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WASHINGTON -- Saying small businesses would help lead America's economic recovery, President Obama urged Congress to approve a package of measures aimed at helping these companies grow and expand.
Small businesses create "roughly two out of every three new jobs in our country," Obama said, but they lost 2.4 million jobs between the middle of 2007 and the end of 2008. He believes the set of tax breaks and lending incentives being debated in Congress will jump-start hiring.
"Even though we are in the process of digging ourselves out of this recession, we're still in a pretty deep hole," Obama said. "I'm hopeful that the House will pass these measures next week, and that the Senate will follow as soon as possible -- with both support from Democrats and Republicans and I'm eager to sign this tax relief and additional lending into law."
The president made the remarks to the press in the Rose Garden after a private Oval Office meeting with small business owners and their employees, several of whom joined him on stage.
Among other things, the legislation making its way through Congress would eliminate capital gains taxes for investment in small firms, give tax relief to small start ups and create the small business lending fund, which the the president proposed in his State of the Union address, to help underwrite loans through community banks.
The administration has come under constant fire from critics who say expensive legislation like the stimulus package and the health care overhaul have done little to help spur job growth, an issue at the top of voters minds. While the president today touted a growing GDP and five straight months of added jobs, lagging private sector job creation last month disappointed markets and gave more fuel to the Republican opposition.
Obama said the Recovery Act had included seven tax cuts for small businesses and had supported 68,000 loans -- or some $29 billion -- in new lending to small businesses and that more than $8 billion in federal stimulus contracts were now going to small businesses. He said a law that provides tax cuts to businesses that hire unemployed workers and allows companies to write off more for their investments in new equipment were helping these companies, but that more help was needed.
"Millions of our family members, our friends, our neighbors are still looking for work -- they're still faced with the prospect of long-term unemployment; credit is still less available than it should be particularly to small businesses," he said. "We have to keep moving forward."
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How about 'Obama supports help for small business'? Geez--the FR headline suggests Obama is against small business aid--'appeals' has several meanings, one of which is 'to seek to overturn'. Old school editors would have chewed out the cub reporter for this one.
It seems to me that the way to grow the economy is to find a way that will allow people and entrepeneurs to start new small businesses that would increase employment. But how does this happen when banks are being tight to the point of declining anyone's request for a small business loan regardless of their credit history. The best thing for small businesses in this country would be for banks to begin to start lending again for new small business owners and extending the credit of those already in business to maintain their business. If the bansk remain tight with their money how does the government counter this to help withthe growth of small business?
Absolutely correct. The tight fisted greedy bankers need to be less like Scrooge before the ghosts and more like Scrooge after the ghosts.
Wasn't part of the justification with banking bailouts that they would lend to small business? And, how long have various experts been saying that small business is the backbone of the country? Only think good in this is that Obama finally got the picture!
What little bit of business sense I have tells me that instead of going back to the fight of a second stimulus that more good and jobs will result if we incrementally pass measures such as this and infrastructure improvement projects. Small business does drive the economy. As far as the Banker's coming off some buck's working for a business that has gone back to the bank three times this year to complete an expansion that we started right before the crash and not getting it I do know the Bankers are real tight right now.They are making enough right now in just kind of shuffling it around among themselves and I don't think they are going to move out of that until interest rates That they can charge raise a point or two
this is all do to Congress failing the unemployed. I guess 15 million people can effect the economy...
I am not one of the unemployed however see the need for Unemployment extensions...
... Congress needs to be held accountable for the their failure to create a jobs bill and a jobs market.
extending Unemployment is not the answer however it what is needed. the Answer is to create jobs, which will take Congress to place hire taxes on any company that out sources jobs over seas, higher taxes on any funds leaving the US and higher tariffs on imports.
Until then we have to pay out unemployment for the failure of our leaders.
Support unemployment here, it is one of Change.org highest all time petitions.
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/the_99ers_need_a_tier_v_added_to_unemployment_benefits
LOL! How can you dig out of a hole??? I know what he means, it just sounds funny. :)
Yes, the headline writer needed an editor on this one, but fortunately President Obama really gets it in terms of recognizing that small businesses are the main engines of job creation in this country. It's too bad that all the Republicans can ever do is say "No" to everything he proposes.
