We asked Thomas Quaadman, executive director for Reporting Policy and Investor Opportunity at the U.S. Chamber Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, to sound off on the small business financial crisis for GrowSmartBusiness.com. This guest post is part of a series of interviews with small business owners, entrepreneurs and small business experts providing their insights about the Small Business Success Index.
The fact of the matter is that the freeze-up of the credit markets also impacts small businesses in a hard way. Small businesses very often are start-ups, or are uniquely affected by the business cycles of a locality. As such, lines of credit and loans are necessary for small businesses to expand, or be able to survive the tough times. This is important, because small businesses are the engine that drives the economy and creates jobs.
While the financial crisis may have hit some large businesses early in the cycle, some small businesses will be impacted later as the effects work their way through the system. Also, the freeze-up of the credit markets that began in September, cut off the lifeline that some businesses needed to survive. This combination has led to a growing number of business closings and ever increasing job losses.
We have seen many efforts to restart the credit markets—TARP I, TARP II, TALF, the PPIP, the acronyms keep growing and growing. But often, in reporting these developments, the media misses the point and reports about the companies that are too big to fail.
The fact of the matter is that these efforts to shock the credit markets back to life are as much to restart lending for small businesses as for the large ones. In fact, the Chamber supported the efforts of the Obama Administration to increase lending to small businesses through the Small Business Administration. These efforts are vital for economic recovery to take hold.
The genius of the American economy has been the freedom of a person to start a business and give them the opportunity to grow it into a larger one. Sure there is too big to fail, but we have to remember that you need to think big and start small. With the right idea, work ethic, and sufficient capital, a small business can thrive and we can all benefit.
Just ask Bill Gates.
Thomas Quaadman is the Executive Director for Financial Reporting & Investor Opportunity at the U.S. Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitivenes. He also writes on for The Chamber Post, where the U.S. Chamber of Commerce discusses “business and the challenges faced by business leaders around the globe.”
