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TwitterUSA Today has published a short piece on states competing to attract business. It notes how Nevada is pitted against California, New Hampshire vs. Massachusetts, Indiana taking on some of its neighbors, and New Jersey against New York.This phenomenon can be a plus or a minus for business and the economy. If it focuses on politicians picking winners and losers, and doling out subsidies (taking resources from one business, for example, to hand it over to another), then it’s a negative.
Archive for August, 2009
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Small Business Link of the Week: Kickstarter
August 26th, 2009 
admin We found this site through an article about Kickstarter in the New York Times written by Jenna Wortham.Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors and explorers to make their case to attract patron investment into their projects. This is a different model than traditional fundraising orpeer to peer networks. According to the N.Y. Times article, Kickstarter is “a start-up based in Brooklyn that uses the Web to match aspiring da Vincis and Spielbergs with mini-Medicis who are willing to chip in a few dollars toward their projects.
Small Business Resource ….. Your Local Library
August 26th, 2009 admin Here’s an easy, simple, and maybe surprising suggestion for a small business resource. I recommend the local library. Too often we think of the library as a place for books and recreation, but it offers much more than that. Most public libraries have electronic resources available for business patrons – just ask a reference librarian. For example, in Michigan, where I’m from, the Michigan Electronic Library offers the Business and Company Resource Center, which is accessible online to anyone with a Michigan driver’s license (see link below).
Taxpayer Cash for Economic Destruction
August 25th, 2009 admin The government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program was bad economics on so many levels.I wrote a column on the issue, and National Review has an editorial. Let’s focus on a particularly egregious aspect of a plan only politicians could think up – namely, that economic destruction could be good for the economy.In my column, I noted:Fourth, there is the incredible waste of government deciding to destroy vehicles that still operate.
California Cuts their SBDC Funding Despite Demand and Success
August 25th, 2009 admin It appears that the State of California does not see the value of its Small Business development Center network. In today’s Los Angeles Times, Cyndia Zwahlen notes that the State is cutting the ability for state colleges and universities to fund their resident SBDC centers by $32 million. The Small Business Administration matches state SBDC funding so this means that the program is losing double the amount of withdrawn funding.All of this points out the importance of making sure both the business community and legislators understand the value of the SBDC program.
What Small Business Investors Need Before Investing in Your Business – Five Key Items
August 25th, 2009 admin What do Investors want? What do investors seek when they invest in or consider investing in small to medium businesses?1. A strong return on investment. Ranges from 8% (friendly, debt) to 40%-Different types of investors investing at various stages of the company’s growth and development will have different expectations. (Notice the emphasis on and repeated use of the word different!) An angel investor who is taking on the most risk by investing when the company is still in its nascent (i.e., very early) stage and has yet to generate much revenue, if any, has no contracts, and has negative cash flow, will want the highest return of 40% or close to it.
SBE Council: The Consistent Fighter Against Big Government Health Care
August 24th, 2009 admin The Washington Times ran an article on August 24 about various groups representing small businesses that have either flirted with or endorsed big government health care measures that would only raise costs, reduce competition, and diminish choices for entrepreneurs, small businesses and their employees.It’s worth keeping in mind that throughout its existence, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council has been a rock solid, consistent and strong voice for pro-market, pro-competition health care reforms that would make positive changes, including reducing costs, and build upon what works in our current health care system.To support SBE Council’s consistent position in favor of pro-market health care reforms, and against costly, big-government health, you can become a member by going here.Raymond J. KeatingChief EconomistSmall Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Small Biz Health Care Daily: Rationing and the “Experts”
On August 25, a news story in the New York Times reported the following: “‘Rationing.’ It is what many people say they fear most from an overhaul of the health care system — the prospect of the federal government’s limiting the medical care they can receive. Even some people who now have private health insurance through their employers have expressed this concern in opinion polls and public forums.
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