While the deficit is a matter of legitimate concern, investing in small businesses and helping them generate more jobs will ultimately pay off as an economic strategy. We need to grow the payroll base - and cut wasteful government spending (like for DoD projects that not even the Pentagon wants) - if we really want to get serious about balancing the budget again.
Funny, I seem to recall that President Clinton left office by giving us a surplus in the federal treasury, but so-called conservatives never complained when President Dumbya Bush put two wars and the expensive Medicare Part D program on the nation's credit card, thereby converting the surplus to a deficit again. When will people ever learn? The G.O.P. talks a good game about fiscal restraint, but they can't govern worth a damn and are as irresponsible as teenagers with the public purse.
Can't the Feds make the banks lend or are they all in the back pockets of the industry? I just answer my question didn't I.
I have a suggestion for weekend reading. Matt Taibbi has an article on the Finance Reform efforts in Congress in the June 10th issue of Rolling Stone. Right or left, I think it may frighten you.
We helped the big banks and now they want to use their money overseas for the most profit. Congress better seperate to some degree banks vs investment houses. I will never put money in a bank that uses my money and our insured dollars just to make money for fat cats.
President Obama needs to find some financial advisors who aren't in thrall to Goldman Sachs because he's a fool to think that cutting capital gains taxes on small businesses is going to create any jobs. The mistimed and misaimed capital gains tax cuts are just more tax cut welfare for the rich and greedy. What's really needed is to mandate that the large corporations that cut millions of jobs be forced to start hiring again instead of stuffing all that corporate profit into their pockets as unearned and undeserved bonuses.
Increasing low interest loans for small businesses to start hiring more people is a good idea. We should also cut out the job outsourcing tax credit the dopes of nope passed when they were in power which outsourced millions of good paying union manufacturing jobs to China. Plus we must stop the insourcing of foreign labor to work cheap which also has cost millions of hard working Americans their jobs.
I say don't pass this bill unless it gets rid of the outsourcing jobs tax credit and gets rid of the worthless capital gains tax cut scam.
No Eric. That would be communist for the president to do that.
Ah capitalism! We have a vicious cycle here - small businesses need low costs loans to keep their businesses going which depend on people spending in them but people are not spending and therefore small businesses will default on these loans and will go out of business and people will be laid off. I'm getting to the point that Obama should've just said, "the economy goes in cycles and corrects itself and gov't interference will only make things worse. The Federal Gov't will do nothing as for the economy. We will get through this. Just eat cake!"
So much here. Government can't create jobs. We need to get that through our heads! FDR tried it in the 30s, and we just got the Great Depression.
Governement needs to get uncorrupted! That is the problem. Too many politicans getting too much money and too many perks from the wrong people.
How many people know the banks went to the politicans and told them they were in trouble well before the bubble burst? Not enough. How many remember Franks and Dodd telling the 17 different inquests all was fine? How many know Franklin Reins (Head of Fanny) lied to the congress and the American people to get his huge, undeserved 17Mil bonus? How many know about all the corruption and back washing? Not enough. So much for the watch dogs and the political regulation! The regulators are the most corrupt of all!
Banks are not innocent, but they are not entirely to blame either. And they are scared right now. Everyone is.
I would love to look at your sources, Anita. Not saying your comments aren't true. Just would be interested in learning more.
Anita, can you explain the first statement a bit further. The Great Depression was triggered by the stock market crash in 1929. FDR was elected three years later because the resulting depression had continued, and worsened during that those intervening years. I know that some people have speculated that the depression would have ended without the government intervention, but it is pure speculation and does not account at all for the repercussions to working-class Americans, large numbers of whom were not working, in the interim.
Nationalize the Banks, that will get them to lend and we could see whats actually on the books
What a joke! The few $million that is being thrown to small businesses like a crumb is to take your scorn away from yet another Union bailout. The Democrats being in bed with corrupt unions is the biggest redistribution of wealth from every day tax payers who are being fleeced to make up pension short falls and to pay for democrat candidates races. Every $ that is given to unions is fungible.. when was the last time you saw a union donate money to a GOP Candidate? Even the WH says unions wasted $10million in AR race trying to defeat Lincoln yet WE THE PEOPLE have to give our tax dollars to these thugs? No Thanks