Iowa’s small business owners, farmers, community leaders and concerned citizens have until Aug. 20 to register for Iowa Congressman Tom Latham’s 2010 Iowa Community Conference.   This year's community conference, scheduled for Aug. 26 in the Scheman Building on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, will focus on topics related to small businesses and job growth for Iowa… Read more »

By Doug Wilson; Quincy Herald Whig U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer said the business owners he was scheduled to visit in Northeast Missouri today are better suited to create jobs and heal the U.S. economy than members of Congress. On Tuesday, Luetkemeyer voted against what is being touted as a jobs bill by Congress. The legislation, which passed and was signed into law by President… Read more »

Wall Street Journal President Obama has been trying to rebut the claim that he's antibusiness by promoting something called the Small Business Jobs Act, which would provide loans and temporary tax cuts to small businesses. If you've been paying attention over the last 18 months, you're probably asking, what's the catch? And sure enough, most of the tax cuts are so narrowly targeted as… Read more »

Washington, D.C., July 30th - Dear Friends:   Entrepreneurs can’t catch a break these days.  Every month, it seems like Washington threatens a new deluge of taxes, regulations and mandates that will make doing business in America more difficult.  At a time when small business owners are already struggling to understand the new health care and financial regulatory reform laws, Majority… Read more »

By Jay Heflin; The Hill The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council has called on its members to contact their senators and urge them to repeal the mandate requiring small businesses to file 1099 forms to the IRS for purchases over $600. "This new paperwork burden will be a nightmare for small business owners," the group's communication states. "Small business owners know what… Read more »

By Ken Newton; St. Joe News Press The Alamo stands as a symbol of defiance in a fight for independence. Thanks to lax oversight, it would also stand as a business address for a taxpayer-funded federal loan. This came to light Wednesday afternoon as an auditor of Small Business Administration programs testified before a Congressional committee. The top Republican on the panel,… Read more »

By Jason Miller; Federal News Radio The Small Business Administration confirmed that Grande Lum will be the new director of the Historically Underutilized Business Zone program. And Lum, a law professor and founder of Accordence, a consultancy that provides negotiations, conflict management and persuasion and influence services, is walking into a program plagued with problems. A… Read more »

By Grace Gagliano; Bradenton Herald Unemployment tax, health care and job creation are weighing heavily on the minds of small businesses in Manatee and Sarasota counties. Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, held a joint meeting Monday with members of the Manatee and Sarasota chambers of commerce. His message to them about the federal budget was one they’ve heard for quite a… Read more »

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 »