Starting a NJ business

Starting a business is just way to easy. You can do it online and it costs less than $300, or $400 if you also want to register as a NJ small business. I'll go through the steps in a minute.

Your new business won't be vetted by anyone. It seems no one, Feds or State, don't care if you're legit or not. The county and municipalities also have business registration requirements, but could also care less. No welcoming letter, no packet of information on what to do. Nothing -- except web resources. Everything you need to do to start a business can be done online with a credit card, except your business name registration. You can lie. The only thing they check is your social security number. Oh, you also have to register your commodity codes - i.e. business categories, which could mean anything, and you must fill out a long State questionnaire, the REG-1, but all in all, very easy.

Starting a NJ Business 101: First, Google your proposed business name and make sure its not taken.

Second, any adult can register online with a company name and personal information. First, you will need a Federal EIN, Employer Identification Number, which is free, and also available the same day online. (www.irs.gov -- don't fall for the companies that charge you -- it's free). If your registration is successful, it means the Feds don't know any other businesses with the same name, a good thing.

Third, you register with the NJ Div. of Revenue, pay the fee (up to $250), and you're all set. (www.nj.gov) You also have to register with the NJ Div. of Taxation to charge 7% Sales & Use Taxes on all your invoices, because you must pay tax on your business income, quarterly. Unless your a so called professional, then you don't. Register and they tell you how to pay quarterly, although it could be improved. You can do that online also. Like I said, its easy, especially if you register your business as a Limited Liability Company or Sole Proprietorship, which most people do when starting out.  That's one reason there's so many scam artists out there, and why thousands of businesses fail every year. 

• In 2009,there were 27.5 million businesses in the United States, according to Office of Advocacy estimates.The latest available Census data show that there were 6.0 million firms with employees in 2007 and 21.4 million without employees in 2008. Small firms with fewer than 500 employees represent 99.9 percent of the total (employers and non-employers). 

Bottom line: if you can't figure this all out yourself, you probably shouldn't be going into business. You shouldn't pay anyone to do it for you either, unless you have deep pockets and are lazy, or are starting a big company with employees.

There is a lot of online help available, on how to start and run a business properly. For NJ, just go the official state website (www.nj.gov) and click the "Business" tab at the top. You'll be taken to a page that has tons of information on "Starting a business," "Growing your business, "Licenses and permits," and much more.If you are starting a serious business, it pays to read through it all. It might take you all of half-an-hour. The most important thing to do is click the "Business Checklist" on the left side menu, print it out, and follow it.

Also, there's www.SBA.gov, the U.S. Small Business Administration website. It includes similar information, but much more of it, and on video, and also has tips on getting government contracts or getting a loan. It's almost impossible anymore to get grants for your business. Maybe if you're into renewables or something exotic, maybe.  Do NOT pay money for any grant look-up services; there's tons of those services. If you're just a little Internet savvy, you can do it yourself. Bottom line, you won't find much if you're just a run of the mill business. The NJ equivalent is NJ SBDC at www.njsbdc.com, with free info and counseling for start-ups, as well as classes you can purchase.

There's one other basic thing you should do, and that's register your business name with your County Clerk in person. Here in Mercer County, where I've registered both my business names, it only costs $50 per company name, including a notary located there. Its a great protection, and also makes sure no one else has that name. It protects you (by date), if the same name somehow gets registered. As far as your company name goes, you should already have Googled it and gotten your EIN to make sure no one else has it.

Registering as a formal NJ Small Business online is a debatable proposition. Relatively speaking, its expensive: $100 for three years. You do get access to their database, but usefulness is proscribed. It can be helpful getting government bids, since they have set-aside goals. Well, not goals but rather soft "targets," they don't have to adhere to.You will also get access to the NJ Small Business Development Center, free and paid seminars, and free business person-to-person counseling. I didn't find the counseling that helpful, other than to tell me I was on the right track. But they will give you a few good handouts, and their free seminars are worth it.

