By Emily Maltby; Wall Street Journal
Behind the credit squeeze on small business lies the collateral gap.
Many small businesses, thwarted in efforts to get loans, are saying it takes money to get money. That's because property and equipment assets have fallen in value, so businesses seeking loans are being asked for alternative collateral, often in the form of cash so that the loan is… Read more »
Wall Street Journal
Presidents typically invite Americans to appear at Rose Garden press conferences to trumpet their policy successes, but yesterday we saw what may have been a first. President Obama introduced three Americans—an auto worker, a fitness center employee and a woman in real estate—who've been out of work so long they underscore the failure of his economic program. Where… Read more »
By Gene Marks; Bloomberg Business Week
I don't have much in common with my friend Rob.
Rob (I'm changing his name here so he won't yell at me) owns a 60-employee roofing company near me in Oreland, Pa. I run a 10-person information technology consulting firm. Rob has tattoos snaking up both of his arms. I have a mosquito bite on my left shin. Rob spends his days outside, in all… Read more »
By Tom Barkley; Wall Street Journal
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks and regulators Monday to seek out ways to ensure that small businesses get the credit they need to create jobs.
“Making credit accessible to sound small businesses is crucial to our economic recovery and so should be front and center among our current policy challenges,” Bernanke said in prepared… Read more »
By Jay Heflin; The Hill
National Taxpayer Advocate Pam Olson on Wednesday raised concern in a report to Congress about requiring businesses to document most of its purchases to the IRS.
To improve tax compliance, the recently enacted health reform bill mandates purchases of $600 or more by businesses, tax-exempt organizations, or federal, state and local governments be submitted to… Read more »
By Ken Newton; St. Joe News Press
President Obama said it would "put an end to the idea that any financial firm is too big to fail." Northwest Missouri Congressman Sam Graves countered that it ignores the voice of the entrepreneur.
The comments marked the range of sentiments expressed after the U.S. House approved financial reform legislation on Wednesday.
The chamber passed the Wall… Read more »
By Diane Stafford; Kansas City Star
The argument over whether more government stimulus is needed to spark the economy intensified Friday with an anemic jobs report.
While the unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June from 9.7 percent in May, the decline occurred not because employers added jobs but because a huge number of workers — 650,000 — dropped out of the labor force.… Read more »
By; USA Today/Bloomberg News
The director who'll disperse $20 billion to victims of BP's oil spill warned Wednesday that companies hurt because tourists have stayed away from the Gulf region may not be eligible for reimbursement.
Kenneth Feinberg, whom President Obama appointed to handle claims, told the House Small Business Committee in Washington that determining whether to pay… Read more »
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar; Associated Press
Over and over in the health care debate, President Barack Obama said people who like their current coverage would be able to keep it.
But an early draft of an administration regulation estimates that many employers will be forced to make changes to their health plans under the new law. In just three years, a majority of workers—51… Read more »
Wall Street Journal
President Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill are publicly fretting about the dangers of spending and debt, which can mean only one thing: Another big spending "stimulus" bill is in the works. And sure enough, the House plans to vote this week on $190 billion in new spending, $134 billion of which it won't even pretend to pay for.
Sander Levin, the new Ways and… Read more »
