President of the American Small Business League (ASBL) Lloyd Chapman tells CNBC where the jobs are in this economy.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
New SBA Administrator Supports Plan to Divert Small Business Contracts to Wealthy Venture Capitalists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship voted unanimously to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Small Business Administration (SBA), multi-millionaire venture capitalist, Karen Gordon Mills. As predicted, during the hearing Mills voiced her support for legislation that will divert government small business contracts to some of the nation's wealthiest investors. The full senate is expected to vote on Mills' confirmation by the end of the week.
During the hearing, Mills was asked a question regarding participation in the government's Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) by firms that are owned and controlled by some of the nation's wealthiest investors. Mills acknowledged that she will support legislation that will divert small business contracts to venture capitalists.
In addition to the appointment of venture capitalist Mills to head the SBA, President Obama has already announced that he intends to adopt a policy that will exempt the sale of stock in small businesses from capital gains tax. This appears to be the one-two punch, into which venture capitalists have poured millions of dollars in campaign contributions, and years of lobbying.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) predicts that within a matter of months, the Obama Administration will move forward with its plans to adopt policies that will divert government small business contracts to venture capital controlled companies, while at the same time giving venture capital companies an exemption from capital gains tax when they divest themselves of their interests in those firms.
The ASBL has vowed to oppose the Obama Administration's efforts to divert small business contracts to some of its top campaign contributors from the venture capital industry.
"To me, it is unconscionable for President Obama to campaign for 'change we can believe in,' and then turn around and nominate an SBA Administrator who will support legislation designed to allow multi-millionaire investors to hijack federal programs designed to assist small businesses," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "It is not reasonable to open yet another federal small business program to widespread abuse as our country moves closer and closer to what could be the worst economic catastrophe in American history. President Obama is clearly allowing venture capitalists to buy access to federal small business programs by contributing to his campaign."
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Please contact the American Small Business League at info (at) asbl.com. Thank you.
April 2, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship voted unanimously to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Small Business Administration (SBA), multi-millionaire venture capitalist, Karen Gordon Mills. As predicted, during the hearing Mills voiced her support for legislation that will divert government small business contracts to some of the nation's wealthiest investors. The full senate is expected to vote on Mills' confirmation by the end of the week.
During the hearing, Mills was asked a question regarding participation in the government's Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) by firms that are owned and controlled by some of the nation's wealthiest investors. Mills acknowledged that she will support legislation that will divert small business contracts to venture capitalists.
In addition to the appointment of venture capitalist Mills to head the SBA, President Obama has already announced that he intends to adopt a policy that will exempt the sale of stock in small businesses from capital gains tax. This appears to be the one-two punch, into which venture capitalists have poured millions of dollars in campaign contributions, and years of lobbying.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) predicts that within a matter of months, the Obama Administration will move forward with its plans to adopt policies that will divert government small business contracts to venture capital controlled companies, while at the same time giving venture capital companies an exemption from capital gains tax when they divest themselves of their interests in those firms.
The ASBL has vowed to oppose the Obama Administration's efforts to divert small business contracts to some of its top campaign contributors from the venture capital industry.
"To me, it is unconscionable for President Obama to campaign for 'change we can believe in,' and then turn around and nominate an SBA Administrator who will support legislation designed to allow multi-millionaire investors to hijack federal programs designed to assist small businesses," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "It is not reasonable to open yet another federal small business program to widespread abuse as our country moves closer and closer to what could be the worst economic catastrophe in American history. President Obama is clearly allowing venture capitalists to buy access to federal small business programs by contributing to his campaign."
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Please contact the American Small Business League at info (at) asbl.com. Thank you.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
New SBA Administrator Should Address Biggest Problem First
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – No problem facing the Small Business Administration has been the subject of more federal investigations and more media attention than the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. The American Small Business League (ASBL) has estimated that every year more than $100 billion in federal small business contracts are diverted from legitimate small businesses to some of the largest corporations in the United States and Europe.
Since U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that firms with less than 20 employees create more than 97 percent of all new jobs in America, bringing an end to the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to "corporate giants" should be the first order of business for incoming SBA Administrator Karen Gordon Mills.
In March of 2005, the SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG) released Report 5-15 which stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
Every major newspaper in the country has written about the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses in the United States, and even Europe. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)
ABC, CBS and CNN have aired investigative stories, which found corporate giants such as Rolls Royce, Wal Mart, Microsoft, Xerox, Sherwin-Williams, John Deere, Raytheon, General Dynamics and British Aerospace (BAE) had been the actual recipients of federal small business contracts. (ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the gravity of the issue when he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
As a first order of business at the SBA, Karen Mills should immediately remove all Fortune 500 firms, large businesses and their subsidiaries from any and all government databases of firms claiming status as small businesses. This would once and for all bring an end to the "miscoding" that has plagued the SBA for the last eight years.
Next, a warning should be placed on the government's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Database warning all government suppliers that misrepresenting a firms status as a small business to illegally receive federal small business contracts is a felony under section 16(d) of the Small Business Act, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine per occurrence.
Finally, Administrator Mills should ask President Obama to issue an executive order immediately directing all federal agencies and all prime contractors to stop reporting awards to publicly traded firms as small business awards. The Small Business Act clearly defines a small business as "independently owned." Publicly traded firms are certainly not small businesses, and do not qualify as "independently owned."
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April 1, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – No problem facing the Small Business Administration has been the subject of more federal investigations and more media attention than the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms. The American Small Business League (ASBL) has estimated that every year more than $100 billion in federal small business contracts are diverted from legitimate small businesses to some of the largest corporations in the United States and Europe.
Since U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that firms with less than 20 employees create more than 97 percent of all new jobs in America, bringing an end to the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to "corporate giants" should be the first order of business for incoming SBA Administrator Karen Gordon Mills.
In March of 2005, the SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG) released Report 5-15 which stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)
Every major newspaper in the country has written about the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses in the United States, and even Europe. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html)
ABC, CBS and CNN have aired investigative stories, which found corporate giants such as Rolls Royce, Wal Mart, Microsoft, Xerox, Sherwin-Williams, John Deere, Raytheon, General Dynamics and British Aerospace (BAE) had been the actual recipients of federal small business contracts. (ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the gravity of the issue when he released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
As a first order of business at the SBA, Karen Mills should immediately remove all Fortune 500 firms, large businesses and their subsidiaries from any and all government databases of firms claiming status as small businesses. This would once and for all bring an end to the "miscoding" that has plagued the SBA for the last eight years.
Next, a warning should be placed on the government's Central Contractor Registration (CCR) Database warning all government suppliers that misrepresenting a firms status as a small business to illegally receive federal small business contracts is a felony under section 16(d) of the Small Business Act, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine per occurrence.
Finally, Administrator Mills should ask President Obama to issue an executive order immediately directing all federal agencies and all prime contractors to stop reporting awards to publicly traded firms as small business awards. The Small Business Act clearly defines a small business as "independently owned." Publicly traded firms are certainly not small businesses, and do not qualify as "independently owned."
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