What Do Small Business Owners Want to Hear in the State of the Union Address?
A few days ago, the Main Street Alliance asked small business owners to share what they wanted to hear the President talk about in his upcoming State of the Union address.
We asked: “As a small business owner, what policies would you like to hear the President put forward in the State of the Union Address as part of a vision for supporting small businesses and building an economy that works for the 99 percent in 2012?” Continue reading
Main Street Takes on Wall Street… and Wins
Big bank lobbyists have been putting on a full-court press in Washington, DC to roll back components of the financial overhaul passed last year and free Wall Street to go back to the “business as usual” that led to the financial crisis in 2008.
The bankers are gunning for the new Consumer Protection Bureau and attempting to block the confirmation of a director for the bureau. They’re lobbying to starve regulatory agencies of the funds needed to enforce the provisions of the new law. And on the Senate floor on June 8, they went after small businesses with an amendment to delay (read, kill) new rules limiting debit swipe fees. But this time, the bankers lost. Continue reading
Small Businesses Support Strong Consumer Bureau
New Jersey Main Street Alliance leader Jacquie Germany, owner of Nina’s Nuances Interior Design in Montclair, NJ, had a commentary published in the Washington Post on July 10 in support of financial reform and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Jacquie writes:
Small businesses have been devastated by the economic consequences of Wall Street recklessness and abusive lending, with the recession leading to small-business bankruptcies nearly doubling between March 2008 and March 2009.
Watch Out for Small Business Identity Theft!
Rick Poore, a leader with MSA from Lincoln, Nebraska, had an op-ed published in The Hill for the 10 year anniversary of the Bush tax cuts on June 7. Rick’s piece provides a forceful critique of the claim that the high-end Bush cuts help small business, and warns small business owners to watch out for small business identity theft – the use of false small business arguments to advance the narrow interests of big corporations and the wealthy.
Read Rick’s op-ed in The Hill.
For the 10 year anniversary, MSA released a fact sheet highlighting what small businesses need most: local investment to create jobs, not tax cuts for the wealthy.
Click here to download the fact sheet.
