Free Republic

The details are out of Treasury now, and it looks like it isn't going to work for a large number of small business owners after all. Remember the deal the president signed to save America’s small businesses from ruin during the government’s coronavirus shutdown? The one hammered out by the Senate and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin over weeks of tense negotiation while Americans worriedly watched, hoping good news might come before a depression does? The details are out of Treasury now, and it looks like it isn’t going to work for a large number of small business owners...

Has your business or non-profit been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 shut-down or slow-down? Will you be able to pay your employees? Or the rent? Will you be able to pay yourself? Congress is trying to help by giving away quite a bit of free money, and that should get your attention. There are still details to be worked out about how these new plans will be implemented, but here’s some initial info: The first and quickest option for relief is an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) from the Small Business Administration. You can borrow funds necessary to meet expenses...

If cash transfers to failing businesses are now a given any time the economy is in crisis, then where is the bailout for small businesses? Demanding what they claim is necessary to remain solvent and save the 750,000 jobs that maintain the industry, United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Southwest Airlines want $29 billion in cash handouts and another $25 billion in loans from American taxpayers. The current House stimulus bill would give $37 billion in grants and $21 in loans with zero percent financing.When asked about the proposed bailout package, Trump said in a press conference, “We’re...

As a small business owner providing a discretionary home-improvement service I am hyper-focused on how corona could absolutely decimate small businesses, from landscaping to retail to restaraunts and so much more. My observations, (I'm located in Central Ohio), are as follows. First, I am entering what is typically my busiest time of year. As soon as 2 weeks ago business was looking record strong for the coming year. Appointments and sold jobs were almost double what they were same time last year. Then last week everything went from rush to trickle. So far, somehow, I've managed to actually still get...

... Wall Street’s disdain for the bottom-up populist campaigns of Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont has gotten a lot of attention. The candidates’ full-throated attacks on corporate greed, extreme wealth and banking excesses are backed up by ambitious plans to upend the industry’s everyday operations. Wariness extends far beyond an elite financial fellowship, though, to many small and medium-size businesses whose executives are not reflexively Republican but worry that the ascendancy of a left-wing Democrat would create an anti-business climate. In their view, sweeping plans to remake the health care system or slash the cost...

I'd like to see everyone have a happy and prosperous New Year. But I'm afraid a lot of freelancers and independent contractors in California are going to have it tough in 2020. Thanks to Democrat lawmakers in Sacramento, in fact, hundreds of thousands of part-time Uber drivers and freelance writers like me could lose their jobs or face drastic cuts in their incomes. The culprit is Assembly Bill 5, the "progressive" new state law that rewrites the rules for part-time "gig" workers and forces companies to reclassify their independent contractors and turn them into full-time employees. As of Jan. 2,...

US small-business sentiment rose 2.3 points to 104.7, the biggest jump since May 2018, according to the November optimism survey from the National Federation of Independent Business. It shows a reversal from "previous months of clatter" about a looming recession, the report noted. Positive earnings and expectations that business conditions will get better drove the results, according to the survey. "Owners are aggressively moving forward with their business plans, proving that when they're given relief from the government, they put their money where their mouth is, and they invest, hire, and increase wages," said William Dunkelberg, the chief economist...

I have decided to start my own handyman business. I am currently doing odd jobs for people, but I want to make it official and thus I need to get a good business name while legally getting all my ducks in a row. In the state of Idaho, I only need to be certified if I do plumbing or electrical. If I get a request for plumbing or electrical work I have friends who are certified that have agreed to work with me on those jobs. I am in the process of getting a business license by the state, and...

Perhaps the only sure things in life really are death and taxes, but taxes and the federal agency that collects them should not be the untimely death of small businesses. Earlier this month, President Trump signed the Taxpayer First Act that Congress passed unanimously to reform civil asset forfeiture rules that allow the IRS to confiscate private property and assets without filing criminal charges against would-be defendants. The new law’s structural reforms are long overdue, but they take a solid first step toward improving things at the IRS. Trump can take at least two more steps forward by directing the...

On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 20 other senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin asking him to change the way the federal government levies taxes on capital gains, indexing the tax to inflation. This change would be more just and it would unleash investment by incentivizing more Americans to buy stock in companies. In fact, this small tax adjustment is estimated to create an additional 21,800 full-time equivalent jobs.'The United States economy has experienced historic levels of growth as a result of Congress and the current Administration’s policies such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs...

