WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - President Barack Obama on Thursday urged passage of a package of provisions including legislation that would set up a $30 billion fund that would help community banks offer loans to small businesses. "The jobs bill would eliminate taxes on key investments in small businesses and allow small business owners to write off more expenses and it would make it easier for community banks to do more lending to small businesses," Obama said. "This small business jobs bill is based on ideas made by both Democrats and Republicans." The bill is stalled in the Senate after Democrats in July failed to obtain a filibuster-proof 60 votes needed to end debate on the bill. Legislators are tentatively scheduled to consider the bill on Sept. 14 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-urges-passage-of-small-business-jobs-bill-2010-08-19-123550 See that really tall column in the corner? That is new companies under 50 employees. What these small companies need is lower taxes, less regulation and strong property rights. http://www.drjeffcornwall.com/2009/01/the-impact-of-small-business-o.html
If the US is ever going to get back in gear..........this is where it has to happen in the small business sector. I don't care for Obama, but the more done here, the better his and our chances. what the hell did Bush do anyway, except help run more into the ground by sheer neglect.
Here we are again months later still trying to push this jobs bill to small businesses. Why the fuck would a small business need a loan now? Are they going to go out and buy more product and equipment and hire new employees when demand IS NOT there, no one has a CLUE how this cycle works. Forcing job growth is not the answer and spending money to create jobs is certainly not the answer either. Enough with the free handouts and trying to stimulate everything from falling apart, the reason why we are in this crisis is because they never let the cycle take its course, I just don't understand why so many are against a recession, its part of the economic cycle and trying to print our way out of these problems and bring down interest rates to historical lows is not the answer. They need to let the economy do its own thing and stop intervening, this is only going to cause even more hardship on our economy down the road.
S2007S: We are currently (3 yrs.) in a deep recession bordering on depression. Small business needs access when and if we come out on the other side.
I'm not totally disagreeing with you, but I do like to play devil's advocate. I think the rationale is not so much that 'recessions are bad and need to be prevented' but rather 'we can do things to prevent a Great Depression-like depression'. We're looking back at history and asking, 'what could have been done to prevent that kind of scenario?'. I think most economists would agree that the Great Depression could have been handled a lot better, and did not need to be so ....depressing. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying it, but didn't the US pull itself out from the Great Depression in large part through the massive government spending in the war effort? I think that is the rationale behind all the stimulus mentality. I don't have a problem with that mentality, but I want to make sure that we're using our money in the right way.
Jobs bill? Pffffft... What Obama is doing and what needs to be done to promote job growth in the USA are on different planets.
Why wasn't this in the original stimulus? Oh, that's right, virtually all of the original stimulus went to unions, governments, and real estate orgs. (to help Fannie and Freddie.)
I happened to rub elbows with a couple of tax partners in a middle-tier accounting firm. Their client base is small and family-owned business (100 - 1000 employees, 10mil to 250mil annual revenue). They told me, and they are advising their clients, to prepare to take distributions, especially capital gains, before the Bush tax rates expire and the capital gains tax rates rise. That says to me: A lot of small business owners are going to hold on to cash that they can take as a distribution/capital gain instead of reinvesting that cash to grow their businesses and, therefore, hire new employees. The small businesses that need loans from community banks to keep operating aren't creating the jobs anyway. So, this small business jobs bill isn't going to do much. The small businesses that create the jobs are the ones with cash flow... the car wash owner who can open a 9th location in his city/region, or who can take $500k out of his business as a capital gain now because he fears Obama is going to jack up rates next year. Yeah, I can hear some of you now: Car wash jobs aren't the kinds of jobs we want anyway. When a entrepreneur opens a car wash, dozens of ancillary jobs are created and economic activity expands. There are architects, construction workers, hiring managers, accountants, etc. that get work. Plus there's all the sales people involved in selling the car washing systems and even the little chemical-smelling felt pine trees that hang off of the rear view mirror. The entrepreneur than also has to advertise his new car wash in local papers, local TV, or through direct mail couponing. So, even a crappy little car wash opening creates jobs and economic growth. But, whatever, let Obama tax the guys creating the jobs... they can take their money and go on a cruise with the wife instead of busting ass to open another location.
The "massive government spending" was from the countries at war at the time. They were desperately trying to survive. The US didn't enter the war until Pearl Harbor.