As a small business owner, I'm always interested in hearing new ideas about how to help small businesses and expand small business financing.

From: The Nashua Telegraph - Sunday, August 24, 2003
Dean pledges to expand small-business financing
By Kate McCann, The Associated Press

“We need to help small business. Small business is creating more jobs than big business in this country,” Dean said.

The problem, Dean said, is that small business has no access to capital and banks dislike lending to them since they tend to be high-risk. Part of the problem lies with government, Dean said. Historically, government shies from investing in small business because of its high turnover rate.

The former Vermont governor wants to revolutionize small-business loans by selling them on the New York Stock Exchange.

Small-business financing is too dependent on short-term decisions that undermine business's ability to get capital from Wall Street, said Dean.


Upon reading this article I had serious questions about what effect selling small-business loans on the NYSE would have on small businesses. My first reaction was that this type of small business financing would spell a gross loss of privatization. A discussion with a venture capitalist, affirmed my views.

Selling small business loans on the NYSE would not only take away privatization, it would create peril for small businesses.

Here's a likely scenario: By selling small business loans on the NYSE, small businesses would then have large investors who have short-term investor mentalities and don’t really understand these businesses. Large investors are likely to call in their loans just when a small business most needs the money.

It would remove the ability of small business owners knowing and working with their investors. It would effectively put very fragile small businesses under the bright pubic light and make them short term oriented, which is the exact opposite way that a small business should operate.

Small business is the cornerstone of America. As small businesses struggle to make ends meet and create autonomy from the corporate world, this proposal to sell small business loans on the NYSE would thrust small business into the world they seek to avoid. The SBA in recent years has worked hard to make small business loans more available to a wide range of small business owners.

Our country needs a leader who will work with small business owners to maintain their autonomy not sell them out to the NYSE. As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, John Kerry has been a leader in supporting small business.

"John Kerry believes that small business can help create jobs and help revitalize the economy. He supports incentives to help businesses invest, expand, and create jobs. For example, he supports addressing the capital funding gap for those fast-growing small businesses by allowing them to defer tax liability if the funds are reinvested in the business. An independent economic analysis shows that this tax change alone would create more than 600,000 jobs in the first three years by facilitating business growth. He also supports a temporary job creation tax credit for employers who hire new employees or increase existing salaries."

For more information on John Kerry's efforts to help small businesses please visit: John Kerry's Online Office.

Howard Dean's efforts to undermine small business growth are clearly evident in his plan. I strongly urge all small business owners to give great consideration to your vote in the upcoming Presidential Election. Help to protect Small Business, vote for John Kerry.