Another thing you can do is register online for access to all State of NJ bids through email. The State has a lot of Cooperative Purchasing contracts used by counties (21), and municipalities (566), as well. Big audience, but no guaranteed sales. But bidding can be helpful if you're chasing new business, and have the resources to fit their requirements. It doesn't cost anything to register to receive bids by email from the Treasury Division of Purchase & Property. Their website is https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/treasury/dpp/

The only cost to bid, is the cost of preparation, which you can get back if you win. The documentation requirements for bidding government contracts can be daunting. The requirement for $1,000,000 worth of general liability insurance can be expensive, but you can build that in by hiding it in your bid price. That alone can cost you $10,000, and all NJ contractors have to have it, which is a good thing. You also have to declare any political contributions if your contract is worth $17,500 or more. My advice? Only contribute small sums to candidates or parties. Better yet, do what I do, give them nothing except my vote, and only if they deserve it.

But the most important thing you need, before you do any of this, is to write a simple Business Plan. There's lots of help to do it, but you have to do it yourself. SBA.gov has free videos on it, as well as all other aspects of small business. So there's no lack of excellent resources if you want to start a business.

Good Luck! And I hope you're honest.

"Never forget" is not Enough

I first heard the phrase "Never forget" at a commemoration of Krystallnact at the Rider University Chapel in the mid 1980's. Wikipedia says Krystallnact was a pogrom (a series of coordinated attacks) against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on November 9-10, 1938. It was carried out by SA (Stabzarzt, i.e. German military) paramilitary and civilians. German authorities looked on without intervening. The attacks left the streets covered with broken glass from the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues. We all should know how it ended.

I was sitting in the third row of pews, with about forty other people, listening to personal stories of despair and horror.  Then six candles were lit on the menorah. When the service was over, I left, not knowing what to say to anyone there. The Rider University Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center, first opened in 1984. Marvin, Joan, Harvey and Carol were (and some still are), the dedicated people I met, and got to know, who were spearheading the Center's outreach and education programs.

In the early 1990s the Center hosted a free bus trip for clergy to the newly opened (1992) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I was representing the Baha'is, and there were about fifteen of us going. On the way down, the bus showed videos of the Center's education program, to be used in NJ schools. At the museum, like everyone who entered, I was given a card describing a person who had been killed by the Nazis. Some of these cards were also of children, or aged grandparents.

The museum itself was very evocative of the time period, with life sized cattle cars inside, where the Nazis transported thousands of Jews. The most touching part for me, was listening to stories of some of the survivors on a TV screen in an open auditorium. I vowed to "Never forget" what had happened. The real purpose of the vow however, was to never let it happen again.

Of course it has, and on a big scale, as recently as Syria, or Israel and the Palestinians, or the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, where some Hutus slaughtered Tutsis. Over 800,000 people died in that civil war. On a small but no less shocking and painful scale, we now have Newtown, CT to add to Aurora CO, and Columbine High School, also in Colorado. These were committed by lone gunmen, but they are genocide none the less, the killing of innocent adults and children. But saying we won't ever forget them is not enough.

We forget the news all the time. There's so much of it now, it crowds our head for attention. We are bombarded with news channels on TV, radio, even our cellphones. We can't escape the news. That's why we forget. We are pulled from one ugly event to the next, with no time to process the impact and ramifications, and act on what has happened. To act - to change society and people so it doesn't happen again. That's what we are looking to our leaders for - leadership. Guidance - a path away from violence and insecurity. A path to safety and peacefulness which we all want above all else, for ourselves and our chiildren.

Something needs to be done about access to guns in this country. and there's easy things we can do:
1. Maintain a database of anyone diagnosed with mental illness, and prevent them from buying or owning a gun legally. This means doctors must be required to report mentally ill patients to a government administered database, accessible online. Call it NDMI - National Database of the Mentally Ill. We've finally reached a stage in our development where mental illness is no longer a stigma. I should know, I've been bipolar since 1979.

I say this because, being mentally ill, and having been manic or hypomanic almost five times, I can tell you that I was not in control of my thoughts or actions. I had no semblance of reality or rationality to stop me from doing anything that occurred to me. Anything. A good example, is that one time while having an episode, the thought came to me while driving, "Go ahead, speed up and drive right into that tree." If while manic I have no cares about my own physical well-being, I can tell you that others count even less.

Another word for manic is psychotic. During my episodes I was psychotic; I cared only and exclusively about myself. Luckily, I did not become psychopathic as well, with a total disregard for others well-being. The point is, I WAS NOT IN CONTROL. Being bipolar means I have an incurable mental illness. However, luckily, my condition can be helped, and is helped, with the right medications. That is not true for all mentally ill persons.

