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The Daily Advance, May 25, 2013 I’m constantly trying to communicate the importance of our Downtown to our community. Not only is it our “heart” containing our rich history, character and beautiful waterfront, but it’s also an important part in our economic growth. Downtown shows our community’s “personality,” strength and stability. Stacy Mitchell, in an article, … Read More
Not having to charge sales tax fueled Amazon’s growth for nearly 20 years. While it’s impossible not to see the company as a horse that’s already out the barn door, there’s still good reason to believe that the Marketplace Fairness Act will slow Amazon’s consolidation of retailing and provide benefit to independent businesses.… Read More
Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 2, 2013 For over three hours on Monday night, more than 80 neighbors from a Flash Cashers cash mob handed Shaker Heights Hardware store thousands of dollars in extra business. Summoned by social media and word of mouth, participants who had pledged at least $20 each ended up spending several times that … Read More
Walmart has been generating some impressive-sounding headlines on the environment lately. But a closer examination of what Walmart is and isn’t doing reveals a company that in fact lags its peers on renewable energy and is contributing a large and growing volume of climate change pollution to the atmosphere.… Read More
Foreign Policy, April 29, 2013 After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Americans were quick to give much of the credit to the economic system of the West. The centralization and monopolization of the Soviet regime, so the thinking went, had stifled enterprise, choked creativity, and stripped wealth from vital systems. The magic formula? Democracy combined … Read More
The Tennessean, April 28, 2013 In the Internet stone-age, the mid-1990s, Congress acted to encourage innovation and foster the development of the World Wide Web with policies designed to ease the regulatory burden on what is essentially a borderless business. One of the most effective policies in that encouragement was a moratorium on the requirement for … Read More
The New York Times, April 27, 2013 Anita Demetropoulos, a Maine shopkeeper, figured she would never see the day when her most relentless competitor, Amazon, would be forced to collect sales tax. Now that Congress seems ready to do that, she is no longer sure it matters. Even in losing, the e-commerce powerhouse is triumphant. It … Read More
Cities where small, locally owned businesses account for a relatively large share of the economy have stronger social networks, more engaged citizens, and better success solving problems, according to several recently published studies.… Read More
Stacy Mitchell, director of ILSR’s Independent Business Initiative, Discusses the Bill’s Impact … Read More
