webliye, right, as she works on sewing fabric
at Knotty Tie Company on August 3, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The
company makes it's custom ties, scarves and bowties in the United States
while employing legal immigrants from all over the world. The company
seeks to build and create meaningful employment opportunities for
resettled refugees. Webliye is a refugee from Somalia. (Photo by Helen
H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
DENVER,
CO - AUGUST 3: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, middle,
looks at scarves at Knotty Tie Company with co-founders Mark Johnson,
right, and Jeremy Priest, second from left, and Austin Allan, left,
merchandising director, on August 3, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The
company makes it's custom ties, scarves and bowties in the United States
while employing legal immigrants from all over the world. The company
seeks to build and create meaningful employment opportunities for
resettled refugees. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
DENVER,
CO - AUGUST 3: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, middle,
looks at scarves at Knotty Tie Company with co-founders Mark Johnson,
far right, and Jeremy Priest, second from right, and Austin Allan,
merchandising director, third from right, on August 3, 2016 in Denver,
Colorado. The company makes it's custom ties, scarves and bowties in the
United States while employing legal immigrants from all over the world.
The company seeks to build and create meaningful employment
opportunities for resettled refugees. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The
Denver Post)
Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds a tie made by Knotty Tie
as she speaks after taking a tour of the Knotty Tie Company in Denver,
Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016. The Knotty Tie Company makes and manufactures
ties and scarves by hand in Denver.
DENVER,
CO - AUGUST 3: Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton holds up a tie made
in the USA by The Knotty Tie Company on August 3, 2016 in Denver,
Colorado. Clinton visited the Colorado company while on the campaign
trail. The company makes it's custom ties, scarves and bowties in the
United States while employing legal immigrants from all over the world.
The company seeks to build and create meaningful employment
opportunities for resettled refugees. In the picture is Austin Allan,
merchandising director, co-founder Mark Johnson, second from left, and
Jeremy Priest, right, cofounder. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The
Denver Post)
In Atlantic City,
Hillary recounted stories of small business people who did work for
Donald Trump and were not paid. She has a plan to prevent small
businesses from being bullied and stiffed by big businesses and bad
actors like this one.
On the night of the California primary, in the clubhouse of the Trump National Golf Club Westchester, Donald Trump touted his less-than-stellar business record and claimed he would “make it very, very good” for small business in America.
Architect
Andrew Tesoro designed that clubhouse. Trump loved it. But when Tesoro
sent Trump a bill for his work, he replied through his lawyers: Accept
pennies on the dollar or I’ll tie you up in court for years.
In a new video
released by Hillary for America, Tesoro says he was humiliated by Trump
and felt he had no choice but to accept a low-ball payment for his
work. Trump almost put him out of business. He made nothing for years,
maxed out his credit lines, and dipped into his son’s college savings to
survive.
Tesoro is one among many Trump has targeted, and Hillary for America is updating the ArtOfTheSteal.biz
to outline Trump’s step-by-step guide to getting rich on the backs of
those don’t have the resources to fight him. Call this the “Trump
Discount.”
Trump’s “master grifter”
strategy has sunk small businesses and hurt working families. Forcing
those who cannot match him in court to either sue or settle for less
than they deserve, Trump has shown again and again that for him, winning
means the little guy loses.
Trump’s grand scheme for business success had four steps:
1. Contract out some work to a local small business.
Now, this part seems nice! If you’re looking for someone to install the chandeliers in your mansion or build some cabinets, why wouldn’t you hire a mom-and-pop operation who will put some real care into the job? 2. After the work is done, just don’t pay.
That’s
right -- after completing the job, the aforementioned small business
would send out an invoice for payment… that wouldn’t ever come.
This is the step where Trump loses me. It’s also where Edward Friel of Atlantic City found himself:
“After
submitting the final bill for the Plaza casino cabinet-building in
1984, Paul Friel said he got a call asking that his father, Edward, come
to the Trump family’s offices at the casino for a meeting. There
Edward, and some other contractors, were called in one by one to meet
with Donald Trump and his brother, Robert Trump.”
3. Offer the contractor two options: Begin an expensive lawsuit, or accept way less money than previously agreed upon.
We’re talking a fraction of the price of the job -- after the work was already done. Take landscaper Herman Caucci and marble supplier John Millar:
“Caucci,
who himself was owed more than $500,000, says Millar agreed to take 10
cents on the dollar, but court documents suggest he got about 30 cents
on the dollar over the next year. Millar is deceased. His family
wouldn't respond to repeated calls for comment.
