Bernanke Raises Interest In Microlending
Microlending in the U.S. got booster shot of moral support last week, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to an industry gathering in San Ant... Read story
Robb Mandelbaum
The Granite State Race Isn't Set In Stone
A new survey of likely primary voters in New Hampshire reveals that the races in both parties are shifting -- though in different ways. Both the Democrati... Read story
When Republicans Fight A Tax Cut
Today the House of Representatives is to vote on a short-term fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax, the system set up in 1969 to capture revenue from millio... Read story
Carbon: To Tax Or Trade?
Turns out I'm not the only one to notice that in the ... Read story
When Big Is Small
Yesterday, big news from the Small committee: the Senate's Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship yesterday voted 19-0 on legislation meant to m... Read story
Global Warming In The Air
Senator Hillary Clinton made headlines yesterday for her "bold and comprehensive plan" (her campaign's words) to reduce America's carbon emissions 80 perc... Read story
Biden Boards The Health Care Bus
Who doesn't have a health plan these days? Yesterday Joe Biden threw his three-ring binder into the ring at a press conference in Des Moines. What he laid... Read story
Obama's Question
"How can the next president better help small business and entrepreneurs thrive?" The question was posed by one "Read story
Clip File Redux: Hillary's $1 Billion Plan
Also reported in yesterday's Times : Sen. Hillary Clinton ... Read story
Clip File: Republicans Warm Up To Climate Change
Al Gore's Nobel win may have some Republicans crying politics, but an ... Read story
And The Republican Economic Debate Winner is...Huckabee?
The Republican Economic Debate, held Tuesday afternoon in Dearborn, MI, was mostly a predictable contest -- almost as predictable as when the Democrats ta... Read story
Iowa, All Shook Up
The Des Moines Register published its Iowa Poll yesterday, its first survey of caucus-goer leanings since May. The results are important for both... Read story
HillaryCare, Past and Present
A further point about all the press Hillary Clinton's health plan has received in the last three weeks: a lot of ink has been spilled on the specter of th... Read story
A Healthy Debate: Clinton, Richardson, And The Tyranny of the Press
It seems unfair -- or at least unfortunate -- that New Mexico governor and fellow Democratic candidate Bill Richardson has been left out of the national c... Read story
Rudy's Immigration Beef
Rudy Giuliani had dinner Monday night in Philadelphia. On the menu: cheesesteak, naturally -- with a side of immigration policy. Hizzonor stopped by Geno'... Read story
McCain: Gov't Should Help Entrepreneurs -- By Getting Out of Their Way
John McCain is courting the negociocito vote. The only GOP candidate who agreed to debate on Univision in August spoke to the Hispanic Business E... Read story
Affordable Health Care Redux
Since we're on the subject of health insurance, let's look at one other surprise that Kaiser delivered in its annual Read story
Affordable Health Insurance, By Another Measure
Last week, I wrote that the very important Kaiser Family Foundation report on health insurance costs (read it Read story
HillaryCare: Small Business Gets A Helping Hand
A few weeks ago, Mitt Romney's campaign gleefully proclaimed a readiness to debate "HillaryCare" with the Democratic frontrunner. Well, on Monday, Senator... Read story
Small Biz Wants To Insure Its Workers. What Do Its Lobbyists Want?
Small firms want to offer health insurance to their employees. That's one takeaway message in the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2007 Employer Health Benefit'... Read story
House Approves 2 SBA Bills (With A "Nay" From Ron Paul)
International traders and micro-businesses seeking assistance from the Small Business Administration got a potentially big boost on Tuesday when the House... Read story
The Union Label
With Labor Day come and gone, union endorsements are piling up. So who's zoomin' who? Hillary Clinton collected two big endorsements last week, fr... Read story
Romney On Healthcare: My Way…Or Anybody Else's Way!
When Mitt Romney outlined his proposal for reforming healthcare to the Florida Medical Association today, he seemed to be saying that Massachusetts's path... Read story
Romney's Coalition Of The Willing
Michigan may suddenly become an early presidential battleground as the state considers holding a primary in mid-January, and Republican Mitt Romney is sta... Read story
Mitt Romney: Entrepreneur?
That's the question I raised last week after surveyin... Read story
The Small Biz Tax Gap
Are we a nation of tax cheats? Duh. But if a recent report by the Government Accountability Office ("the investigating arm of Congress") is to be believed... Read story
Obama’s Buffett Dinner
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett met Barack Obama back 2004, and he liked what he saw. "I've got a conviction about him that I don't get very often," h... Read story
The ($190 To) $250 Million Man
We all knew that Mitt Romney's stint as founder of Bain Capital made him rich, but this week we got a better idea of exactly how rich he is. Or rather, ap... Read story
Rudy On the Fence?
Last Wednesday, Mitt Romney hit Rudy Giuliani where it hurt the most. When Giuliani was mayor, Romney said in a speech in Bettendorf, Iowa, "he instructed... Read story
RudyCare: The Update
Well, evaluations of Rudy Giuliani's health care "plan" are trickling in, and so far, the response seems underwhelming. You'll Read story
Bill Of Particulars: Richardson Details Health Plan
Claiming that "We cannot afford a healthcare system that doesn't cover every American -- the cost to our economy and the well-being of our people is just ... Read story
Small Biz Outlook: Battle of the Surveys
Was July a good month for small businesses? It depends on whom you ask -- or who does the asking. According to the payroll "solutions" firm ADP, ... Read story
Obama Campaign Lends Small Business An Ear In New Hampshire
Campaign staffers for Barack Obama are canvassing small business owners in town-hall meetings around New Hampshire. Three were held the last week of July,... Read story
RudyCare
'We've got to solve our health care problem with American principles, not the principles of socialism,' Rudy Giuliani told an audience in Rochester, New H... Read story
Minimum Wage: Whither Mitt?
The federal minimum wage rose 70 cents today, to $5.85 an hour -- the first step in a two-year march to $7.25 an hour. Government figures cited by the Ass... Read story
Democrats Debate: Brave New Format, Same Old Answers
You would've had a hard time finding nuggets of specific interest to the small business community in last night's Read story
Small Business, Big Controversy
Why are so many big corporations winning federal contracts designated for small firms? Read story
Does the SBA Still Matter?
To get past the partisan debate in Washington, we went to a district office to find out what the SBA really does and whom it really helps. Read story
SBA Loans: Following the Money
By: Robb Mandelbaum The Small Business Administration's efforts to make smaller loans available to more peo... Read story
Is This Any Way to Run a Family?
Hoping to inspire, to teach responsibility and instill determination, Tom Parsons decided to start a business with his 15-year-old son. It seemed like a good... Read story