Obama

Donald Danner “Insulted” By Obama’s Remarks on Entrepreneurs

July 19, 2012 by Zack Duncan Leave a Comment

Donald Danner, President and CEO for the National Federation of Independent Business, recently accused the government of making it more difficult to start a business. Danner said this right after Obama made a controversial comment in a campaign speech that he gave recently.

In his speech to small business owners, Obama highlighted the power of hard workers and government initiatives. In addition to that, Obama pointed to roads and the internet as government-made resources that are used by people who have become successful.

However, a single phrase in Obama’s speech sent the wrong message to Danner and that phrase was the following: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” Those were the words spoken by Obama that led Danner to give this response to CNBC: “I think it’s a slap in the face of every entrepreneur out there who had a dream and risked everything he or she had to build a business.”

In addition to that, Danner added, “Entrepreneurs are special people. Not everybody works 15 or 16 hours every day. Not everybody is willing to risk everything they have to see their dreams come true.” Danner also argued that entrepreneurs need to be encouraged and that less government is the solution.

“The president doesn’t understand that the government doesn’t create jobs – individuals do,” Danner added, stating also that the people who have struggled and take risks to build businesses are the ones who create jobs. Danner believes that Mitt Romney, who is running against Obama in the coming election, will make it easier for people to start businesses and get jobs.

“We fundamentally don’t believe raising the top rate on S-Corps and LLCs is going to help create jobs. It’s going to cause people in small businesses to not invest and lose jobs,” Danner said. Danner also stated that Obama supports raising the top rate whereas Romney is against it.

The one thing Danner did say was that, when you put the president’s comment in context, the point is legitimate. Danner agrees that it is harder to start a business in a country without a government that has invested in infrastructure, like roads and education, which was the original context behind Obama’s comment.

Source: MSNBC – Small business leader says Obama insults entrepreneurs

Obama Proposes Corporate Tax Cuts, Small Businesses Not Buying It

February 22, 2012 by Zack Duncan Leave a Comment

Recently, Obama proposed eliminating corporate tax loopholes and, in turn, using that money to cut the business tax rate from 35% to 28%. According to a statement from Obama, “The tax code is unnecessarily complicated and forces America’s small businesses to spend countless hours and dollars filing their taxes.” The only problem is that this plan to simplify the business tax code and cut rates is igniting outcries from small business groups.

The lower tax rate would only apply to businesses organized as C corps, which pay corporate income taxes. C corps make up less than 6% of business tax returns and the other businesses, which includes partnerships, sole proprietors, S corps and limited liability companies, have their business earnings flow through to owners’ personal income and are taxed at individual income tax rates.

If you eliminate tax breaks and fail to lower individual income tax rates, then you could, in essence, raise taxes on some small business owners according to President of the National Association of Small Businesses Todd McCracken. McCracken added, “The business deductions are relatively unified. A deduction’s a deduction, whether you’re a C corp or a sole proprietor, for the most part.”

The National Federation of Independent Businesses, which frequently goes against the Obama Administration and its plans, has panned the new proposal and said in a recent statement, “The focus should be on individual rate reform.” However, not every small business lobby agrees and some are even praising the plan and noting that a reform to the tax code will eliminate tons of loopholes that consistently leave small businesses paying an unfair share of taxes.

McCracken has stated that the plan itself isn’t very specific and that it looks like a mixed bag. McCracken says he favors reform that would deal with both individual tax code alongside corporate taxes. He also noted that chances of any major tax plan passing Congress this year are slim.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek – Why Corporate Tax Cuts Won’t Help Small Businesses

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Obama Works On Mandated Sick Days

March 25, 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

Obama Pushes For Goverment Regulated Sick Days If you are feeling sick today it may be ok to go ahead and call of work. Early this month the House of Representatives held a hearing on a bill to make Mandatory sick days a requirement for employers. If the bill (that will be voted on this spring) passes offering paid sick leave will no longer be an option.

The Health and Families Act (HFA) that is being pushed by President Obama will force employers who have 15 or more full time workers to offer 7 days a year in sick days and part time workers are not left out. They will be giving a prorated amount of sick days based on how much they work.

If a company already offers sick days to their employees they won’t need to change any polices as long as it is equivalent to what would be required by the HFA bill. Although if a company now offers more days than the bill makes mandatory, it will not allow the changing of their current polices. That means companies won’t be able to reduce vacation time to offset the costs of additional sick time. And some experts interpret the provision to mean companies offering a general PTO bank would need to add seven sick days in addition to what’s already available.

The HFA was introduced in the Senate a few years ago and failed to move. But that was the post Obama ere. So far, no states have made sick leave mandatory – measures have failed in California, Ohio, New Jersey and Washington. Three cities – San Francisco, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. – have passed mandatory sick leave laws.

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Small Business Credit Crunch Deserves Attention

December 10, 2008 by Etha Walters Leave a Comment

Frustrations grow as the nation’s big three auto makers line up for another $17b. As the federal government focuses on damage control at the macro-economic level, it has ignored the micro-level small businesses. Meanwhile small businesses with stellar 800 credit ratings out of 850 cannot get a loan or their credit line has been reduced. Some economically respectable small businesses have had their credit lines cut in as much as half. Despite the fact as large companies are downsizing and outsourcing, small businesses have become the principal job generators in this country, accounting for almost all the net job gains in the United States.

A credit crunch on this job-generating sector of our economy should be a key part of any economic recovery plan and small business advocates have approached Washington on this very issue. Their quest was to meet with the Federal Reserve to ask for a relative pittance, $13 billion in bailout money, to go to the Small Business Administration to guarantee loans and provide small businesses with technical assistance. The SBA has had its budget slashed drastically over the past 30 years and by nearly 30 percent during the current president’s terms alone. Their quest is a hopeful one as their hard work may leverage as much as $620 million for small businesses if a bill authored by Sen. John Kerry to provide SBA loan guarantees is passed and signed into law.

Entrepreneurs, along with the rest of the country, await the inauguration of a new President with an ambitious agenda. Obama’s inheritance of a badly wounded economy has become first priority and has already with his experienced team set down to put plans to work. Two important elements will undoubtedly be job and economic growth. President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress are likely to view an economic stimulus package as a critical tool for restoring confidence in the economy.

The stimulus package expected pass, likely to hit $300 billion, and it is possible that a piece of it is passed before President George W. Bush leaves office. It is expected to see aid to states and cities facing budget shortfalls, extended unemployment benefits and food stamps, and big infrastructure spending. Overcoming pessimism that currently overshadows the markets and economic decision-making will require some symbolic moves. It is encouraging that so far, the President-elect seems to be surrounding himself with experienced advisers, many are from the Clinton Administration, who are seasoned pros who have been there and who understand the importance of business.

While help with the economy slowly trickles down to small businesses, cutting costs and pinching pennies can be stressful, and could use some support along the way there is no doubt that the resilience of small businesses is the steadfast heartbeat of America at it will survive.