How to Capitalism.
I learned all about business entities so you don't have to! These summaries will 10x your career & understanding of the game that is being played.
I learned all about business entities so you don't have to! These summaries will 10x your career & understanding of the game that is being played in the USA.
Here we go.
LIMITED LIABILITY SPP’s
Here, I refer to the obvious choice of LLC’s over Sole Proprietorship or Partnerships as you don’t risk losing everything you own if things go south. Though, they’re primarily bound to the state in which they are registered, they can also operate in other states under certain conditions.
LLC
A private for-profit entity that you, or you and your friends, can own entirely! Generally is the GO-TO option nowadays for small-to-medium businesses just starting up. A blend of sole proprietorships/partnerships and the tax advantages & protections of S-Corps.
Investors & venture capitalists don’t typically fund LLC’s as they can’t easily play their influential ownership & political games with the company.
L3C
A low-profit LLC intended to be a hybrid between nonprofits and LLC's to promote social welfare & to make some money at the same time. Opens up funding options to program-related investments (PRI’s) for these individuals aka "members" wanting to make a difference & 501c3 criteria needs to be met to qualify. See nonprofits below.
L3C's are only valid legal entities in Vermont, Michigan, Wyoming, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Rhode Island, and Utah (to my knowledge). Rules vary by state.
CORPORATION
Cage-free from the state restriction of LLC's. All corporations inherently provide liability protection against your assets. Corporations require a board of directors (simply any group of people) along with a LOT more legal paperwork/headache.
S-Corporation
A special type of privately-held corporation that allows income/expense pass-through to shareholders/owners for federal tax purposes, but the max amount of shareholders is limited to 100. No separate corporate federal taxes (double taxation).
Hence, these are small fry players in the Corporate for-profit game. LLC's can elect to be taxed as an S-Corp.
C-Corporation
Privately or publicly held "full-fledged" corporation. Top dogs with global reach that can obfuscate & operate in the shadows if they wish. There is no limit to the number of shareholders & is more attractive to venture capitalists and other investors as there are no restrictions on ownership & classes of stock.
Only entity allowed to be traded to the public. The stocks you purchase are certificates of ownership of a slice of the pie that comprises the beast. In the kindest terms possible, this is legal gambling of these public companies in order to fund them. Win big, lose big & if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Tread with caution.
B-Corporation
The newest corpo-kid on the block. They're a corporation required to balance financial interests with social and environmental considerations. Must publish a report to the public every year assessing their social & environmental performance against a 3rd party standard.
LLC’s can certify with B Lab (Nonprofit Organization) to become a “B-Corp Certified” company, but some states have special requirements, so YMMW on the State you live in.
B-Corporations, while an ideal solution to a world problem, are fairly new and there is not much consensus between States at this point in time. Mostly useful for branding/marketing purposes.
Nonprofit organizations (501c3)
A Corporation type structure requiring a specific business purpose to qualify for "tax-exempt status" which you apply separately for. Makes it so that donations & etc aren't taxable income.
TL;DR
Wanting to start a new business in your State?
Need monstrous investments to make your dream a reality?
Consider starting an L3C (if applicable to the State & the business under 501c3 restrictions), or a C-Corporation.
L3C’s can legally access a wider range of funding options as they promote social wellness. C-Corporations require a board of directors which will paint the business-political battlefield for the next… forever. Choose wisely.
Wanting to start with something smaller to avoid the grifters & business politics?
Consider an S-Corporation, LLC or L3C.
These entities will allow you to remain much more flexible as you figure things out with less risk of messing up Corporate tax laws.
Did I miss anything? Let me know on our socials!
Corporate Theft of the American Community
We now can communicate instantly with anyone and everyone we wish, we have more working knowledge than ever before in history, and vast improvements in technology seek to elevate our livelihoods for the better. Yet… why does the future seem bleaker than ever?
I predict that in the near future, society will be vastly different than it has been circa the 1920’s - 2020’s. As a species, we’ve been drifting further and further away from nature and from each other while the systemic side effects of this are becoming overwhelming.
We now can communicate instantly with anyone and everyone we wish, we have more working knowledge than ever before in history, and vast improvements in technology seek to elevate our livelihoods for the better. Yet… why does the future seem bleaker than ever?
I argue that it’s because our sense of humanity and community has slowly been stolen from us. We’ve been swindled by self-insisting consultants and middle-men that do not have our our best interests or vision in mind. What I mean by this is that we’ve lost our sense of producer/consumer and supporting each other in society. Additionally, politicians leverage this divide for personal gain and turn us against each other by supporting policies that further benefit mega-corporations and exacerbate the advantage they receive; thereby entrenching us in a cycle that will never stop as long as it remains profitable.
What middle men are you talking about, Greg? Any examples?
Enterprise Grocers & Food Industry Friends
Promoting/advertising unhealthy food as it drives over-consumption & a larger profit on cheaply made junk food (e.g. BOGO sales, 2 for $4, etc).
