Small firms that are most likely to be using debt financing are younger, smaller, less profitable, less liquid, and less credit worthy. At the same time, firms with more tangible assets and less personal liability on the part of the business owner are also more likely to opt for debt financing. In fact, the most [...]

Steve Preston took another steps toward cementing his place in history as master of rescue and retrieval for the Bush Administration last week, during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Assuming that he is confirmed — and there is every indication that he will be — he will [...]

Believe it or not, occasionally, the federal government checks back with a program to see if it’s working. Case in point: last week, the SBA Office of Advocacy released research that evaluates the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program for its impacts and the persistence of such impacts on the targeted communities. The evaluation found, [...]

Last month, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) released the results of their annual survey of small and mid-sized businesses. In general, it found that small businesses are worried about the economy and the cost of health insurance. As for microbusinesses, they have the most negative view of the current economy and are most worried [...]

There really is nothing that gets discussed in Washington that doesn’t impact small businesses, as a hearing on food prices before the House Small Business Committee vividly illustrated last week. Witnesses described horrendous price hikes faced by restaurateurs, food manufacturers and retailers, and pointed the finger at grain shortages caused by increased biofuel production. But [...]

The House of Representatives is expected to approve yet another temporary extension of the Small Business Administration’s programs this week, which will remain in effect until February 28, 2009. The measure, co-sponsored by Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Member Olympia Snowe (R-ME), passed so painlessly in the [...]

Robert Hughes, president of the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), was inspired to write the top two lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee late last month to warn them that a proposal to require banks to report merchants’ credit card payments was a bad idea. There are procedural and administrative problems with the plan, [...]

It’s not often that we see as much red in the SBA Office of Advocacy’s Quarterly Indicators as there was in the first quarter 2008 report, released last week. Of course, since this report is a compilation of data that has already been released, none of it should come as any surprise to anyone who [...]

Congressional Democrats have been squabbling with the Bush Administration over the need for reform in the credit card industry. Folks like House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Christopher Dodd are touting legislation, while the Administration favors less stringent industry oversight through regulatory changes. We got a [...]

Lawmakers at a House subcommittee hearing last week seem to have uncovered the real problem with the SBA loan guaranteed program, which has seen an 18% decline in loan volume so far this fiscal year. First, a handful of large banks that happened to be hip-deep in the sub-prime mortgage mess were making 60% of [...]