The World Business

Posts Tagged ‘States’

Like the world of writing? Or want to start a business that is related to the hobby of writing? This one is a web based business is probably one that can inspire you. Figment.com is a site that target among internet users who like to write. But unlike most sites, Figment seeks to accommodate the needs of users in a wider scope. This was proved by the author and readers are to be able to share, discover and communicate interactively. Site based in New York, United States, it can basically be regarded as a free community. In it, users can share their writing. In addition, users can communicate with readers and find stories and new writers every day. Genre writing is quite varied. We can find a sonnet to mystery stories, from science fiction to novels with contemporary modern theme. Figment allows registered users to pour a post, comment and following their favorite writers. Authors can choose to allow public access to their works, to filter who can read, or even block access. An access code will be distributed when registering for distribution to readers who want to believe in order to get input.

Small business owners continue to be impacted by the greed of Wall Street and large banks. Over the past few months,small business owners have struggled to obtain their small business loans and financing. Small business transactions have come to complete halt. As the top US banks have received TARP funding and Wall Street has rallied to over 10,000 small business owners continue to struggle. Financing for small business owners is harder than ever, with terms that are simply unreasonable for most. As banks and hedge funds, such as Goldman Sachs and others, have seen record profits and boost to stock values, your local business is systematically punished by the lack of policy on part of the law makers and reduction of funding from banks.

Seventy percent of Americans work for small business owners. They form the backbone of the US economy. That is the reason why Bizcloud was created. At the same time 22 of the biggest banks that have been the beneficiary of TARP have reduced small business loans by over 8 Billion dollars. Small Business Administration has been ineffective in championing the needs of US business owners and entrepreneurs. The fifteen billion dollars allocated for small business loans is still caught in Washington and banking red tape, and very little if any has been provided to small business owners.

President Obama will be announcing new effort to stimulate small business and entrepreneurship. He is also headed to Japan next month to discuss various geopolitical issues. We hope that the President takes time to meet with Japanese finance minister and discuss the current global economic meltdown. Valuable lessons can be learned from the Financial Services Agency of Japan on how to support small business owners in this country.

Japanese Financial Services Agency has recently stated that it would ask banks and other lenders to ease repayment terms, such as extending repayment deadlines, for smaller and medium size companies as part of emergency legislation for up to three years.
A similar approach can also help United States small business owners. United States law makers and current administration should consider a similar model. The small business community is asking for a three year freeze of loan interest and principle payments for 261 billion dollars of current small business loan portfolio by the banks. Considering the financial guarantees of payments provided to Financial Services companies by the United States tax payers, having guarantees provided to small business owners to protect them from the unchecked capitalistic greed of Wall Street bankers would be a huge boost to the US economy.

The cost for this program can be paid for by a three year surcharge tax on large corporate conglomerates, such as Wall Mart, Starbucks, and other mass retailers that operate over 100 corporate owned stores across the nation, and constantly siphon local community profits to Wall Street bankers and hedge funds. These mass corporate retailers and large financial institutions’ policies and unfair business practices have caused the death of small business ownership and entrepreneurship in America.

A simple 10% excise tax on large corporate stores and conglomerates of 100 locations or more can produce billions of dollars in revenue for Federal, State and Local Governments. It would additionally provide a level playing field for small business owners that do not get the special zoning rights, incentives, group health insurance discounts or the purchasing power from Chinese manufactures, and enable them to compete in the local economy.

Unless drastic measures are taken by the current administration, this holiday season will be a very grim one for small business owners. Minister Shizuka Kamei’s proposal for freezing loan repayments by small and medium-size companies battered by credit crunches amid the global economic slowdown is the right step to help sustain small business life in Japan and identical measures are needed in the US.