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Economy: The engine of most of our job growth is still suffering two years after the recession supposedly ended. When will the White House and Congress start listening to the problems of small business?
Small businesses were once rightly seen as the entrepreneurial backbone of our nation's economy and way of life. But today they're demonized by the White House as "millionaires and billionaires," and the medicine that's been forced down their throats — $830 billion of stimulus, $1.7 trillion of Fed mad-money, $700 billion of TARP bailouts and $1.75 trillion in yearly regulation costs — has only made them sicker.
Small businesses bear the brunt of this failed experiment in Keynesianism. U.S. Bancorp's 2011 small business survey, just released last month, shows the vast majority of small businesses — 78% to be exact — "think the U.S. economy is currently in recession," despite Obama's whopping stimulus.
Worse, 85% believe things won't get any better next year.
Meanwhile, a separate monthly economy survey by the National Federation of Independent Business finds pervasive gloom among small businesses.
"New jobs are not to be found on Main Street," said the NFIB's chief economist, William Dunkelberg. "Overall, the June employment numbers quashed any hope of establishing a positive trend in job creation. It was a serious reversal."
How serious? As Dunkelberg noted, in June, a minuscule 7% of U.S. small-business owners increased employment, a 4-percentage-point decline from May.
In short, our small-business job engine is broke. More than half of all businesses in the U.S. Bancorp survey cited one of three factors: Economic uncertainty, poor sales and excessive regulation.
With $1 trillion in deficits stretching as far as the eye can see, and with Democrats looking to hike taxes to pay for their fiscal profligacy, small-business owners are justifiably afraid.
"Small business is the source of job creation," the NFIB website notes, "but economic growth will be stalled if Congress continues unchecked spending while increasing taxes and placing new mandates on America's job creators."
A study last year by the Small Business Administration noted that small businesses employ about half of all U.S. workers, and other data — including our own — show they create more than 80% of all new jobs.
How many times must it be said? A true expansion cannot take place without the participation of small business.
Foreign Policy: It's official — the radical Muslim Brotherhood has co-opted America's agenda in the Mideast and possibly the broader war. The Obama administration has formalized ties with the group. In a shocking first, the State Department will now allow diplomats to deal directly ...
Politics: Has corruption tainted even the battle over free trade? If not, why has the White House buried its own study of a jobs "retraining" program that it insists Congress must vote for as a condition for signing three trade deals? A Labor Department study on the effectiveness of Trade ...
Politics: The Obama administration recently created a new White House post charged with rapidly responding to unfavorable stories. They could have spared the taxpayers $72,500, since the mainstream press is already doing that job free of charge. A case in point is the media's rapid and ...
Environment: The most recent "climate change" news is not about rising sea levels, baking temperatures or an increase in deadly storms. No, the latest news is that the world did not warm between 1998 and 2008. The study discussed in the editorial above discovered that, although global ...
Here's why getting to a deal on the debt ceiling is so complicated. President Obama's main goal is to get through this fight with the government still running and his support from the political center intact, even if this means substantial concessions to Republicans. House Republican leaders want ...
Posted By: Judith from Michigan(4375) on 7/6/2011 | 10:09 PM ET
But, if we had Soviet-Style Central Planning & govt ownership of business, we wouldn't have to worry about small business creating jobs. The govt will do it. Voila! Prosperity for all. Mr O & Co are leading the way to this utopia. We should be grateful.
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