There is a very interesting article on washingtonpost.com today that the White House is considering redirecting some of the $700 billion plus TARP funds to help small business, defined as those with less that 500 employees, stay in business, retain staff and expand capital expenditures.
There is a great quote on the second page of this article that states "If we are going to move out of this recession and into recovery, it's going to be small businesses that leads us." The quote is attributed to Karen Mills, the administrator of the SBA. I certainly like to this this is accurate.
There have been a lot of articles written lately that have been talking about some of the great companies that have been born turing times of economic recession or turmoil. Google and Intel are often examples cited. It's an interesting commentary on the current economic condition of the country. There is definitely some positive and encouraging signs, but there are still valid concerns. I'm starting to see small businesses make some moves to poise themselves to be in a good position when the economy does make it's final turn out of this current recession. That tells me that these businesses are seeing positive signs in their markets. I hope they are right and that this plays out sooner rather than later, but if the recovery does move slowly, it's nice to know the government is finally looking at the small business community and what they can do to help insure its health now and into the future.
