Following the recent news that weekly jobless claims have hit a nine-month high, President Obama issued a statement calling out Congress for not passing a bill that would aid small businesses.
I don’t care for the “Blame Game.” My dad used to drill into me “fix the problem, not the blame.”
That aside, the fact is that the struggles of small business are a major anchor around the neck of the economy. A recent study from the Labor Department points out that more than 60% of all jobs cut in the private sector in the fourth quarter of last year occurred in businesses with less than 50 employees.
This underscores something we already know - America’s job market depends largely on the health of our small businesses. In fact, some estimates say that small businesses are responsible for providing 64% of the jobs in America.
Generating Positive Thinking
Last month 2,000 small business owners were surveyed by the National Federation of Independent Business. They found these owners to be further losing confidence in our economy. Only 9% of those surveyed said they expected to hire more employees. That ain’t gonna get the machine running.
Various versions of a small business bill would provide as much as $30 billion to community banks to boost lending to small businesses and would also add $12 billion on top of that in tax breaks for those businesses. Again, that’s not enough overall - but it’s a start and can provide us a psychic boost. A better vibe. And a better mindset must take hold for people to get hired.
The ranks of deficit hawks can count me amongst their ranks. However, even with all the money pumped into the system by Tarp and Stimulus Packages - for the most part, that money remains locked up and out of the hands of small businesses.
Consider contacting your representatives in Congress to suggest they support job growth by directing incentives to small businesses.