Politically and economically, the U.S. in 2011 fell flat on its face. There are several reasons why our government miserably failed us this year but the most devastating reason is that it did absolutely nothing to help the economy. In fact, the Obama administration helped make matters worse. Here are my top six reasons why the Obama administration failed us in 2011:
1. Failed to realize that small businesses create all the net new jobs and instead directed most economic stimulus to large corporations that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data and the Kauffman Foundation, most likely have not created one net new job in 30 years.
2. President Obama failed to honor his 2008 campaign promise to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. The federal government is required to award 23 percent of all prime contract dollars to legitimate small businesses but because of fraud, loopholes and lack of oversight, most of that money is awarded to Fortune 500 corporations and their subsidiaries.
3. Decreased transparency in federal contracting by removing the parent company duns number from the Federal Procurement Data System, making it easier for large corporations to misrepresent their size status in order to hijack small business contracts and for the government to misrepresent the true volume of contracts awarded to small businesses.
4. Announced plans to remove from the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) one of the largest and most effective federal contracting programs for minority-owned small businesses, originally established through the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr., and the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Dismantling of this program could cost minority-owned small businesses up to $25 billion annually and unemployment among minorities will undoubtedly rise as a result. It is ironic that minority communities were moved to tears when Barack Obama was elected president and now he is removing one of their simplest and most effective methods of economic stimulus.
5. He tried to create jobs by using tax cuts when most leading economists agree that tax cuts do not create jobs. Tax cuts will increase the deficit and ultimately harm the economy.
6. He will extend the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program (CSPTP), which establishes anti-small business policies that exempt large defense contractors from disclosing whether they've met their small business subcontracting goals and also exempts large defense contractors from any penalties of non-compliance with congressionally mandated small business procurement goals. All evidence shows that this hurts small businesses.
Judging by his actions, it seems that Barack Obama is becoming one of the most anti-small business presidents in U.S. history. People need to stop listening to what he says and start watching what he does.
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One thing the comment seem to forget : check your facts before posting please : almost a million jobs have been created in the private sector. do your homework .
The US government must stop creating new legislation that drives US businesses and those US jobs to foreign countries.
The US government should repeal the laws that they created that caused and economically required that US businesses and their US jobs to relocate to foreign nations.
Nations need to make the things that they consume, not give title to in-country located farms, land, businesses, hotels, etc to pay for the things that they consume, especially when they consume much more than they create.
Not a thing he has done improved employment.
THE MAIN REASONS FOR THE LACK OF BLUE COLLAR MIDDLE CLASS JOB CREATION BUSINESS ACTIVITY IN THE USA ARE:
US labor costs many times as much as Asian Labor according to the DOL website:
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ForeignLabor/ichccpwsuppt01.txt
The increased cost of Extended Unemployment Benefits will be added to US company payroll costs.
The cost of National Healthcare Reform cost will be added to US company payroll costs.
The increasing cost of compliance with existing and proposed new environmental laws.
The cost of electrical energy that is generated in the USA in compliance with US EPA regulations is more than double the cost for the same amount (kilowatt hours) of electrical energy in most Asian countries.
Existing environmental laws, and the anticipated costs of future environmental legislation that will be "piled onto" our remaining US located industries if they elect to stay in the USA instead of relocating to overseas locations.
I live in Houston and we are still afraid that the proposed "Cap and Trade" will be created by the US congress in the future, and then our remaining petrochemical industries will ECONOMICALLY BE REQUIRED relocate to foreign countries.
The 2012 budget will
Enhancing Small Business Access to Credit.
Eliminating capital gains taxes on investments in small business stock, enhancing the availability of ‘patient capital’.
Promote Impact Investment in Economically Distressed Regions.
Help Small Businesses Obtain Early-Stage Financing. The Innovation Fund - to address the capital gap many start-ups face between "angel investor" financing and later-stage venture capital financing.
Help Small Businesses Connect to Regional Growth. The Emerging Leaders initiative provides technical assistance to companies located in distressed economic areas. Broader small business participation in regional economic clusters
Strengthen Small Business Exports...$526 million for the International Trade Administration to continue implementation of the National Export Initiative, increase American exports and export...supports the activities of the Export-Import Bank to strengthen its efforts to promote small business exports and to meet increased financing demands at no cost to the taxpayer.
Enhance Regional Economic Competitiveness... support America COMPETES Act ... a new Growth Zone program and more streamlined access to government assistance to 20 new economically distressed areas. Replacing the Empowerment Zone program, the Growth Zones will include a mix of rural and urban areas that will be selected through a national competition that will judge their competitive strategies and their need and ability to attract investment and growth.
Support Community Banks. The Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) administered by the Department of Treasury. Double the Small Employer Pension Plan Startup Credit
How the F is Obama supossed to do anything for you guys what YOU don't even know what you want????????
This also seems suspect with some of rhetoric involved in this. I'd really like to know what sort of "Small Business" advocacy group he's involved in.
Large Corporations are the ones who are able to create jobs quickly -- if they want to. A business with a manufacturing and distribution base, with export operations in place can quickly expand.
Small businesses cannot expand so quickly. A large order put into a small company means chaos. If the company cannot fill the order, it must expand to fill the order (time costs, and will expansion be sustainable?), farm out the order, or refuse it.
Small businesses can't compete on price. It costs more to run a small business. Small businesses cannot command the price breaks for materials, can't get loans from banks at the low rates large businesses do, and can't scale up and down quickly! Big companies have more clout, purchasing power and resources.
Small businesses do create the most jobs -- at lower wages. Large businesses have more stable business prospects and cash flows. They can afford larger salaries (though they, too, like to cut wages!).
Want to encourage small businesses? Instead of one-time contracts, provide help for scaling, loans for startup at good rates, and accept some higher costs for doing business with small businesses! And keep the contracts to work done in America by Americans.
Many of the large systems I install, cut the labor force of a 500,000 sqft warehouse by 30% in the first year. When that equipment shows that it pays for itself, they buy more.
Super blade servers and clouds have cut office workers by thousands, as well as offsite support and payroll systems. Unskilled factory jobs and white shirt office jobs are becoming dinosaurs. Outsourcing is king.
Small businesses like restaurants, cleaners, construction companies, bakeries, service industries are the only ones that are not wholely affected by the automation. We send our kids to college to learn what? to be a teacher? Arts? Social jobs? and other "hard to get a job" majors. No wonder you end up with OWS.
We need to re-think free markets and regulations. You are correct, it is getting very expensive to run a small business. Our government has, over time, crippled productivity inadvertantly. We cannot compete against the world market, and we should not have to.
http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1937
Your hyperbole is quite obvious.
So the government gives us temp road workers building "infrastructure" and if we spent the money ourselves we may get more auto workers, or restaurant owners, or t-shirt makers, etc. Only the private sector can actually create jobs.
The government should focus on making the climate conducive to job creation and business expansion.
Please tell me where this is authorized by the Constitution.
My father is a Kennedy Democrat and I'm an Ayn Rand/ Ron Paul kinda voter, but the one wise thing he pointed out to me is that we are all better off when the House, Senate and Presidency are divided.
It's an "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" thing.
You prefer the mom and pop family business to a steel mill or Bath Iron Works.?
The wage and benefit levels are much higher in the MFG large business.
Also much lower in service and retail industries.
That is what is needed,lge mfg. industries.
Ron Paul will audit the fed and stop the insanity.