(Oct 11, 2008) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday proposed emergency assistance for small business endangered by America’s financial crisis, calling for a "small business rescue plan" of tax incentives and loans.
"Small businesses employ half of the workers in the private sector in this country, and account for the majority of the job growth. But we also know that a credit crunch has dried up capital and put these jobs at risk - shops can’t finance their inventories, and small firms can’t make payroll," Obama said at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio. "If we don’t act, we’ll be looking at scaled back operations, shuttered shops, and laid-off workers."
Obama’s campaign platform already featured pledges aimed at small businesses, including proposals for eliminating capital gains tax on gains from investments in startups and for a tax credit for businesses that offer workers health care. What’s new is his call for an emergency lending facility run by the Small Business Administration to shore up struggling companies imperiled by the credit crunch.
A paper detailing Obama’s proposed "Small Business Emergency Rescue Plan," released by his campaign on Friday, expands on the remarks Obama made in Chillicothe.
Obama’s new plan calls for the SBA’s loan guarantee programs to temporarily eliminate the fees they charge lenders, and for the agency to increase the guarantees it offers to banks that lend to qualifying small companies. Additionally, he wants the SBA to expand its facility for directly lending money to small companies through its Disaster Loan Program. (LINK)
One measure that would help all business owners and encourage hiring would be an across-the-board cut in the federal payroll tax, which employers must pay before they earn a cent of profit.
Which candidate is championing that reform? Neither. Why not? Payroll taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. Any candidate who proposed cutting them would have to pay more attention to the looming insolvency of those programs. And neither McCain nor Obama loves small business quite that much.
Writing by Webmaster on Monday, 4 of August , 2008 at 8:29 pm - Leave a comment - 4 views
“Everyone has assumed we age by rust. But how do you explain animals that don’t age? Some tortoises
lay eggs at the age of 100, there are whales that live to be 200 and clams that make it past 400 years.”
Stuart Kim, PhD, Stanford University professor of developmental biology and genetics
Prevailing theory of aging challenged by Stanford University Medical School researchers. Their discovery contradicts the prevailing theory that aging is a buildup of tissue damage similar to rust. The Stanford findings suggest specific genetic instructions drive the process. If they are right, science might one day find ways of switching the signals off and halting or even reversing aging. [LINK]
Writing by Webmaster on Monday, 7 of July , 2008 at 7:19 pm - Leave a comment - 15 views
Think you’re worried about the economy? Phillip Swagel is a wreck.
The assistant Treasury secretary for economic policy, Swagel came out for his monthly economic briefing yesterday, 90 minutes after the Labor Department reported that the country had shed jobs in June for the sixth straight month.
It was a hopeless spin assignment — but Swagel, the administration’s sacrificial lamb for the day, had to try. And so Swagel, bookish and bespectacled, entered the Treasury Department’s briefing room with evident trepidation. He nodded and offered smiles every which way. His heavy breathing, picked up by the microphone, could be heard in the back of the room. Per reports, the country lost 62,000 jobs last month… [LINK]
Writing by Webmaster on Monday, 7 of July , 2008 at 7:13 pm - Leave a comment - 6 views
Report: There is a reason why the United Kingdom is turning out to be a serious alternative to the United States. Studies indicate that an increasing number of Britons are losing their faith in God. Christianity, specifically. A survey released on Friday substantiates these claims, by documenting the fact that over half of all Britons believe that Christianity will die out in their country within the next fifty years.
According to the survey, six in ten British citizens surveyed said that they would prefer not to practice any religion at all. How fascinating, especially for Americans, and residents of the Muslim third world, for whom the exact opposite situation reigns. (Read more…)
Writing by Webmaster on Sunday, 15 of June , 2008 at 8:17 pm - Leave a comment - 14 views
Researchers have found that some molecules which are the basis for life on Earth can have an extraterrestrial origin. These alien molecules can survive an impact with Earth and may have been crucial to the development of life on Earth. Intact life from space — bacteria, viruses, and such — is still just an idea, with no credible supporting evidence. [link]