How Good is the Job News?
Last evening, I listened closely to President Obama’s speech for new ideas about jobs for Americans that would give us all hope.
I heard about clean energy jobs, something President Obama discussed during the election, but it was not clear where the jobs would be coming from, or even what jobs might be.
I also heard about ideas for small businesses getting help in the form of tax breaks and SBA loans so they could hire more people. I listened closely to this topic because of my recent difficult experience with it. I am the president of a small business, and two weeks ago I got an SBA loan to grow the business and hire more staff. BUT, it took me one year to get the SBA loan, and collateral I had to put down was disproportionately huge — four times the amount of the loan. Basically, the SBA and the small community bank could take over everything I own if anything ever happens to me or to my business. Very few small business owners have this amount of collateral to support a business loan. So, I was understandably skeptical about Obama’s ideas regarding the SBA loans as a way to create more jobs.
Needless to say, I did not come away from the speech with much positive news to share with you.
This morning I took a new approach. I decided to look past the political rhetoric and examine the actions actually being taken right now to generate more jobs for Americans. So, I read the transcript of last night’s speech to compare Obama’s NEW JOB IDEAS with the NEW AND PROPOSED BILLS that will support those ideas.
This is what I found out: