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June 22, 2004
Washington's Small-Business Tussle
Posted by Rod Kurtz at 11:02 AM
As the presidential campaign season chugs along, I've come to realize that the time-honored tradition of candidates kissing babies has been replaced by candidates kissing up to the small business community. Along the way, it seems, somebody realized that babies aren't swing voters, and that makes perfect sense to me. Then again, I write about small business for a living.
Here at Inc., we're often quick to point out that small businesses generate roughly 75 percent of new jobs, as evidence of their sweeping -- and generally underrated -- influence. The Blue Chippers command the headlines in the business section, but the entrepreneur can have just as much impact on the economy.
Last week, I attended the National Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C., organized by the National Federation of Independent Business, and got to see President Bush's play for the small business vote first hand.
Though the three-day summit felt at times like a campaign rally -- with at least one attendee telling me that the president's re-election is the biggest challenge facing her company -- it also provided a window into the issues affecting a cross section of small businesses across the country. Perhaps more than anything else, I heard complaints about a broken and costly health care system, with near-universal support for Health Savings Accounts, and the proposed association health plans -- a piece of legislation snaking its way through Congress that, supporters say, would essentially allow small businesses to band together and purchase more affordable insurance.
As focus shifts to November, both Bush and Kerry are trying to paint themselves as the small business candidate, and their supporters are lapping it up. The small business owners I spoke with last week certainly see Bush as a friend in the White House. Whether their policies reflect a genuine commitment to entrepreneurship is, like everything else in Washington, up for debate.
But regardless of your political stripes, the president made a comment during his speech that I think, deliberately or not, speaks to the influence entrepreneurs can and should have in this election. "The way I see it is," Bush said, "what's good for small business is good for America." It's funny, I always thought what was good for General Motors (read: the aforementioned Big Business) was good for America. Sure, it's largely stump speech boilerplate with no tangible effect. But like I said, I write about small business for a living. And this kind of recognition on the campaign trail -- from both candidates --is, if nothing else, encouraging to see.
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Nice job, Rod!
Hey Rod,
I think you may be drinking too much of the Kool-Aid. Look at what Bush has done cutting the SBA's budget. How is that good for small business?
Thanks for the post, Vincent. While it's tough to sit through three days of campaign rhetoric for any candidate and not come away a little spun, I wasn't really making the case that President Bush is a champion for small business. In fact, for both parties, I think words speak a lot louder than actions when it comes to small business, and your example about the SBA budget is a good one. When I returned from Washington, I was talking with a politically astute friend of mine, and I mentioned how many passionate Bush supporters were at the conference. His response was, "Don't they realize that neither party cares about small business owners?" He was joking, but unfortunately, there's a little truth behind every joke.
That said, I have noticed a greater recognition on the campaign trail, of the impact entrepreneurs have on the economy, and that is encouraging, as I noted in my column. I highlighted the president's allusion to General Motors as an example of what may be a shift in thinking on both sides of the aisle. Had I been at a John Kerry event, I'm sure he would've produced an equally punchy one-liner. The challenge now is to get them to put a little more substance behind their messages.
I am not sure about the nature of the SBA cuts, but I do believe that small business will benefit more from the tax cuts passed last year (and the HSA legislation) than be hurt by the reductions in the SBA budget. Tax cuts help all small businesses while the SBA helps a small percentage.
In March, writer Elizabeth Wasserman and I reported on the state of the SBA 7(a) loan program. Click here if you'd like to read the article.
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