As an entrepreneurial American I will tell you straight from the trenches, Americans are behind small business. It is built into our DNA. Yet despite this basic fact, the battle cry of small business is dimmed by loud partisan bickering of hypocritical lawmakers. Walk your talk people. We are dying out here.
Recently I spoke confidentially to the CEO of a $10bn hedge fund on the state of credit; he said, "The U.S. is a credit-driven economy. Right now there is no credit at the consumer and small business levels."
Why then is nobody with power to change this listening?
"Among the most difficult challenges facing small businesses in Washington and throughout the nation is access to credit...Expanding Main Street's access to credit is the most effective thing we can do to promote our ongoing economic recovery," according to Washington State Senators (D) Cantwell and Murray.
Yada Yada Yada. We might as well be talking to a wall. Forty two Republican Senators filibustered an end to any hope of small business credit. How long can you remain underwater before you drown is the question for Congress?
Small Business: The Key to Recovery
According to Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, commonly believed by Republicans and Democrats alike to be the top expert in the nation on the economy, "Boosting credit to struggling small businesses is key to the economic recovery."
Dear Congress: Rather than hear it from politicians who have been supported by taxpayer bailouts their entire career, small business itself has something to say: Step up to the plate and hit the damn ball!
Instead Senators continue to claim they "love" small business--only not enough to actually support it.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said "While I support the bill's tax incentives for America's job-creating small businesses, I can't support creating yet another lending fund that turns the Treasury Department into our national bank." In other words, Small Business America is not worth investing in.
(By the way Senator, just FYI, the Federal Reserve (not the Treasury) does serve as the nation's central bank.)
Small business feels the heartbeat of America better than any elected or appointed official. They represent the grit and hardiness that politicians love to covet. Small business doesn't want charity these are entrepreneurs, the kind that America celebrates those hardy folks that create something from nothing on their own wits and ingenuity. All small business wants in post-bailout America is a fighting chance. How can it compete against the federally funded coffers of the Big Boys?
"To support the recovery... small businesses are important in creating new jobs," says Bernanke.
So where is the funding to do this job creation? Where is the low cost Federal lending given freely to big banks and in turn to bond issuing corporations for the past two years for small business economic recovery? Why are there two standards for lending one of unlimited credit for errant too-big-to-fail institutions and another, "Sorry pal, can't turn the Treasury into a national bank," for the little guys that hold the nation up?
In his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke spoke of the continuing credit crisis for the nation's job creators:
"Small businesses, which depend importantly on bank credit, have been particularly hard hit."
That is a mouthful. Now that we agree on the problem, what are we going to do about it?
Chairman Bernanke: "At the Federal Reserve, we have been working to facilitate the flow of funds to creditworthy small businesses. Along with the other supervisory agencies, we issued guidance to banks and examiners emphasizing that lenders should do all they can to meet the needs of creditworthy borrowers, including small businesses. We also have conducted extensive training programs for our bank examiners, with the message that lending to viable small businesses is good for the safety and soundness of our banking system as well as for our economy. We continue to seek feedback from both banks and potential borrowers about credit conditions. For example, over the past six months we have convened more than 40 meetings around the country of lenders, small business representatives, bank examiners, government officials, and other stakeholders to exchange ideas about the challenges faced by small businesses, particularly in obtaining credit."
Real Help for Real People
Forty meetings over six months and we arrive nowhere. None of these efforts matter a hill of beans unless there is some official enforcement behind it. Regional and community banks are not receiving the same bailouts their big banking brothers are, so the Federal Reserve is trying to incent them with government guarantees--the same guarantees that failed to incent their liquidated siblings. Smaller banks always on alert for FDIC takeover will be understandably less likely to take on added risk. In the current economic stress and continued joblessness, small business credit is a major risk for not-too-big-to-fail banks.
Recently I spoke confidentially to the CEO of a $10bn hedge fund on the state of credit; he said, "The U.S. is a credit-driven economy. Right now there is no credit at the consumer and small business levels."
Why then is nobody with power to change this listening?
"Among the most difficult challenges facing small businesses in Washington and throughout the nation is access to credit...Expanding Main Street's access to credit is the most effective thing we can do to promote our ongoing economic recovery," according to Washington State Senators (D) Cantwell and Murray.
Small Business: The Key to Recovery
According to Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, commonly believed by Republicans and Democrats alike to be the top expert in the nation on the economy, "Boosting credit to struggling small businesses is key to the economic recovery."
Dear Congress: Rather than hear it from politicians who have been supported by taxpayer bailouts their entire career, small business itself has something to say: Step up to the plate and hit the damn ball!
Instead Senators continue to claim they "love" small business--only not enough to actually support it.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said "While I support the bill's tax incentives for America's job-creating small businesses, I can't support creating yet another lending fund that turns the Treasury Department into our national bank." In other words, Small Business America is not worth investing in.
(By the way Senator, just FYI, the Federal Reserve (not the Treasury) does serve as the nation's central bank.)
Small business feels the heartbeat of America better than any elected or appointed official. They represent the grit and hardiness that politicians love to covet. Small business doesn't want charity these are entrepreneurs, the kind that America celebrates those hardy folks that create something from nothing on their own wits and ingenuity. All small business wants in post-bailout America is a fighting chance. How can it compete against the federally funded coffers of the Big Boys?
"To support the recovery... small businesses are important in creating new jobs," says Bernanke.
So where is the funding to do this job creation? Where is the low cost Federal lending given freely to big banks and in turn to bond issuing corporations for the past two years for small business economic recovery? Why are there two standards for lending one of unlimited credit for errant too-big-to-fail institutions and another, "Sorry pal, can't turn the Treasury into a national bank," for the little guys that hold the nation up?
In his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke spoke of the continuing credit crisis for the nation's job creators:
"Small businesses, which depend importantly on bank credit, have been particularly hard hit."
That is a mouthful. Now that we agree on the problem, what are we going to do about it?
Chairman Bernanke: "At the Federal Reserve, we have been working to facilitate the flow of funds to creditworthy small businesses. Along with the other supervisory agencies, we issued guidance to banks and examiners emphasizing that lenders should do all they can to meet the needs of creditworthy borrowers, including small businesses. We also have conducted extensive training programs for our bank examiners, with the message that lending to viable small businesses is good for the safety and soundness of our banking system as well as for our economy. We continue to seek feedback from both banks and potential borrowers about credit conditions. For example, over the past six months we have convened more than 40 meetings around the country of lenders, small business representatives, bank examiners, government officials, and other stakeholders to exchange ideas about the challenges faced by small businesses, particularly in obtaining credit."
Real Help for Real People
Forty meetings over six months and we arrive nowhere. None of these efforts matter a hill of beans unless there is some official enforcement behind it. Regional and community banks are not receiving the same bailouts their big banking brothers are, so the Federal Reserve is trying to incent them with government guarantees--the same guarantees that failed to incent their liquidated siblings. Smaller banks always on alert for FDIC takeover will be understandably less likely to take on added risk. In the current economic stress and continued joblessness, small business credit is a major risk for not-too-big-to-fail banks.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
