ThinkProgress Logo

Stories tagged with “Small Businesses”

Politics

Romney’s ‘We Did Build This’ Events Feature Businesses Built With Government Subsidies And Contracts

By Aviva Shen on Jul 25, 2012 at 3:12 pm

Today, the Romney campaign is hosting an entire series of campaign events based on President Obama’s misinterpreted comment about small businesses. While Obama’s full speech made a “no man is an island” argument, the Romney campaign has seized on the quote, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” as evidence of Obama’s disdain for small business owners.

Romney, ignoring the fact that he has echoed this same sentiment on multiple occasions, organized 24 “We Did Build This” events in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada. At each event, local business owners are speaking about their self-sufficiency in running a business and how government is hindering their growth.

But, like the New Hampshire business owner showcased in Romney’s attack ad on the issue, many of these business owners have received significant support from the government, a ThinkProgress analysis finds.

  • Ball Office Products hosted the “We Did Build This” event in Richmond, Virginia. The company received a loan of $635,000 through the Small Business Administration in 2012, according to USASpending.gov. The company was also awarded a lucrative $52,525 contract with the General Services Administration just a year after its founding.
  • Midwest Tape, a media distributor of Holland, Ohio, was showcased at a local event and has been contracted by the Department of Defense since 2008, earning a cumulative $13,659.
  • Columbus Truck and Equipment was featured in a neighboring event and has received $6,643 in contracts with the Department of Defense.
  • Cranston Material Handling Equipment Corporation, the owner of which spoke Wednesday morning at a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has reaped a total of $61,729 in contracts with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2007.
  • Systems Engineering Co.The owner of Systems Engineering has received a total of $180,200 in DOD contracts, as recently as last year.
  • Brady Industries in Las Vegas has received $54,425 in contracts with Veterans Affairs since 2009.
  • Pennsylvania business PRL Industries Inc. received a $167,847 contract through the Department of Homeland Security for ship and boat propulsion components for the U.S. Coast Guard in August 2008. Janis Herschkowitz, who spoke on behalf of PRL, Inc. used to be a director of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank, which, defined in Herschkowitz’ own words, was created by Congress “to meet personal, social or business needs, especially in low- and moderate-income communities by forming cooperatives.”
  • An Iowa event featured Competitive Edge, Inc. which was contracted by Veterans Affairs for $3,543 to make informational refrigerator magnets.
  • J & W Cycles of Missouri was awarded $25,808 in contracts from the DOD and Department of Interior.
  • Total Resource, featured in a Sparks, Nevada campaign event, has been a federal contractor since 2010, and received a $11,200 contract from the DOD in 2009.
  • Applegate Insulation, which hosted one of the events in Michigan, benefited from an energy saving federal tax credit worth 30 percent of the installation project, up to $1,500.
  • Home Instead Senior Care supported Romney in Roanoke, Virginia, even though home health care companies receive 75 percent of their funding from public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Home Instead franchises in Virginia have received at least $3,613,549 in federal funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2008. Chris Head, who represented Home Instead at the event, has previously lamented the low Medicaid reimbursement rates in Virginia and told the Roanoke Times that he wished state funding had helped save the now-defunct local Mill Mountain Theatre.
  • Ed Nagle of Nagle Trucking in Ohio also took issue with Obama’s speech, which mentioned roads and bridges as examples of essential government support. But less than a year ago, Nagle protested an idea to privatize the Ohio Turnpike, noting that the privatized Indiana toll road “has diminished in its quality and it’s become a lot more expensive.”

While the “We Did Build This” event was intended to “allow small business owners the chance to respond to President Obama’s claim,” it is clear that many of these owners exemplify the combined powers of individual effort and government support that Obama — and Romney — have praised.

Additional reporting by Steven Perlberg.

Update

The Tampa Bay Times reports on two more local businesses that benefited from government contracts, A.D. Morgan Corporation and Value Enterprise Solutions.

Update

This list has been updated to include more businesses that received government funds.

Election

Romney’s ‘You Didn’t Build That’ Attack Ad Stars Businessman Who Received Millions in Government Money

By Aviva Shen on Jul 23, 2012 at 5:43 pm

After the conservative blogosphere used a selectively edited Obama campaign speech to suggest that the president belittled the achievements of small business owners, the Romney campaign released an attack ad featuring New Hampshire small business owner Jack Gilchrist as a counterpoint.