2. All guns sold must be registered in the seller's name, and in the buyer's name. Full verifiable address information must be available on both the buyer AND seller. They both must be legal adults, and they each must register their Social Security number as well, which is the closest thing we have to universal ID (which is sorely needed). Their (criminal) backgound must be checked. Any violent offense should be cause for immediate rejection.

3. All gun shows and their sales must be carefully monitored and controlled by the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). Again, both buyers and sellers must be fully vetted. Buyers and sellers must be screened on premises with the NCIC database. (National Crime Information Center). Anyone arrested, or convicted of a crime, must be on this central database. Anyone with a record of arrest for violence of any kind, as in domestic violence, assault etc. or possessing a firearm illegally, and/or they are convicted of such crimes, are forever barred from legally acquiring a gun of any kind. Ideally not just in the United States, but all countries.

4. As they are now, all hunters must be legally licensed and monitored. They must be forbidden to sell a gun privately, however, they can sell a gun to a registered dealer or a registered gun owner, as long as the transaction is recorded and reported immediately. Once annually gun owners must bring their guns to the police station to check their valid registrations, or the police can set up administrative personnel to go at the gun owner's home, for an administrative fee to cover expenses.

5. No one is allowed to conceal a weapon when in public. The only exceptions are police and detectives, FBI, Secret Service, military, licensed private detectives etc. General citizens have no right to a concealed weapon of any kind.

6. Assault weapons must be banned, like Uzi's and AK-47's. That also includes high-capacity ammo and gun magazines. The only guns allowed for private sale will be handguns and rifles for a person's private protection and safety (with a limit on how many), and guns used by hunters.

7. I believe there's already law or regulation that states owners must notify police (?) if their gun(s) is/are stolen. This should stay in force, and have penalties for non-compliance.

These rules and laws will be a start to curbing gun violence, because it still takes a person to pull the trigger. People kill people, with or without guns. And all killing must be illegal except in self-defense. That includes re-looking at manslaughter in death-by-auto cases.

Maybe, just maybe, rules and laws like these will begin to help prevent these senseless crimes. And there seems to be a sea change, a tipping point, after these children's shootings. I've heard on NPR that a few conservative Republicans were even calling for review. On Fox 29, watching the news at 8 am, they showed demonstrators outside the offices of the NRA in DC this morning. There was no response from NRA spokespersons. But a man there said to the crowd, "Instead of banning guns, we should arm the teachers." I don't think much about that idea. We need good laws to prevent chaos.

Bottom line, we have moved on since 1787 and our original Constitution. Owning a gun should no longer be a right, but a privilege, a monitored and controlled privilege -- whether by private citizens, police, military or others.Autos don't kill people, drivers do, but we license them in all 50 states. And all states require vehicle registration. In 2011 there were over 32,300 automobile deaths of all kinds.

CNN reported 5,400 licensed firearms manufacturers, as well as 310 million non-military firearms, in the U.S. in 2011. In mid-2011 there were 311 million Americans.

We Need Collective Security

Nations have been invading and conquering other nations (or trying to conquer them), since antiquity. History is replete with examples, like WWI and WWII to name the big ones. But those wars changed something: nations joined other nations to fight the aggressor. Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, are all coalitions that worked and are modern day examples. By extension, U.N. Peacekeeping Forces, although seemingly ineffective at present in stopping wars, have the seeds of an ideal protective force, and will certainly become one in the future.

The concept is sound and workable. Many countries' forces combining to put down the aggressor. It's called "collective security."

And that's what mankind and decent countries need, an international protective force and collective security. The U.N. is the ideal model for this force, because their "soldiers," and "advisors," who come from different countries "on loan," all don the U.N. uniform when deployed. According to their own current world map, they are currently deployed in sixteen hotspots. Like Sudan, Darfur, and Lebanon. Also Haiti, Western Africa and Timor-Leste. They range from 11 peacekeepers in Zimbabwe, to 8,425 in Pakistan.

You can find out more at https://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/

These peacekeeping forces can't currently be 100% effective because the U.N. member states restrict their operations both politically and physically. This is collective security in principal, but not in practice. It will never be effective as presently constituted.

