Verbatim: Georgia's Martin-Chambliss Runoff Election Campaign Tops Week's Features

Every week, GoodBiz113 features influencers who are propelling the interests of small-business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, self-employed folks, artists, etc.

* "Georgia voters are being hit with misleading ads from both sides as Republican Sen. Chambliss battles Democratic challenger Jim Martin [pictured] in a Dec. 2 runoff election... In one ad, Chambliss tells viewers that Martin 'wants to help Barack Obama raise taxes on nearly every small business in Georgia.' Not so. What Obama has proposed would affect only the most affluent 2.4 percent of small-business owners, or less." -- FactCheck.org, a project of the University of Pennsylvania's Public Policy Center ["Peach State Piffle," Newsweek, 11/21/2008]

* "You want businesses to focus on running their business. You don't want them to devote any brain cells to focusing on the tax code." -- Tim Kane, an economist and a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation ["Is a Small-Business Tax Cut Coming?" U.S. News & World Report, 11/24/2008]

* “The frozen lending market has left small businesses in the cold as we face the holiday rush... I'm glad the Secretary has taken our warnings seriously and taken this step forward. It should provide some needed relief at a critical time. We hope small businesses will continue to get the help they deserve as further steps are taken to repair our ailing economy.” -- Sen. John Kerry [D-Mass.], chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, on Nov. 25, after U.S. Treasury Department officials announced their plan to infuse $20 billion into the secondary market through loans to asset managers -- a middle-of-the-road approach that will help to inject some liquidity into the market, and should make it easier for entrepreneurs to gain access to credit as they look to stock up on holiday supplies and services. One week prior to the announcement, Kerry had collaborated with Sens. Olympia Snowe [R-Maine] and Charles Schumer [D-N.Y.] to urge Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to channel a portion of the $700 billion rescue package [AKA Wall Street bailout] to be used to purchase government-backed small-business loans through the Troubled Assets Relief Program [TARP].

* "We'll be looking for long-term sustainable solutions... I think everyone who knows me knows I'm a different kind of Democrat. I'm an Alaskan... I support drilling. Alaskans are libertarians, we are independent. We like to have our individual rights and freedoms but also recognize we are a resource state." -- Mark Begich, who defeated longtime Sen. Ted Stevens on Nov. 4, and has his sights on assignments on the U.S. Senate Appropriations, Finance, Commerce and/or Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. ["Begich Takes U.S. Senate," Homer Tribune, 11/26/2008]

* “We all know the economy is in deep trouble... I believe the best response is to create jobs on Main Street and provide the middle class with significant relief, while also building a solid foundation for long-term prosperity... President-elect Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan should be especially good for Minnesota, with his focus on infrastructure and renewable energy. I want to go back to Washington and advocate for this recovery plan, based on what we’re already doing in Minnesota and what more needs to be done.” -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D-Minn.], before embarking today [Dec. 1] on her weeklong, 17-city Main Street Jobs Tour of businesses throughout Minnesota, to focus on opportunities for job creation with infrastructure and renewable-energy projects

GoodBiz113's take: America's small businesses would be so much better off if all of our senators and representatives in Congress followed Sen. Amy Klobuchar's example; i.e., actually getting out to meet and talk with us about business funding, affordable health insurance, taxes, etc. Given his small-biz-friendly stance on such issues, Jim Martin impresses us one who would do just that. Hopefully, during tomorrow's runoff election, Georgia voters will elect Martin to the U.S. Senate.

SOURCES: FactCheck.org, Homer Tribune, Newsweek, Politico.com, U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. News & World Report, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
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Franken Demands Immediate Congressional Hearings re Banks' Abuse of $700 Billion Bailout

Minnesota DFL candidate Al Franken -- the only U.S. Senate candidate who opposed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout -- today called for immediate hearings in light of reports indicating that banks may not be using those funds to unfreeze credit markets but, rather, for other purposes -- with the encouragement of the Treasury Department.

"Washington sprung into immediate action when Wall Street was in trouble, but there's been no help for struggling homeowners on Main Street and no solutions for middle-class families and small businesses hurt by the failed economic policies of the last eight years," said Franken. "And now we find that the $700 billion bailout is being used not to solve the problem, but to handpick winners and losers on Wall Street. That's an outrage.

"Taxpayer dollars should be helping taxpayers, not going to pad the bottom lines of the Wall Street bankers whose bad bets got us into this mess. This is exactly why we should never have passed this bill without proper accountability. And it's time for Congress to take action."

Earlier this month, the Bush administration announced that it would use bailout funds to inject capital directly into banks. They claimed that this would allow credit to start flowing again as banks lent that money to other entities. But recent reports indicate that, instead, the banks receiving these funds are using them to buy up other, smaller banks. And the Treasury Department, according to a column by New York Times financial columnist Joe Nocera, is encouraging the practice.