In “These Hands,” the Romney campaign repeated the out-of-context quote, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else did that.” Jack Gilchrist, the owner of Gilchrist Metal Fabricating in Hudson, New Hampshire, incredulously asks, “My father’s hands didn’t build this company? My hands didn’t build this company? My son’s hands aren’t building this company? …Through hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. Why are you demonizing us for it?”

In context, Obama’s speech was not “demonizing” small business owners but simply challenging the idea that wealthy and successful individuals have never benefited from government services.

And, as it turns out, Jack Gilchrist is no different. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports today that Gilchrist benefited from millions of dollars of government loans and contracts to get his business on its feet:

In 1999, Gilchrist Metal received $800,000 in tax-exempt revenue bonds issued by the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority “to set up a second manufacturing plant and purchase equipment to produce high definition television broadcasting equipment,” according to a New Hampshire Union Leader report at the time…

Last year, Gilchrist Metal also received two U.S. Navy sub-contracts totaling about $83,000 and a smaller $5,600 Coast Guard contract in 2008, according to a government web site that tracks spending.

Gilchrist wisely took advantage of these funds, which help small businesses like his survive in their early years. He also took a U.S. Small Business Administration loan in the late 1980s totaling “somewhere south of” $500,000, plus matching funds from the federally-funded New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.

In a lesson on basic government spending that Romney himself could learn from, Gilchrist succinctly explained: “I’m not going to turn a blind eye because the money came from the government. As far as I’m concerned, I’m getting some of my tax money back. I’m not stupid, I’m not going to say ‘no.’ Shame on me if I didn’t use what’s available.”

Watch the Romney ad:

Politics

Romney Agrees With Obama: Government Does ‘Help You In A Business’

By Adam Peck on Jul 18, 2012 at 3:50 pm

The Romney campaign and conservative bloggers have been feasting on a selectively-edited quote from President Obama to argue that he believes that the government, not business owners, are responsible for the success of their enterprises. Though Obama’s comment — “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else did that” — accurately observed that businesses large and small rely on public infrastructure funded by taxpayer dollars, Republicans have used the statement to reinforce their ‘Obama hates businesses’ narrative.

But during a campaign appearance in Ohio on Wednesday, Mitt Romney misquoted Obama, before agreeing that tax payer-funded programs help all American businesses succeed:

ROMNEY: I know that you recognize a lot of people help you in a business. Perhaps the bank, the investors. There is no question your mom and dad, your school teachers. The people who provide roads, the fire, the police. A lot of people help. But let me ask you this. Did you build your business? If you did, raise your hand. Take that Mr. President! This is what’s happening in this country. These people are entrepreneurs.

Watch it:

Romney has proposed deep reductions in government spending and has even said that the nation must “cut back” on firemen, policemen and teachers.

Climate Progress

Poll: Overwhelming Majority Of Michigan Small Businesses Support Increase In State’s Clean Energy Target

By Climate Guest Blogger on Jul 18, 2012 at 3:25 pm

A new poll conducted by Small Business Majority shows that small businesses in Michigan “overwhelmingly support increasing the state’s renewable energy standard to 25 percent by 2025.” According to the poll, 79 percent of poll respondents supported the measure.

Michigan’s renewable energy standard, which requires a 10% penetration by 2015, has driven more than $100 million in economic activity. The new proposed standard, which will be on a ballot initiative in November, is expected to spur billions in economic activity.

Supporters of the initiative have turned in over 530,000 signatures, almost 200,000 more than needed to make it on to the ballot: “We are taking the first step toward becoming an energy leader that can compete with anyone in the world,” said Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs spokesman Mark Fisk, in response to the signatures.

According to the Small Business Majority poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, small business owners also believe the targets can be a driver of economic growth:

“Small business owners in Michigan are eager for pragmatic energy policies that can help them develop new technologies and increase business opportunities. They understand that to survive in this tough economy they need creative solutions to curb costs and increase their competitive edge. These include continued government investments in clean energy and the enforcement of standards that reduce harmful emissions in their communities. Right now, giving small businesses the incentives and tools needed to drive job creation and increase market competitiveness should be a top priority.”

This is in direct contrast to the climate change-denying Chamber of Commerce and the state’s two large utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, which are waging an aggressive campaign against new renewable energy targets.

The small business owners polled by the pollsters were ideologically diverse, with 39 percent identifying as Republican, 38 percent as Democrat, 10 percent as independent and 13 percent as “other.”