In the mid 1800's, the Persian Prophet and Messenger of God, Baha'u'llah, made startling pronouncements about the concept of world unity which mankind is desperately seeking today. Baha'u'llah's son, 'Abdu'l-Baha, said in 1912, "About fifty years ago in the Book of Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh commanded people to establish universal peace and summoned all the nations to the divine banquet of international arbitration, so that the questions of boundaries, of national honor and property, and of vital interests between nations might be settled by an arbitral court of justice, and that no nation would dare to refuse to abide by the decisions thus arrived at."

So the first step to world peace, is international arbitration. We are well on our way there, what with our many ambassadors, the International Criminal Court, people like Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State, and also Kofi Annan (U.N. General Secretary, 1997-2006),  and his recent trips to Syria to broker a peace (which did not succeed).

The second related step is a formal International Court to adjudicate disputes between nations. 

This second step will certainly insure world peace between invading armies and peaceful countries.   'Abdu'l-Baha, in Paris in 1911, spoke more on this theme, "If any quarrel between two nations should arise, it must be adjudicated by this international court and be arbitrated and decided upon like the judgment rendered by the Judge between two individuals." In other words, words are to be used before force when possible. In the Baha'i Faith we call this great principle of arriving at the truth of the matter objectively, consultation.

It should be obvious to any unbiased reader, that if the countries of Europe had followed this and other advice in 1911, it may have avoided the gore and death of WWI.

The third step is what is critical to success: "If at any time any nation dares to break such a decision, all the other nations  must arise to put down this rebellion." If a leader, or a country's military generals etc., know that any invasion will quickly and harshly be put down, it will become, in itself, an effective deterrent to such invasions. This is meaningful collective security. This concept was useful during the 1950's Cold War.

In other words, as in any policy, enforcement has to be a part of it, or it cannot be effective. Baha'u'llah called this the two pillars of human society: "Reward and Punishment." Remain peaceful, and your people will be rewarded; become aggressive, and you (the perpetrator), will be punished. This is one of mankind's simplest laws to understand, from parent and child, to educator and student, to citizen and government.

Is there anything in these statements that doesn't make sense? Let me know what you think.

Review: Playing for Keeps

It took me a long tiome to decide to do a movie review here in my blog. I see so many movies it would get boring quickly if I reviewed even 25% of them. My buddy Rich and I go to the Hamilton AMC 24 every Saturday morning for an early show, usually before 10 a.m. One reason is because I like action movies like Quentin Tarrantino's new Django Unchained coming out at month end, syfy like Avatar, fantasy like Lord of the Rings, and just plain good movies like The King's Speech and Lincoln (saw it twice). The second reason is because I plan for it and look forward to it. The third reason is the cost, only six bucks, and on my retired income that counts a lot. The fourth reason, if you need more, is that the theatre is practically empty that early.

So I like movies. This year I've seen over fifty movies. It's been a slow year. My usual average is sixty.

I liked Playing for Keeps, surprisingly. I say surprisingly because when Rich and I saw the trailer, we both agreed it was either a chick flick, or a Disney family flick. Certainly not action and adventure like we like. So we wrote it off and agreed it wasn't on our list.

Then came today, December 15th, Saturday.

I called Rich last nite after looking up the shows on the AMC Hamilton website. Not a lot of choices. We had already seen Argo (excellent), Killing them Softly (excellent, but Brad was subdued), Flight (excellent - Denzel's the man), Life of Pi (excellent cinematography and special effects -- especially the tiger Mr. Parker), Lincoln (both times extremely excellent), Red Dawn (good story - I thought it was an okay remake), and Skyfall (Daniel is definitely my favorite Bond now). Rich and I knew we were going to see The Hobbitt, but not on opening weekend. Hitchcock was left (not interested), the Guardians (for kids), and Playing for Keeps. Neither Rich nor I can abide horror movies, so The Collection was definitely off the table. Even when desperate, we refuse to see them, no matter how appealing they make the trailer, or how good the actors, like Trespass (2011), with Nicole Kidman, and Nicholas Cage, which was borderline horror, in my opinion.

