For the record – I remain perched on the fence between Democrats and Republicans. I have not yet found a compelling reason to align with either party. That doesn’t mean however, that I don’t have very strong feelings when it comes to policy that impacts small business.
I have been asked to speak about my response to the State of the Union as a small business owner tomorrow on Fox Business. I just finished listening, and I am mixed on how I feel. I’d love to believe that $30B really will be directed to community banks, but I am finding that very hard to believe considering how difficult it has been to continue the funding of the very successful SBA Recovery Act. I just can’t get past the fact that there now exists a “loan queue” for SBA loans. I am not kidding, check it out for yourself here: http://www.sba.gov/recoveryq/index.html (and I have to point-out that this queue is for already lender-approved loans) Due to the recent appropriation of approximately $130M more, we bought some time and it is predicted that this money will last until the middle of February. I am glad the vote was passed to add these funds to the Recovery Act – but really, $130M? Aren’t small businesses supposed to be “the way our economy will recover”? Hard to take these missives seriously when such a very small percentage of stimulus funds have gone to small businesses.
I say, put your money where your mouth is. If small business is going to be the savior of the American economy let’s make some real financial commitments to help us accomplish just that.
More to come, I’m just getting started!
