Governed and Guarded by Buffoons

It seems to me that we are being governed and guarded by buffoons. I write this blog as I sit in the Delta Sky Pass Lounge at Chicago Ohare. My flight is delayed 5 hours and after speaking with some of my fellow travelers it looks like I'm the lucky one! All this is a result of the latest "terrorist scare" that dominates the news today. Some wing-nut (who couldn't look MORE like a terrorist if he dressed-up as one for Halloween)decided to try to light an incendiary device while on final approach. He was apprehended by a few civilians, no thanks to our multi-billion dollar TSA system. Nothing against the TSA officers who are merely attempting to do the jobs they were hired to do. Yet I have to wonder who is in charge of hiring these folks. They don't seem to have the intellect to count the number of fries in a Happy Meal. That coupled with our fearful leaders in Washington who seem more focused on protecting the rights of foreign born middle-eastern nationals than they do with protecting our safety. What will it take for the Americans who are paying their salaries to rise-up and demand that politicians fulfill their obligation to make decisions for the majority rather than out of fear of offending the many minorities in this country. My heart goes out to all of you who are traveling this holiday season. Please have a safe journey despite the stupidity which you are surely contending with.

Small businesses pay tab for health care

It looks like businesses with over 50 employees will be paying the tab for obama's new health care plan. Join me on our radio show this Monday as we discuss the good and the bad of the new plan which Congress passed yesterday and how it affects your business.

Is the ARC Loan a Sinking Ship?

It's been six months since the SBA announced the America's Recovery Capital Loan program. My last article on this topic, "Will Anyone Be Saved by the ARC" discussed banks' hesitance to participate due to the onerous requirements and lending limitations for such a small loan amount. My new article about ARC loans discusses what has transpired since then, and you can read it on Entrepreneur.com.


Please leave me your comments or send me an e-mail to let me know your thoughts on the ARC loan program.

If the Recession is Over, Why are Businesses Failing?

Despite the "irrational exuberance" on Wall Street, small businesses are failing at an unprecedented rate. Equifax, the credit-reporting agency, reports U.S. small business bankruptcy rates soared 81 percent in June 2009 compared with June 2008. More than 10,000 small businesses closed their doors, unable to withstand continued assault on a number of fronts.

Join me today as I interview the former Assistant US Secretary of Labor, Al Angrisani. He talks about why this dangerous trend exists and what we can do about it. We will discuss the three main issues that are threatening small business survival in the current environment:

1. Washington's blind spot for free enterprise solutions to the recession, effectively overlooking small business assistance in the stimulus bill.
2. Small businesses are experiencing rising state and local taxes to fund state revenue shortfalls and are anticipating a federal tax increase in 2010 or 2011.
3. Rising employee costs in the form of minimum wage increases and added health care costs.

I plan to confront him about what we can do regarding the power that lobbyists and labor unions have in the legislative process. Who better to answer this question than a former cabinet member!

Listen to the show any time after 4pm today, Monday, November 2, 2009 at: www.smallbusinesshour.com

Have a great week!
-Mark Deo

Decline to Participate in the Recession!

Thank you to all of you who called in to my teleseminar last week entitled, "Decline to Participate in the Recession!" We had a great call with a lively discussion of price erosion and how you can maintain your profit margin even while facing stiff price competition. If you missed it, or if you just want to take another listen, you can find the seminar here.

Got an idea for a future teleseminar? Let me know!

OSHA Trainers

I just learned this from my friends at the Compliance Poster Company, one of the leading providers of OSHA, Safety, Labor Law, Minimum Wage, and other HR resources.

OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is tasked with promoting safe and healthful working conditions in American workplaces. As part of these efforts, OSHA has an "authorized" Outreach Training Program that certifies trainers as being experts in reducing workplace accidents and promoting safety. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous trainers are representing themselves as "authorized" when they are no such thing.

From CPC's Blog:

In an effort to crack down on fraudulent trainers, OSHA has published what they refer to as an "Outreach Trainer Watch List". This is a compilation of those who have had their trainer authorizations revoked or suspended. This list is available online and will be updated weekly.

Additionally, OSHA is monitoring training programs and provides a hotline at 847-297-4810 for individuals to file complaints about fraud or abuse.

Find out more about these initiatives from OSHA here

So if your business is considering hiring an OSHA trainer, please make sure to check the OSHA Outreach Trainer Watch List to verify that you are getting a qualified, authorized trainer.

Small Business Contracts...or are they Big Business Contracts?

The Small Business Administration has released their contracting data for fiscal year 2008, and the numbers show a shortfall in contracts awarded to small businesses to the tune of $6.5 BILLION. The government reports that while congress mandates that at least 23% of all contracts should go to small businesses, only 21.5% of them were awarded to qualified businesses. These are the best self reported numbers to come out of Washington in years, so they do represent some hope...except they're probably not accurate.

We spoke with Chris Gunn of the American Small Business League on my small business radio show this afternoon. The ASBL did a study of the top 100 contracts awarded to small businesses in 2008, and found that 65% of them were actually given to large multi-national corporations. These contracts were given to companies such as Xerox, HP, AT&T, Boeing, and General Electric. Do any of those sound like small businesses? According to the ASBL, actual contracts awarded to small businesses is less than 10%, not 21.5%, representing a shortfall of over $100 Billion! You can see a raw copy of their study results here.

One way that we can help to combat this problem is to contact our congressional representatives and urge them to support the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009 (H.R. 2568). We'll have another visit from the ASBL on the Small Business Hour next month, and will keep on top of this story to let you know the latest.