Appearing on CNBC Wednesday, Canadian businessman and television personality Kevin O’Leary raved about the state of the U.S. economy , based on his more than 50 “Shark Tank” companies. “Most of the Sharks have a similar portfolio,” O’Leary told CNBC on Wednesday. “It’s an amazing index on America’s economy because they’re almost in every state, in every sector.” O’Leary along with investors Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner and Daymond John put up their own money on “Shark Tank” to buy stakes in start-ups looking for capital and influential business partners. “I can report to you, on a...

Main Street small businesses, boosted by the surging economy, are forecasting another good year. The latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Survey found that 84% believe their company’s financial situation “will be either very good or somewhat good one year from now.” Also, nearly 80% call their current fiscal situation very or somewhat good. And seven-in-10 told the survey that they are “more optimistic than pessimistic” about the next 12 months. The survey results come as the economy continues to hum at an unexpected 3.2% growth rate and as job creation expands. Unemployment is at a 49-year low.

Next week is National Small Business Week, but owners aren’t likely to spend it celebrating — they’ll be too busy trying to hire workers or keep the ones they have from defecting to bigger firms. With a 3.6 percent unemployment rate, the lowest since December 1969, the labor market continues to thrive. “This is a worker’s job market,” said Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi. But Zandi adds that this is less-than-good news for the small companies that comprise the vast majority of U.S. businesses. “The risk or the concern would be at some point that businesses start to come...

During this partial government shutdown, it's become nearly impossible to avoid news articles, and segments on television and radio outlining the many ways that federal employees are apparently suffering financially as a result of the partial government shutdown.The stories are very diverse in topic. Some take a "human interest story" angle, simply looking at how the daily lives of some of these employees have been affected. Others look at the apparent injustice of the fact that some workers are "being told to work without pay." Still other suggest that the lack of federal paychecks will drive down economic growth figures....

The big dollar muggings in Washington these days are not done with pistols. The sophisticated weapons of choice are “sole source contracting,” lobbyists, and insiders. And the victims are not tourists, but taxpayers. Large multinationals game the system using the revolving door between government and the private sector, with the help of aggressive lobbying. There are so many examples, but one is the fourth largest privately- owned company in the United States, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, which originated as one of the biggest accounting companies in America. Today they are masters of the D.C. contracting game with sole source contracting....

Dodd-Frank overregulation caused increased concentration in banking, squeezing out smaller banks in favor of bigger banks that could more easily absorb increasing regulatory costs. That naturally restricted credit to smaller businesses that were more regularly served by smaller, more regional banks, more likely to have developed relations with small local businesses. But in typical abundance of centralized bureaucrat overcaution, Dodd Frank over regulation also clamped down more harshly on small business lending as inherently more risky. More risky it is. But small business is also the lifeblood of the economy, as small business has long generated most new jobs in...

Stock indices are hitting new highs as the economy keeps producing good numbers. New heights of small business optimism contradicts the convential storyline that the recovery is losing stream, that we should prepare ourselves for the downturn. Worriers focus on the role of FAANG stocks driving the market higher. But recently, the Russell 2000, a “small company” stock index began posting record gains as well, based on very favorable profit reports for small businesses. The “small cap” companies in the Index are much larger than NFIB members, but their experience mirrors the record reports of rising profits among NFIB members....

Some small businesses are scrambling to figure out how to stay afloat after a high court ruling. A recent California Supreme Court decision is changing the way independent contractors are classified, and it’s already having a big impact on local shops. May fear it will hurt millions of workers and affect businesses’ bottom lines. The work doesn’t stop at Downtown Sacramento’s Bottle and Barlow, even if it became a one-man shop. “I lost my entire staff,” said owner Anthony Gianotti. He says all seven of his barbers quit after a state supreme court ruling that will change their way of work. “It doesn’t just affect...

The number of African American small business owners in the United States has increased by a staggering 400% in just a year. This was the finding of a survey from the small business financing company, Guidant Financial.The State of a Small Business survey interviewed more than 2,600 small business owners and entrepreneurs, both male and female. African American Small Business Statistics The survey found that in 2018, 45% of small business owners were minority ethnic groups. This was already a dramatic increase from 2015, when the amount of minority business owners was just 15%. The biggest increase among minority small business owners...

Trump Economy: During his 2016 campaign, then-GOP candidate Donald Trump was mocked by Democrats (and some Republicans) for claiming that, under his leadership, Americans would get “tired of winning.” Well, there’s no sign most Americans have reached that point, but there is plenty of evidence that our country and our people are definitely winning under POTUS Trump’s economic leadership.