Last month, one of the best, lowest-cost and most under-appreciated provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 came to an end a mere 11 months after it started. The act itself, when signed into law on Sept. 27, 2010, was heralded as one of the most significant pieces of small business legislation in […]
As election day approaches, small business owners are beginning to attract lots of notice, especially from vote-seeking candidates who express admiration for their ability to create jobs and keep the nation’s economy afloat. But when these hard-working entrepreneurs become the center of attention for federal bureaucrats, it’s time to start worrying. While many view the […]
Have you been watching the NFL this season? Who am I kidding? Next to NASCAR (And no offense to NASCAR fans, but seriously, other than the wrecks, it’s just cars going in a circle), it’s the most popular sport on the planet. So of course you have. Tell me the horrible performance of the replacement […]
There’s been a lot of political rhetoric and, consequently, media coverage about Americans who pay no federal income taxes. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was surreptitiously recorded as writing off the support of what he said was the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes nad have become dependent on government assistance […]
Hard work. Long hours. That’s reality for America’s small business owners. You know what it takes, and you know who built your businesses. You also know that time is one of your most valuable assets. You don’t get second chances. Between now and Dec. 31 — except for important holidays, family events and religious observances […]
Economics and politics obviously overlap. Specifically, they should converge when policy is made. But economics and politics definitely are not the same. Economics is rooted in substance — trying to understand and explain how the economy works, including how policy affects the economy. Meanwhile, politics can be rooted in substance, but it just as easily […]
Given the stubbornly slow recovery in Mesa County and elsewhere in the United States, it’s hardly surprising business development and job growth remain the predominant campaign issues in races for everything from the courthouse to the White House. As a strategist of former President Bill Clinton put it so eloquently way back in 1992: “It’s […]
If you’re concerned about how high federal government spending and debt have reached in recent years, the latest numbers on the current fiscal year offer little hope for positive change. To review, federal outlays jumped from $2.73 trillion in 2007 to $2.98 trillion in 2008, and $3.52 trillion in 2009. This vast increase in spending […]
It seems like Washington can’t agree on anything these days, except maybe one thing: small business. It seems everyone in Washington loves small business — or pretends they do. If you watch the news or listen to the ads, you’ll hear candidates on both sides of the aisle vow to help small businesses grow and […]
Yep, I’m talking about the talk-meister in chief, our president, who took time out of his busy, soak-the-rich fund-raising efforts to talk with all us little folks here in Grand Junction. Well, not all of us. Some of us had to work. Some of us had to make money to pay taxes so Barack Obama […]