Marriage of the BigFood & BigPharma industries within supermarkets to provide a nice, convenient one-stop shop to purchase the drugs recommended to treat symptoms of the many illnesses/diseases that could’ve been avoided through a proper diet that you couldn’t afford — just as those companies intended. These industries both make much more money when you’re unhealthy, unhappy, unsatisfied, & over-consuming; it’s that simple.
The sheer fact that I can buy a single cucumber for the same price or more than I can a bag of chips which will satiate me longer in the short-term & taste more appealing.
Partnering with the oligopoly of big food brands with the intent to drive record profits instead of community well-being.
Selling more-and-more cheap, addicting, affordable junk full of added sugars & fat with little to no nutritional value and having the audacity to sell it as “food”.
Decimation of small-to-medium businesses (SMB’s) in communities that were unable to compete on prices when large enterprise grocers entered the scene.
Artificial inflation putting profits over people in times of crisis and hardship.
Constantly merging together and obfuscating the true owners of a store/brand in order to provide illusion of choice.
Conditioning and indoctrination of children into unhealthy eating habits through constant advertisements and marketing designed to trigger dopamine responses in those that lack the ability to reason against those impulses. How is this legal?
Representative Politicians
I want to keep this brief & bi-partisan.
Our political system in American is a representative democracy where we elect others that we trust to keep our values in mind & act on our behalf. This clearly made a bit more sense in the olden days, but with the advances of humanity since 1776, this doesn’t seem to be working out in the favor of “we the people” very often. I see the modern American politician as a middle-man in the grand scheme of things. These politicians are not inherently bad, but our current systems clearly benefits them to work with the interest of mega-corporations in mind rather than we the people. Politicians literally control the rules of the Capitalism game and these rules can be altered at any point in time.
There is no such thing as a true “free market” within our current implementation of Capitalism, nor would a true free market benefit mankind. History has proven that not everyone is a good actor and removing public oversight is not the correct solution to this problem. We need more “hybrid” & empathetic politicians that can balance public policy with private interests.
Modern News & Media
Dismantling of journalistic integrity, reducing news to entertainment channels fueled by controversy in order to drive more ad revenue.
Promotion & proliferation of further division, controversy, and half-truths as that is what is profitable and grabs viewers’ attention.
Used extensively by the other middle men above to convince you that they’re good actors. If you have to say it at all, you’re probably not — especially publicly. Your efforts to do so are contrived, unauthentic, and we see right through them.
What can we do to fight this?
Support SMB’s in your community over large enterprises at every opportunity.
Research companies on sites like GoodJobsFirst’s Violation Tracker to find all the juicy details on a company’s past illegal operations, actions, & behaviors that they bury from you in search results via PR campaigns.
In general, the total amount of fines ($) is more important than the total number of fines.
Communicate your interest & support of InfraGreen Farms & Co. as our goal is to start fighting against these unnatural, cyclic systems that’ve been established over the past 100 years or so.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, using all of the information above in addition to your life experiences, follow the old adage: “vote with your wallet”.
Death of the Modern, Post-War Macroculture
The honesty, authenticity & individualism of the highly active grassroots microcultures will soon triumph over the macroculture that has been force fed to us by large corporate entities, rigged systems, and gamed metrics.
I firmly believe that the correct path for this company is to start at the microculture level compared to the macroculture level. What I mean by this, is that an initiative like what IGF is striving for in this current economic/political climate has to start with small & humble roots instead of optimizing for a highly profitable agricultural revolution from the jump. I will refuse overzealous investments from venture capitalists.
Why? Simply because nobody truly trusts large corporations, the current economic systems, and most “leaders” -- we just pretend to do so in order to get paid & survive. I don't know about you but I'm tired of pretending like everything is fine with the status quo while one-by-one our systems & livelihoods stagnate, free-fall, or pop. If I were to accept exorbitant amounts of cash to make IGF a reality, it would create unrealistic expectations & I would be forced into repeating the same failing cycle of the visionaries & entrepreneurs before my time.
Modern Macroculture Post WW2
Increasingly dissociated/robotic
Passivity over activity
Decisions by committee; lack of trust in the individual
Massive layoffs
Artificial inflation
Bots, scalpers, resellers
Bureaucratic middle men
Record levels of inequality and in-equal access to resources by design
Death by analysis (“analysis paralysis”)
Predatory monetization models
Profits over people
I could go on and on but I’m sure you get the gist. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of this nonsense & I’m ready to act.
The new wave of American culture will start with individuals taking risks from the heart and finding support in their community. The honesty, authenticity & individualism of the highly active grassroots microcultures will soon triumph over the macroculture that has been force fed to us by large corporate entities, rigged systems, and gamed metrics. Society at large is starting to wake up; we’re angry; and we can run circles around the titans in the industry.
Now let's get moving.
Inspired by Ted Gioia
Ted’s article in his blog, “The Honest Broker”: In 2024, the Tension Between Macroculture and Microculture Will Turn into War
Hello World
Hello world. Let’s get to work.
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In honor of every project I’ve ever started.