More than three quarters of respondents expressed the belief that government should have a role in helping promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, and nearly 80 percent thought that financial incentives and policy directives are an appropriate way for the government to accomplish this goal.

– Max Frankel

Media

Conservatives Selectively Edit Obama’s Speech To Claim He Hates Small Businesses

By Aviva Shen on Jul 16, 2012 at 4:02 pm

Attempting to change the subject from the latest scandal over Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, conservatives have seized on new fodder for the narrative that Obama is secretly out to destroy small businesses. Fox and Friends on Monday morning aired a clip from an Obama campaign speech in Roanoke, Virginia, in which he says, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else did that.”

The sound bite soon reverberated throughout conservative media outlets. Fox News later ran the headline, “Obama Insults Small Business Owners,” and House Speaker John Boehner scoffed, “He said that because he has no idea what it takes to build or run a small business.”

The quote also prompted talk show host Rush Limbaugh to declare that President Obama “hates this country.”

Of course, Obama’s supposedly insulting comment is somewhat different in context. The full text of his speech, rather than denigrate small business, challenged the idea that wealthy and successful individuals have never benefited from government programs:

I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.

Without the context, Obama’s point that individual effort is bolstered by community systems is completely lost. The idea is nothing new; Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) made very similar comments that went viral in September of last year. Indeed, far from denigrating small business owners, Obama has cut taxes on small businesses 17 times.

Deliberately editing Obama out of context is not a new tactic for conservatives. In one blatant example, a recent Romney campaign ad quoted Obama saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose,” a quote Obama was in fact using to criticize then-candidate John McCain for his refusal to discuss the economic crisis in 2008.

Economy

Speaker Boehner Uses Many Lies To Claim Ending Upper Income Tax Breaks Hurts Small Businesses

By Pat Garofalo on Jul 10, 2012 at 4:10 pm

Since President Obama called, once again, for the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for income above $250,000, Republicans have revived their favorite talking points about taxes and small businesses. For years, Republicans have falsely portrayed a tax increase on high-income Americans as disproportionately affecting small businesses, though there is little evidence to back up those assertions.

Case in point, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) said during a speech today that half of the people affected by the increase would be small business people:

Now, let’s look at what the President wants to do. By raising taxes on those who make more than $250,000, half of those people who are going to be taxed are small business people, who have pass through entities, just like many of you, and just like I had…Why we would want to tax the very people we expect to create jobs in this country makes no economic sense.

Watch it:

Boehner has used variations of this lie in the past, claiming that half of the people affected by a millionaire’s tax would be small business owners. The statistic wasn’t true then, as Boehner’s own office admitted, and it isn’t true now. Far less than half of the people affected by the expiration of the upper income tax cuts get any of their income at all from a small businesses. And those people could very well be receiving speaking fees or book royalties, which qualify as “small business income” but don’t have a direct impact on job creation.

Boehner himself has conceded that only three percent of small business owners would be affected by the tax increase. Meanwhile, both his Congressional website and his Twitter feed have been claiming that letting the high income tax cuts lapse hurts job creation: but history has proven that simply isn’t the case, as job creation and economic growth have been stronger when the top tax rate was higher.

Even under Obama’s plan, high-income individuals are still receiving a hefty tax break compared to what they were paying under the Clinton administration. Republicans, meanwhile, are using small businesses as a political prop to promote the interests of the richest people in America.

Health

Study: Small Business Owners Support Obamacare

By Guest Blogger on Jun 18, 2012 at 9:00 am


Throughout his campaign, Mitt Romney has continued to claim that the Affordable Care Act hurts small businesses. But a new study on small businesses contradicts Romney’s claims. Conducted by a business advocacy group, Small Business Majority, an opinion poll surveyed 800 businesses owners across the country. And the results show that over half of the respondents – who were all small business owners – strongly support the law.

Key findings from the study indicated that 50 percent of small business owners want the health care reform law to be upheld by the Supreme Court, in its entirety or with just minor changes. Only one-third of the respondents wanted the Supreme Court to overturn the law. However, after learning more about the law’s details, support for keeping the law intact grew to 56 percent.

John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, said the results show that small business owners view Obamacare as a positive move for their businesses:

Contrary to popular belief, small business owners do not want the high court to throw out the Affordable Care Act. They see this law as helping everyone have coverage and bringing down healthcare costs—something that has been one of their top concerns for years. We hope Supreme Court justices understand how important this law is to small businesses who need relief from high healthcare costs.