Meanwhile, Wall Street financial institutions like Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch continue to pay out billions in bonuses, despite receiving bailout funds.

This morning, during his statewide "For The Middle Class, For A Change" bus tour, Franken stopped at Bouquets by Carolyn, a small business located in St. Paul, Minn. There, he called for:
* Immediate hearings into potential abuses of the $700 billion bailout by Wall Street banks
* Straight answers from the Bush administration on its real plans for these taxpayer dollars
* An administration guarantee that banks receiving bailout funds will use them to lend
* A revocation of U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Henry Paulson's authority to implement the bailout if he cannot explain how his plan is serving taxpayers

In an editorial today, the New York Times wrote, "Shortly after the bailout was enacted, The Times's Mark Landler reported that Treasury officials also wanted to steer the bailout billions to banks that would use the money to buy up other banks. Now, lo and behold, with $250 billion in bailout funds committed to dozens of large and regional banks, it turns out that many of the recipients of this investment from taxpayers are not all that interested in making loans. And it appears that Mr. Paulson is not so bothered by their reluctance."

Case in point: Merrill Lynch. Two days ago, Bloomberg reported that, while Merrill Lynch is laying off employees, the financial institution is paying out billions in bonuses. According to Bloomberg, "Five straight quarters of losses and a 70 percent slide in its stock this year haven't stopped Merrill Lynch & Co. from allocating about $6.7 billion to pay bonuses ... The money Merrill has set aside for bonuses equates to an average $110,000 for each of its 60,900 people, up from $108,000 a year ago because more than 3,000 jobs have been cut."

Apparently, Merrill Lynch isn't the only bailout recipient that's utilizing taxpayer funds to reward its employees. Bloomberg also reported that Morgan Stanley and Lehman are both setting aside billions for bonus payments. According to Bloomberg, "Even some employees at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which declared the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history last month, will get the same bonus they received a year ago ... Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest securities firm until it also converted to a bank, has $6.44 billion for bonuses, or $138,700 per person, down 20 percent from last year."

GoodBiz113's take: Al Franken is right: Congressional oversight is needed, post-haste, to hold the Wall Street bailout recipients accountable for seeing that taxpayer funds are used to help fuel America's economy [e.g., small businesses, homeowners, working families], as intended -- not to lavishly reward their own fat-cat executives and employees.

SOURCES: Al Franken for U.S. Senate, Bloomberg, New York Times
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Joined by Sen. Dorgan, Franken Proposes New Lifeline for Minnesota Small Businesses

Joined by Sen. Byron Dorgan [D - N.D.] and two local small-business owners, DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken [D-Minn.] today offered a new proposal to unfreeze credit for Minnesota small businesses. His initiative is part of an economic recovery plan designed to create jobs and help Minnesota families in these tough economic times.

Franken unveiled the plan today at a news conference, joined by Dorgan and two local entrepreneurs:

* Mallard Teal is the owner of Payne Ave. Body Shop. A small-business loan enabled him to renovate his storefront and expand his business.

* Mary Leonard is the owner of Chocolat Celeste. She applies for a seasonal loan each year to expand production and hire additional employees for the busy Christmas season -- but this year, has been unable to acquire that capital.

"George Bush and Norm Coleman just don't get it: giveaways to the special interests and tax cuts for millionaire CEOs don't create jobs," Franken declared. "Small businesses create jobs. And, while Washington rushed to bail out huge corporations on Wall Street, we're going to lose jobs here in Minnesota if we don't do something to unfreeze credit for our small businesses. My proposal will ensure that folks like Mallard and Mary can continue to grow their operations and get our economy moving again."

Dorgan wholeheartedly agreed. "Al and I both opposed the bailout because it didn't protect taxpayers by adding in provisions to make sure this type of meltdown would not happen again," he said. "Al Franken is now proposing smart ideas to get this economy moving. We need him in the Senate to help fight for the middle class and stand up to the special interests."

Franken's proposal generates $4 billion for direct loans to small businesses through the Small Business Administration [SBA], and adds another $1 billion to the SBA's loan guaranty programs. It also simplifies the process of obtaining these loans; eliminates associated fees; and expands the network of lenders to increase liquidity and secure better loan rates for small businesses.

The initial $5 billion investment will be repaid by small businesses, resulting in no net cost to taxpayers over time. But Franken called for the $5 billion upfront cost to be paid for, in the short term, by taking it out of the $700 billion earmarked for the bailout package, or by eliminating unwarranted and excess stock-option deductions on executive compensation.

SOURCE: Al Franken for U.S. Senate
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