Like most Americans, I'm all for small businesses. Those plucky entrepreneurs, staking their own claims, pursuing an idea or even a dream... they have a solid place in the American firmament.
Then again, like most economists, I'm wary of crafting policy based on firm size. As I've stressed in these parts, I'm particularly suspicious of claims that small businesses are disproportionate job creators. The best research suggests that new firms that survive -- and less than half live past five -- can be big job creators, but old, small businesses tend to stay that way.
Still, based on their competitive disadvantages to large firms -- credit access, capital cushions, entrée into foreign markets, tighter operating margins -- our small businesses often need some policy help.
And that's why I was happy to see this profile today of John Arensmeyer, the founder of the Small Business Majority, an important alternative to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). Here's how Arensemeyer describes the SBMs raison d'être:
I felt that on many issues, the business organizations took very ideological, sort of blanket positions. For instance, all government is bad, or all government regulation is bad. That's not the way most small business owners think. Most small business owners welcome government involvement sometimes, recognize a role for government sometimes, and sometimes they think government has gone too far...Whether the issue was taxes or regulations, just to blanketly say all taxes are bad or all regulations are bad, I didn't think that was an appropriate way to look at the world. I think it has hindered the ability of those organizations to really work constructively with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to forge solutions.
Health care costs are a huge issue for small businesses that cover their workers, and while the NFIB was a name plaintiff in the case against the Affordable Care Act, the SBM has been highly supportive, recognizing the benefits to small firms of the broad pooling mechanisms in the law.
They also identify the importance of economically healthy customers. No business embraces taxes and regulations, but if you listen to what many small business folks are actually saying, many of their concerns right now have a lot more to do with foot traffic by consumers than taxes or the EPA.
On the other hand, if you listen to the NFIB, you don't hear the concerns of small businesses, you hear the Koch brothers' agenda. So I'm glad to see another player on the scene, one who's actually looking out for the little guy/gal.
This post originally appeared at Jared Bernstein's On The Economy blog.
Follow Jared Bernstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@econjared
Who is going to cover the person living under a bridge.or makes less than $12,000 a year?
The first some of these people will know of any of this is when they show up half dead in a hospital. These people have no interest in reading about this plan.
Good luck. I wish you all the best.
The real question is what can an "impartial" observer say that Obama has done to 'HELP" small business. No wonder the private sector still employs 3.5% fewer workers today than in 2007. No wonder the unemployment rate is higher today 8.2%.
Any claim that President Obama is helping small business in the private sector isn't supported by the facts.
And what they say, is they disapprove of the job Obama has done. Thus, it isn't Obama and the Democrats who represent small business. After all, they didn't build their businesses, somebody else did.
A visit to their website shows they are a recent creation, and prominently feature environmentalists and lawyers on their board of directors. I'm confident that environmentalists and lawyers have their own advocacy groups.
The NFIB isn't perfect. But it works hard to represent its members, who otherwise lack any voice in places like Washington DC where their fate is at the mercy of armies of lobbyists (including environmentalists and lawyers). The NFIB is the only spokesperson we have, and this "Small Business Majority" doesn't look like it's anywhere close to filling that role.