Polling also indicated that the respondents heavily support the key provisions of health care reform. Seventy-eight percent back prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions and nearly 70 percent also want to prevent insurance companies from basing rates on health status. In addition, a vast majority favor allowing young adults up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ plans.

–Angela Guo

Health

GOP Opposes Expanding Small Business Tax Credits That They Supported In 2009

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on May 30, 2012 at 11:38 am

Obamacare includes a small business tax credit to help employers provide health insurance coverage. The issue, however, is that only 170,300 businesses out of a possible 4 million have applied for the credit because of the time-consuming application procedure. Now, the Obama administration is asking Congress to improve the process so that more small businesses apply for the credit.

Republicans are opposing the request, even though it would lower taxes for small businesses. They’re seeking to repeal Obamacare, not change it. “I don’t think expanding it is going to make any difference whatsoever,” said Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), who chairs the House Small Business Committee.

But their runs against what GOP leaders proposed in 2009, during the debate over health care reform. Then-Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) had deputized Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to lead the Health Care Solutions Group and shape the GOP alternative to the Democrats’ health care proposals. “Unlike the Democrats’ government takeover of health care, this common-sense plan keeps patients and doctors in charge of key medical decisions,” Boehner said of the plan. In it, Blunt’s group called for a small business tax credit to help employers offset the cost of providing health insurance:

To expand availability and accessibility of health care coverage, the Republican plan: [...]

• Helps employers offer health care coverage to their workers by reducing their administrative costs through a new small business tax credit.

The Affordable Care Act’s tax credit was designed to help small businesses with fewer than 25 employees, which have the most difficult time offering insurance to their employees. These businesses make up almost 90 percent of all employers in the U.S., so improving the application process for tax credits would expand health insurance to thousands of workers.

NEWS FLASH

House Of Representatives Approves Cantor’s $46 Billion Tax Giveaway | The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a bill today, backed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), that would supposedly grant small businesses a 20 percent tax cut. However, as we’ve noted over and over, the bill would actually be a $46 billion giveaway to the rich. The bill was approved on a 235-173 vote, with 18 Democrats voting in favor and 10 Republicans voting against. Today, CAP’s Seth Hanlon noted that, according to an analysis that Cantor himself was touting, the bill spends $1.1 million for every job it creates. Democrats today noted this salient fact while blasting the bill on the House floor. Watch it:

– Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Apr 19, 2012 at 3:20 pm

Economy

Eric Cantor Touts Analysis Concluding That His Tax Giveaway Would Cost $1.1 Million Per Job

By Guest Blogger on Apr 19, 2012 at 10:40 am

Our guest blogger is Seth Hanlon, Director of Fiscal Reform at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The House GOP has scheduled a vote for later today on a $46 billion tax giveaway. H.R. 9, sponsored by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), would give a massive, deficit-financed windfall to hedge fund managers, sports team owners, celebrities and other wealthy people. It would increase tax compliance burdens on small businesses and actually incentivize businesses to put off making investments and new hires until 2013 or later. (For our full analysis, click here.) The White House has issued a veto threat.

In arguing that his bill would create jobs, Cantor is now touting an analysis by Gary Robbins of Fiscal Associates. Robbins, a leading purveyor of supply-side economics for decades, appears to be the only economist that Cantor could find to help sell his bill. Robbins was last heard from using recycled supply-side arguments to sing the praises of Herman Cain’s tremendously ill-conceived “9-9-9” tax plan as a paid consultant to the Cain campaign.

So if anyone is likely to conclude that Cantor’s tax cut is a good way to create jobs, it’s Robbins. But even his analysis finds that Cantor’s bill is a dud.

Robbins predicts that Cantor’s tax cut — a one-year, 20 percent deduction for businesses that qualify — would add $42.6 billion to the federal budget deficit. (That’s a little less than Congress’s official estimate of $46 billion because Robbins’ revenue estimates are based on his own assumptions about economic growth.) Robbins also estimates that such a one-year tax cut would create 39,000 jobs. So according to the analysis that Cantor is touting on his own website, H.R. 9 would increase the federal deficit by $1.1 million for every job created.

Read more

Older

Newer

Switch to Mobile
ThinkProgress Signup Overlay Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress

Sign Up