Family businesses power the US economy, but succession poses a

family businesses keep this country running. The investment bank looked at what happens when the founder wants to hand over the keys, and the answer is messy. Sibling rivalries, unequal payouts, the kid who wants to sell and the one who wants to build. That’s not just a family drama. That’s the engine of the American economy stalling in the driveway.

The specifics matter. Proper capital structure and conflict resolution aren’t luxury items for rich dynasties. They’re the difference between a five-generation manufacturer and a yard sale. And yet the government’s default setting is to make succession harder. Estate taxes can force families to sell the business just to pay the bill. Regulations don’t distinguish between a Fortune 500 conglomerate and a two-person shop with decades of loyal workers. When Washington treats every transfer of ownership like a suspicious transaction, it’s the local employers who pay.

The left talks endlessly about saving small businesses, but its policies treat the family firm as an inheritance problem to be solved by the tax code. The Goldman report is useful, but it points at something politicians should have figured out long ago: get out of the way. Let a father decide whether his daughter gets the company, let a mother plan for retirement without fearing the IRS, and let the market reward the businesses that stuck together. No report can replace the simple dignity of keeping what you built.