More anti-business “help”?

I won’t say the following is troubling, or a case of “too little, too late,” just a case of “interesting” …

“The House has approved a $30 billion government fund available to community banks to increase lending to small businesses — a move expected to help create jobs and spark economic growth. While House Democrats project that banks would use the fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans, Republicans criticized the bill as another bailout for banks that would do little for small businesses.”

Regardless of the new and stimulating proposals moving through the Congress, I’m not sure the current overall anti-business atmosphere will do anything but prolong the our chances for real recovery.

A big part of this is the fact that entrepreneurial access to credit is still a problem, three years into our current slow-down:

Small business credit woes …

Entrepreneurs thrive (as do companies) when the “Rules of the Game” are clear and leadership from the top encourages risk taking and innovation.

Yes, policy should hold companies accountable, but it shouldn’t hold them hostage, or force them into deals and schemes that make no economic sense from a profitability point-of-view.

Interesting that in a capitalistic-oriented system, and in dealing with money generally, we use the following words:

• Trust
• Appreciation (as in capital appreciation)
• Gain
• Profit
• Maturity (as in bonds or other financial instruments coming to maturity) …
• Credit

However, it seems as if the policy makers are more interested in finding ways to “fix” all the opposites of these words, instead of finding ways to boost incentives to get more of these positives.

The politicians don’t seem to remember (or know) that small business leads all recoveries, most innovations and is the driving force behind every economic boom in the modern business era.

Washington’s continuing denial of this fact means the U.S. slowdown will continue … and will continue longer than necessary.

Jodie Shaw