SBA Loan Programs Need Bear Grylls-like Help
13 commentsOctober 22nd, 2009 | 10:33 am
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"This process involved several significant issues, all of which required thoughtful input. MCC was great at handling these.” - Anu Saxena ASC Geosciences |
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October 22nd, 2009 | 10:33 am
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So where will we be next?
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I've come to appreciate your blogs. I sure connect to your suggestions to stimulate the small business market.
I'm sure you join me in praying for our leaders (to come out of the darkness in their minds) that they may stop hurting the country and stand for morally sound fiscal and social policies.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:20 pm
For the last couple of years, I have been buying pet supplies at a locally-owned shop near my home. Recently, I noticed that the on-hand inventory has gotten very thin and asked the owner what was happening. He explained that about a year ago he had opened a second location on the other side of town. This location was in a newly completed strip center and although he was one of the first occupants, he was assured that he would have neighbors very, very soon. Well, the economy tanked, the promised neighbors never arrived and the 2nd store has been a drain on his resources. He has not been able to secure any sort of loan for inventory, which is considered an operating expense, and will probably lose the 2nd store. These are the kinds of entrepreneurs the government needs to help. Folks with a solid track record who find themselves in circumstances beyond their control.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Chris has said it as well as anyone, and over and over again. Small business has always and continues to be the engine that drives our economic growth and provides most of the employment in our economy as well. If we don't put gas in the engine it's difficult to understand how we can expect it to talk us anywhere.
Keep advocating policies that make sense and most importantly have a real chance of making a difference.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Unless Wall Street is controlled this drama is going to continue. We do not see it but there is more than meets the eye and what we hear on the news. Personally, no one is worth $100m or more for any job in any category. I mean any job as an individiual to get paid for his work assignment.
There needs to be check & balance in place. I mean for a particular position in any field the level of compensation must have a maximum. Live with it or take off.
The free-enterprise-system has really dome some damage and it is too deep now. America is no longer the most desired place on earth to live or move to, like it was. Europe and other parts of Asia have taken the lead. America is a heaven for crooks and easy money….we read about it daily. e.g Madoff case, etc.
USA only 3 years ago was the easiest place on God's earth to get credit.(credt cards, stated income mortgages, SBA loans, other loans) the results of which our children will see and it has started already. God bless us all.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Chris, It is laughable to read the amount that will be allocated to 'enhance' SBA Loans. I spoke with a banker friend who is a member of ABA(American Banker's Association) and he told me that in the next three years $80 TRILLION in commercial loans need to be refinanced.(Yes with a T) The challenge is that the places businesses(small - BIG) have gone are scrambling to meet FR and FDIC reserve requirements. The lending institutions are calling good loans to pay for the bad… and the borrowers on the good loans can not find alternative financing. I have a remedy to help if I could get the audience with Bernanke or Geitner. -the remedy is not upping micro loans amounts by $15k by the way - what a joke!
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I agree with your views on how to stimulate the economy. When is the government going to realize that the rich do not care or filter their money down to the middle class? The middle class is keeping the middle class afloat, by the grace of God. The rich only care about the middle class when they are working to make them more rich. They are rich because they don't give money away and when they do, they give to a nonprofit company that they own. They are the president of the nonprofit and get a salary from that business also. Sadly most of our government leaders are rich person so they cannot relate to the flight of the small business person. The money never makes it to the people who it.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Well, having been arouund for perhaps three times some of you who have responded or at least twice, I confess that I have no clue. I started my first business in 1953 and I started my last business in 1990.Both started with minimal capital but under the true free enterprise system. Most of my business was related to home building and I remember every recession we went through. Home building led us out of every one. But, I never saw anything like this. And, I believe that our President is incompetent and his agenda excludes entrepreneurs. He has never been one. No one of strength is challenging him and I believe your only salvation will be to have major wins by the conservatives, soon. But, don't count on that. They are good at shooting themselves in the foot.
I have never been a pessimist but reality is what it is and it seems very much like it has been designed.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Brian –
You might agree with my views here, but I cannot agree with yours. I think you've oversimplified how the "rich" act and whether money filters down or not. If it weren't for the rich, most not-for-profits would have very limited funds — what you're calling the "rich" give away a substantial amount of money. A successful businessperson who offers a product or service the marketplace finds valuable, and becomes wealthy in the process, is not inherently "bad" or "evil." To quote the infamous "impresario," Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, "You can't help the poor if you're one of them."
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Chris:
I love reading your emails and going your blog. I feel we all need to help and like you I am trying to do my part. Small businesses do not have the money to hire high priced consultants or buy expensive software. So many are unaware of what they have already in their computer such as Microsoft's programs; Access, Excel and PowerPoint to help them survive and prosper. I am offering a free downloadable book to guide them on my website ramloans.com. Please check it out.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:34 am
For some of us small businesses, the banks have managed to ruin our credit by deciding to pull our lines of credit with no notice. Not sure how we are expected to get any kind of loan and will probably put many of us out of business. Yet they get bail out money from the goverment. I believe you are on the right track. The small business of this country is what makes the machine roll down the tracks.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Chris,
I have one 6 and another 10 years old daughters too… Glad to see that you are also looking at our kids future…
October 27th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Don't look to the Government to help us out of this economic mess.
They are the reason we are in it.
It's up to you and your company to help businesses.
"The glass is either half empty or half full."
October 28th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I agree with you Chris, except the part about "blowing it up entirely": what may seem terribly inadequate to some may very well be a god-send to others. The paperwork needs to be streamlined and the amount increased, true; but there are some who have managed to get through the maze and the funds have lifted a number of small businesses to a higher level. Tiny progress, but progress. But isn't that how we make in life? Many small steps can lead to large successes.