Corporate Giants Land Obama Small Business Funds Under ARRA
In December of 2008, President Barack Obama's Presidential transition team estimated that for every billion dollars spent on federal infrastructure projects, 40,000 jobs would be created nationwide. (http://tiny.cc/POj7a ) Yet on Thursday, the Obama Administration released its first report on the distribution of dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) claiming that it has distributed $16 billion in stimulus funds and created 30, 383 jobs. (http://bit.ly/1ulfGz)
Based on the Obama Administration's December 2008 estimates regarding job creation, the ARRA funds spent to date should have created 640,000 jobs. Thursday's numbers represent a shortfall of 609, 617 jobs.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) maintains that if the Obama Administration had allocated more money for small businesses, the ARRA funds spent would have created significantly more jobs.
The ASBL points to the following:
- According to data from the United States Census Bureau, businesses with fewer than 20 employees account for 90 percent of all U.S. firms, and are responsible for more than 97 percent of all net new jobs. (http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html)
- Small businesses are responsible for more than 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 90 percent of innovations and over 50 percent of our nation's non-farm private sector workforce. (http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/profiles/08us.pdf)
On Oct. 2, the Small Business Administration claimed that small businesses had been awarded nearly 26 percent of all federal stimulus dollars awarded to date, or $4 billion. (http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1009/100609rb1.htm)
That said, the ASBL has found significant discrepancies in the government's data, which are consistent with more than 15 federal investigations indicating that every year billions of dollars in federal contracts intended for small businesses actually go to some of the largest corporations in the world. Since 2003, firms like: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Dell Computer, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in South Korea and the Italian Finmeccanica SpA, have received billions of dollars in federal small business contracts.
With that in mind, small businesses have received a mere fraction of the total dollars awarded by the government, while Fortune 500 corporations are reaping the benefits of the stimulus.
If President Obama is serious about creating jobs and stimulating our nation's economy, he should honor his campaign promise to, "stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants," by issuing an executive order or by supporting H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009. (http://bit.ly/4fRrGq, http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf)
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Follow Lloyd Chapman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LloydChapman
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When will the Obama administration realize that they need to focus more on their small business funding to help get the economy moving?
Needless to say I am not surprised! There have been so many false promises made by this administration it is just par for the course. One good thing you can say about Obama as at least he is consistent, he consistently makes false promises, he consistently says one thing and does another, he consistently supports large business and of course he consistently ignores the needs of small business.
It is truly amazing to me to think that he won the Nobel Peace Prize and stated " A Call to Action" Well we have seen the action so far and I am willing to bet he will continue to be consistent.
A small portion of this bill promised to help job creation. Now even that turns out to be a HUGE waste. Why isn't anyone else noticing this?? Our hard-earned money is being given to the government in taxes and then being mismanaged so poorly that the government can miss their job creation goals by over 300,000 and there is one man that cries foul. What the hell is going on??? Where is the outrage?
I am outraged! But sometimes I feel like the only one! You said it with "Our" money - it is our money and the government is taking it and handing ti BACK to large business and not creating squat for the small businesses that make this country what it is. Our US Govt = "Rob" n "Hoods" . Rob from the poor and give to the rich - what a bunch of hoodlums!
I have some very dear friends of mine that have lost their jobs, lost their homes, and lost a lot of hope. Whatever happened to, "Thats not change, that is more of the same?"
Politics is very sad... hopefully some politicans will do what is right, I have no hope for Nobel Winner Obama
When will anyone with any power actually "get" this issue?
Years and years of completely ignoring the needs of small business while billions go to major corporations have put us right where we are today.....on the way to 20% unemployment.
The economy is not getting better it is getting......wake up and smell small businesses getting burned all across the country
Why is there always a difference between what our politicians say and what they do??? AMAZING!
16 billion for 35,000 jobs? Just give the 50 grand to the laid off unemployed and let them spend it anyway they want. It's the laid off taxpayers hard earned money, not some screwed up wall street banks, so just give it back to them.
Mr. Chapman,
I really admire your passion and persistence.
As a small business owner, my employees and I certainly wish you very well.
Alas, I do not believe that the Obama administration or Democrats have evidenced any action on behalf of small business or average taxpayers.
Their focus would seem to be on their owners - the needs of the executives of the large corporations - because that's where their "donations" come from.
Good luck.
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