A wish list for small businesses
Small businesses want a number of things from the incoming Obama administration, including some of the money from the federal bailout. Health insurance and credit card reform are also on the agenda. Mitchell Hartman reports.
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Scott Jagow: There's plenty of ruckus over helping the banks and the car companies. But if you listen closely, you might hear small business people around the country squeaking out: What about me? A small business lobby just issued a list of what the little guy needs. From our Entrepreneurship Desk at Oregon Public Broadcasting, Mitchell Hartman reports.
Mitchell Hartman: The National Small Business Association wants the new Obama administration to lower fees on SBA loans and elevate the SBA chief to Cabinet-level.
More affordable health insurance is on the agenda, as is credit card reform, says Keith Ashmus, the group's incoming chairman.
Keith Ashmus: Many small businesses use credit cards as a major form of financing.
Ashmus says what's killing small business is higher fees and rates that often kick in without warning on all your credit cards, after you've been late with just a single payment.
The group also wants some federal bailout money to flow directly to small business, rather than giving it all to giant corporations and expecting it to trickle down.
Ashmus: You certainly don't want to stop the source of the trickle. But at the same time, you need to water the roots.
Ashmus says the government could water those roots by increasing the amount of R&D money it puts into small high-tech firms to get them off the ground.
I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
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