So guess what, rather than miss a good movie opportunity, we saw Gerard Butler do a good job as an internationally famous, but washed-up, soccer player. I've always loved Jessica Biel, his ex-wife, so she could do no wrong in my eyes. The rest of the cast, with short parts, were good also. Except Dennis Quaid's character. He was meant to be loathed, and it was easy to do. But he seemed half drunk all the time, and this really was, almost, a family picture. I wouldn't take my kids to it unless you want them to see consenting adults do it, even though it's all done off screen.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has to be the prettiest face and body in show business, and she's bipolar like I am, too boot. Uma Thurman was full-bodied and stunningly beautiful as well, and I've always been ambivalent about her. Not her acting abilities -- she's topnotch, but her looks sometimes can be, well, not as good as they could be.

I can say all this because these are all actors -- they're not real people. I'm commenting on their widescreen selves only. But, to sum up, it was an excellent cast, excellent, poignant story that kept me interested to the end, and it had the ending I was wanting and hoping for. Surprising in fact after all the roadblocks thrown in George and Stacie's path towards togetherness. It was very well done that way. And their son, Lewis, played by Noah Lomax, was superb. Just the kind of conflicted 8 (?) year-old I would expect.

So, to sum up, this was definitely another Hollywood formula movie, mostly for adults and families. But it did reach my heart, and I was very happy for the reunited threesome in the end.

I Feel Bad for Nigerian Oil

We all know how important oil is. It moves our cars, trucks boats, motors and more. We make necessary plastics from oil for cellphones to watches..

Nigeria is losing 400,000 barrels of oil a day to criminals. They are stealing it in a network of collusion and corruption, over land and by sea. Royal Dutch Shell is the biggest producer in Nigeria, and apparently they can't stop it.

I just heard this, this morning on NPR (c. 6 a.m., 12/15/12), and I couldn't help but think, How can I stop this thievery when hundreds, possibly thousands of thieves are involved? I can't change their hearts with rational argument, and explain how the world's natural resouirces are finite, and need to be distributed honestly and fairly. I can't go over there and fix it myself. I can't tell my governemnt to do something about it, and have them condemned for intervention.

But I do have a plan. How many state officials must be involved? A hundred? Two hundred? How many security forces are looking the other way, or actually helping with the theft? A thousand? Two thousand? Who are the marketeers buying this illegal oil? A hundred?

My solution is simple. Fire the ministers and government employees involved, as well as the oil workers including the corrupt security forces, and the others. If you can't round them up and put them in jail, at least disburse or deport them out of the country. Replace them with well-paid, highly trained, and honest workers, say for a year until everthing is stable and native Nigerians can be trained and educated to take over. If Royal Dutch Shell is serious about protecting their investment, and the legitimate Nigerian government is the fiduciary for the country's oil wealth, surely there are those who wish to stop the raping and plundering? 400,000 barrels a day is almost one third of Nigeria's daily output. So this corruption is on a massive scale.

We here in America have gone thru this same exact scenario. It was done legally by the robber-barons of the 1800's and early 1900's, until laws like the Sherman Antitrust Act were passed beginning in 1890. Even though they weren't enforced until Theodore Roosevelt was President, we would not be a stable country today without them.

How to stop it? Just laws don't do it. All laws need enforcement strategies and teeth to succeed. But this plan might succeed. It'll take months, but you'd start with a list of the bad folks. Surely good people know who they are. You'd have months of training for the replacements -- both the government workers, and security forces. You'd freeze and seize the accounts of the marketeers, perhaps even raid their homes.One fell swoop, transport all the replacements in one day, swoop in and sweep out the scum the next. Yes, hoodlums can be scum, I was one once.

And all this thievery, the miles of oil slicks from spilled oil, the pain and suffering to the honest workers, is for one reason. The inordinate desire for ease, comfort and wealth. Isn't that the way most criminals start out? Taking something that doesn't belong to them, so they can have it themselves, or hock it for cash?

I apologize for sounding self-righteous. It's easy to get that way in the face of injustice and crime. And I certainly don't intend to mean that wealth is "bad" or "evil." In and of itself it is not. In fact, it's absolutely necessary that every person have wealth. But limits are needed, even if they are self imposed like Warren Buffet, or Bill and Melinda Gates, who believe in higher taxation for the wealthy as one way of redistributing wealth.

Nigeria's environmental situation, some say, is even worse that the mere loss of stolen oil. Miles and miles of Nigerian coasts have been fouled, besides the water itself. At least let someone stop the environmental bleeding.