Finance, Forex and Investments

Why do republicans want to hurt small business?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100729/ap_on_bi_ge/us_small_business_lending WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's election-year jobs agenda suffered a new setback Thursday when Senate Republicans blocked a bill creating a $30 billion government fund to help open up lending for credit-starved small businesses. The fund would be available to community banks with less than $10 billion in assets to help them increase lending to small businesses. The bill would combine the fund with about $12 billion in tax breaks aimed at small businesses. Democrats say banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans, helping to loosen tight credit markets. Some Republicans, however, likened it to the unpopular bailout of the financial industry. Democrats had wanted to pass the bill before Congress leaves town for summer vacation, enabling them to reassure anxious voters back home that they were addressing the sluggish economy. Senate leaders continued to negotiate changes to the bill Thursday, but time was short. The Senate is in session for another week; the House is scheduled to adjourn Friday. Congressional Democrats started the year with ambitious plans to pass a series of bills designed to create jobs. But unless they reach a breakthrough on the small business lending bill, they will have little to show for it just a few months before midterm elections that will determine whether Democrats keep their majorities in the House and Senate. Congress has extended unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for long stretches and passed a measure that gives tax breaks to businesses that hire unemployed workers. But many other initiatives stalled, in part because of concerns they would add to the growing national debt. Obama lobbied for the small business lending bill during a trip Wednesday to Edison, N.J. But Senate Democrats fell short of the necessary 60 votes Thursday to end a Republican filibuster. The vote was 58 to 42, with all 41 Republicans voting to continue the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also voted to continue the filibuster, but only as a procedural step that allows him to call up the bill again. Much of the bill had bipartisan support, but Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Democrats were blocking GOP amendments. Reid said Republican demands kept changing. "It takes a lot of effort to make a partisan issue out of a bill that should have broad bipartisan support," McConnell said. "But our friends on the other side have managed to pull it off. They've outdone themselves." Reid said he offered to hold votes on some Republican amendments, only to see the list of GOP demands grow. "What we are simply trying to do is pass a bipartisan bill that will help small business owners create jobs," Reid said. "We went to great lengths to address what Republicans claimed were their concerns." GOP amendments included measures to beef up border security, impose a government spending cap and lower the estate tax, which is scheduled to return next year with a top rate of 55 percent on estates larger than $1 million. One Republican amendment would repeal a new tax reporting requirement for businesses that was included in the massive health care overhaul enacted last spring. Democrats, meanwhile, have added about $1.5 billion in disaster relief for farmers who lost crops in 2009, a measure sponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. Democrats also wanted to add an amendment to settle long-running class-action lawsuits brought by black farmers and American Indians. One lawsuit concerned the government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 trust accounts of American Indians. The other is a discrimination lawsuit brought by black farmers against the Agriculture Department. The cost of settling them both: about $4.6 billion. The small business tax cuts in the bill include breaks for restaurant owners and retailers who remodel their stores or build new ones. Other businesses could more quickly recover the costs of capital improvements through depreciation. Long-term investors in some small businesses would be exempt from paying capital gains taxes. Much of the bill would be paid for by allowing taxpayers to convert 401(k) and government retirement accounts into Roth accounts, in which they pay taxes up front on the money they contribute, enabling them to withdraw it tax-free after they retire. Taxpayers who convert accounts this year would pay the taxes in 2011 and 2012, generating an estimated $5.1 billion.

Public Comments

1. Small businesses need CUSTOMERS not BS loans they cant pay back because they are going broke! Obama needs to stimulate the whole economy by keeping ALL of Bush's tax cuts in place. The Dow would soar & businesses would get a shot in the arm if people start spending money again.
2. Republicans care only about their Rich friends. They are a wholly owned subsidiary of the BIG BANKS
3. The majority was refusing to even allow amendments to be introduced. The repubs are not there to rubberstamp what Harry Reid and the leftists want.
4. Ya know what I want? The Federal Government to take care of things they're supposed to, like national defense and infrastructure. NOTHING ELSE!!! And for all you out there who say the R's are just there to prop up big business, DO YOUR GODDAMN RESEARCH!!!!! BOTH PARTIES DO IT!!!!!!
5. The Republicans oppose all bills that take more loans out from China. They asked the Dem's to either use the unspent money from the stimulus or cut spending somewhere, to pay for the bills but they say no.
6. Yeh, lets borrow $30 billion from banks, who would otherwise have to lend the money to deserving small business and give the purse to politicians who would steal $15 billion and give away $15 billion to Al Gore to build windmills. And evil Republicans blocked such a wonderful scheme. See how two pages of BS fit into a single paragraph if you have any brains.
7. Your Question is "much ado, about nothing". Obama HATES small businesses. They never donate money to Him. The Big Banks and Giant Corporations donated Millions and Millions of dollars to Obama's 2008 Campaign. You kids should go to summer school. Study economics, eh? ********** "Anna & Greg" should both get jobs and LEARN!!!!!!!!!
8. That's a lot of information. The short answer is the Democrats don't want to listen to any Republican ideas.
9. By repealing the Bush Tax Cutbacks it is Obama and his Democrat Congress and Senate that is hurting the small business owner and their buisness and employees!
10. Because competition is bad for vested interests
11. Obama is small business' worst enemy. Even in liberal Silicon Valley they think he is a Socialist and bad for business.
12. How can you breathe with your head stuck up there?? We small businesses dont need LOANS, we need Government to either lead, follow or to get the hell out of our way. We were doing just fine before the Liberal Congress started tinkering with the tax code, and Ignored thongs whilst Fannie and Freddie evaporated every penny of working capital in the US... a feat accomplished by Barney Franks and crew, who at last check.. aint a REP.. but a DEM...
13. Hi There are many websites , that offer credit report, but I would suggest you http://GoCreditReport.info , because they offer this service really free .They are one of the best websites .They also offer credit monitoring, id theft alert, and many more things... Just Visit the link and register . Hope that will help you