Either way, the
money wasn't enough. Millar eventually had to lay off workers, shut down
his business Avalon Commercial, close many of his retail stores and
borrow from friends to make ends meet, according to court documents and
Millar's lawyers and former employees.”Maybe bigwigs with wealthy
fathers like Donald Trump can afford a bankruptcy or two, but small
business owners? They can’t.
“'HE
ALMOST bankrupted us,' says the retired owner of a construction
business on the east coast. Thirty years ago he ran a small business
with around ten employees, which was hired by Donald Trump to work on an
11-month project at his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. It was the
biggest contract, by far, that the business had ever had. The builders
worked as they had never done before to complete the job on time. As
soon as they finished, Mr Trump stopped paying. He owed around $200,000
of a bill totalling about $700,000, a huge sum for a small company."
4. Watch as the business sinks -- hitting owners and employees alike.
While
Donald gets off with discounted work, more than one business were
nearly driven to shut their doors. Seems exactly the opposite of
“looking out for the little guy” to me.
We’re not talking once or twice here. According to USA Today,
there have been literally hundreds of suits against Trump for unpaid
bills. That’s hundreds of hard-working people who have been cheated by
the Donald -- and been brave enough to fight back.
Read the rest at http://www.artofthesteal.biz/
Trump is not even ashamed of this strategy. Hillary, on the other hand, thinks small businesses should be protected from this behavior.
Hillary
Clinton has a new plan to strengthen small businesses by cracking down
on bad business actors whose fraudulent business practices jeopardize
small businesses and their workers. Hillary Clinton’s plan proposes
giving small businesses recourse to fight back against unscrupulous big
business practices that stiff small businesses when bills come due. She
will leverage hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracting to
make sure small businesses get paid faster – and expand programs that
put more working capital in the hands of small business owners so they
can thrive, grow and hire. These proposals are part of her plan to fight
for the largest investment in good-paying jobs in her first 100 days in
office, one of her five major goals for our economy.
The announcement follows Clinton’s speech in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday outside the former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, where she decried Trump’s failed business record and was joined by one Atlantic City small businessman, Marty Rosenberg, who was not paid in full for his work on a Trump property.
“I thought a lot about my dad in the last weeks as I learn more about Donald Trump’s business behavior,” Hillary Clinton said in Atlantic City.
“My dad was a small businessman. If his customers had done to him what
Trump did to these companies, he wouldn’t have made it, either. … We
believe in an America where small businesses are respected, not scammed.
I have a plan to make sure big businesses can’t stiff suppliers and
contractors like Donald’s been doing for years.”
Clinton’s plan
would enhance legal protections for small businesses that are repeatedly
stiffed by large firms and give them better tools to protect themselves
against predatory behavior by large companies. She would increase
federal regulatory enforcement for unscrupulous big businesses that have
a pattern or practice of using their market power to repeatedly exploit
small businesses by not paying them, or otherwise defrauding or
deceiving them. She also would ensure that small businesses have
expanded means of recourse, such as through banding together to hold
these practices accountable in court.
“Small businesses are the
foundation of the American Dream, for generations providing opportunity
for millions of American families and workers,” said former Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills,
now a senior fellow at Harvard Business School. “Despite their
resilience the recession hit them hard, but they have proven that given
the resources and opportunity, they can and will continue to drive our
nation’s economic growth and competitiveness. Secretary Clinton has laid
out a plan that ensures small businesses aren’t taken advantage of and
get paid on time, leverages federal dollars to ensure prompt payment,
and expands access to working capital. This is important because whether
it’s a Main Street shop or a startup tech firm, customer demand, cash
flow and a friendlier tax and regulatory environment are critical.
Secretary Clinton’s focus is on making sure small businesses have a
government that is working for them, fighting for them and enabling them
to grow and create jobs.”
Additionally, Clinton’s plan calls for
leveraging the more than $400 billion in federal government contracting
to encourage businesses to pay their suppliers in full and on time. Her
plan also calls for expanding proven SBA loan guarantee programs that
broaden access to working capital, so small businesses can weather
periods where they are not paid on time – and thrive, grow, hire, and
expand.
To read Clinton’s full proposal for defending, protecting
and supporting small businesses from abusive big business practices,
visit her website here.
Small
businesses all over the country are ready to grow and hire, and
entrepreneurs are ready to venture out on their own—if they can just get
that next loan, enter a new market, or have one fewer form to fill out.
Hillary Clinton will be the small business president.
