Capital and Credit Watch

by Karen Kerrigan- Accessing startup or growth capital is an enduring challenge for entrepreneurs.  The good news for small business owners is that legislative proposals and efforts to improve capital access are generally supported on a solid bipartisan basis by our elected officials in Washington, D.C. The bad news, unfortunately, is that bills often get […]

Small Business Insider By Karen Kerrigan- Access to capital is an enduring challenge for most small businesses at every stage of growth.  As I report below, there is positive legislative movement on Capitol Hill to ease capital access including several opportunities to send legislation to President Trump’s desk this year. Capital access is a 2018 […]

(This post was updated on January 30, 2018 to reflect new data about the total amount raised through Title III crowdfunding.) by Karen Kerrigan- Entrepreneurs are entering 2018 with high confidence and a strengthening economy.  The keys to small business growth and healthy entrepreneurship hinge on strong and sustainable economic growth and the continuance of policies […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced today that it has decided to inch up the federal funds rate from the 1.00%-to-1.25% range to 1.25%-to-1.50%. In terms of the impact of such a rate increase on economic activity, there effectively is none. The fed funds rate remains well below the […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The Federal Reserve released its latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on November 6, and it pointed to some weakening of business loan demand coupled with easing of standards and terms by banks. Specifically, this quarterly survey of domestic banks and U.S. branches of foreign banks reported regarding commercial and industrial […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The Federal Reserve released its Federal Open Market Committee statement on the afternoon of November 1, and the real question turns out to be: Does anyone really care what the Fed said? The Fed statement pointed to more of the same that we’ve experienced for almost a decade now, that is, […]

Small Business Insider by Raymond J. Keating- It’s not a secret – or at least it shouldn’t be – that the burdens of regulation fall most heavily on small businesses, with consumers in the end footing the ultimate bill via increased costs and/or reduced choices. That is the case, once again, with a recent ruling […]

As a member of the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity, SBE Council signed a joint comment letter to the Department of Labor in response to the Request for Information on the overtime rules. 128 organizations signed the PPWO comment letter.

  by Raymond J. Keating- Government regulations always hit smaller businesses much harder – including by discouraging new entrants into the regulated industry – than their larger competitors. That goes for regulating the financial industry as well, such as via the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law. Perhaps the most glaring problem with the Dodd-Frank law is […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) publishes lending data, including bank loans for small businesses. According to the latest numbers from June 2017, both small business loan balances and the number of small business loans continue to grow. However, small business lending still has not recovered to levels before the 2008-09 […]