FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – On October 21, President Barack Obama announced he would convene a small business conference to address increasing access to capital for small businesses. Yet less than a week before the conference is set to convene on Wednesday, November 18, the Administration has refused to release any information regarding the event's location, time, agenda or attendees.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) is concerned that the administration is withholding details on the conference as a means of preventing legitimate small business concerns, small business advocates and the media from attending.
"This is a clear indication that President Obama has no intention of adopting any policies that will actually benefit legitimate small businesses. My guess is that this is going to be a love-fest for his venture capitalist buddies and the Fortune 500 firms he is giving small business contracts to every day," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
The ASBL is predicting that the meeting could actually propose creating a loophole that would divert federal small business contracts away from legitimate small businesses and into the hands of wealthy venture capitalists under the guise of "increasing access to capital" for small businesses. The ASBL is concerned that in a worst-case scenario President Obama may even try to wind down federal small business contracting programs under the guise of bolstering the SBA by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The ASBL questions the motives of President Obama and the legitimacy of the conference as a whole.
"Obviously they don't want media coverage of their sham small business conference and they clearly don't want any input from legitimate small business advocates," Chapman said. The administration's strategy may be to prevent input from small business groups that have complained about the Obama Administration awarding millions of dollars a day in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations, including stimulus dollars, according to the ASBL.
The ASBL points to the fact that the Administration has allocated less than 1 percent of stimulus funds to small businesses.
In a recent post, blogger Arianna Huffington criticized President's Obama's plan to hold a small business conference and took aim at his priorities by stating, "If this [small business lending] were really a high-priority for the administration, it could, you know, actually do something about it."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/barack-obama-is-doing-my_b_334631.html
"If President Obama really wanted to help small businesses he would have honored his February 2008 campaign promise to, 'end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants,' but he hasn't done that has he?” Chapman said.
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Please click here to watch a short clip about the ASBL's concerns regarding the Obama Administration’s small business conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXAg0XRROIs
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Obama Stimulus Plan Fails Middle Class
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in the month of October, its highest point in 26 years.
Small business advocates like the American Small Business League (ASBL) believe the unemployment rate continues to soar because the Obama Administration's economic stimulus plan has virtually ignored middle class firms.
Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html To date the Obama Administration has awarded less than one percent of all funds allocated under the stimulus to those firms.
In February of 2008, President Obama 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 The statement is based on a series of federal investigations, which have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest companies around the world. http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html
The ASBL estimates that since President Obama took office over $100 billion in federal contracts were diverted to corporate giants around the world.
Despite pledging to address these issues, the Obama Administration has consistently refused to adopt any legislation or policy to solve the problem. Consequently, Fortune 500 firms like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls Royce, and French giant Thales Communications continue to receive federal small business contracts. The most recent data released by the Obama Administration lists Fortune 500 corporation, Textron Inc. as the largest recipient of federal small business contracts. Textron has 43,000 employees.
"If President Obama really wants to stimulate our nation's economy and create new jobs, he needs to help pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "H.R. 2568 offers the most efficient and cost effective method anyone has proposed to redirect federal infrastructure spending to small businesses. It would also solve the 10-year-old contracting scandal the Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General referred to as, 'one of the most important challenges facing the small business administration and the entire federal government today.' "
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
November 9, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in the month of October, its highest point in 26 years.
Small business advocates like the American Small Business League (ASBL) believe the unemployment rate continues to soar because the Obama Administration's economic stimulus plan has virtually ignored middle class firms.
Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html To date the Obama Administration has awarded less than one percent of all funds allocated under the stimulus to those firms.
In February of 2008, President Obama 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 The statement is based on a series of federal investigations, which have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest companies around the world. http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html
The ASBL estimates that since President Obama took office over $100 billion in federal contracts were diverted to corporate giants around the world.
Despite pledging to address these issues, the Obama Administration has consistently refused to adopt any legislation or policy to solve the problem. Consequently, Fortune 500 firms like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls Royce, and French giant Thales Communications continue to receive federal small business contracts. The most recent data released by the Obama Administration lists Fortune 500 corporation, Textron Inc. as the largest recipient of federal small business contracts. Textron has 43,000 employees.
"If President Obama really wants to stimulate our nation's economy and create new jobs, he needs to help pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "H.R. 2568 offers the most efficient and cost effective method anyone has proposed to redirect federal infrastructure spending to small businesses. It would also solve the 10-year-old contracting scandal the Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General referred to as, 'one of the most important challenges facing the small business administration and the entire federal government today.' "
-###-
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
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