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The Main Street Alliance of Oregon.

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On the call, Jim discussed why adding $700 billion to the deficit for a new round of tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans is bad for business:

“These tax cuts for the richest two percent are no help to small businesses like mine.  We need policies that actually help small businesses by restoring consumer purchasing power and spurring demand. Extending federal unemployment benefits would produce 6 to 8 times the economic impact in terms of job growth compared to the tax cuts. And that’s just one example.”

When the Congressional Budget Office studied different options for jump-starting economic growth and evaluated the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy among a set of 11 policy options, the tax cuts came in last of all 11 options.

While proponents of extending the high-income tax cuts frame their case around concern for small businesses, only three percent of taxpayers who report any business income (let alone income from a small business) earn enough to break into the top two tax brackets. In fact, even this figure overstates the impact on actual small businesses.

Click Here for Audio of The Entire Call.

Read the Story in the Oregonian.

Jim has been a strong small business voice in support of health reform. He pays for coverage for his employees, and his premiums have doubled over the last ten years. Now, thanks to the new health law, Jim’s business will qualify for a tax credit that return over $10,000 to the business, effectively rolling back their health insurance costs to 2008 levels. As Jim puts it, “It’s like a time machine.”

This past September, Jim had the opportunity to join an informal backyard gathering with President Obama and over a dozen other participants from around the country who will benefit from the new health care protections that went into effect on September 23.

Jim recaps the event:

“The President spent well over an hour listening to people tell their stories of how the health care reform provisions have improved their lives, sometimes dramatically. I met people who no longer face denial of coverage because they have a pre-existing medical condition or have exceeded their lifetime health insurance limit. The significance of the new law for me is that we will now be able to continue our employees’ health care coverage. Our company is one of over 4 million small businesses now eligible for the new health care tax credits. The effect of this tax credit for our company will be to return our health care costs to 2008 levels – a major cost reduction.”

Jim’s participation in the event drew coverage in state and national news outlets:

The Oregonian

The Washington Post

Our friends at the Main Street Alliance have put the audio from the call up online for you to hear.

Download a recording of the call here.

The survey found strong support among small business owners for comprehensive financial reform and the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Now we have developed this infographic to better display the results of the survey.

The conference featured Deborah Field of Take Notice Card Company and Jim Houser of Hawthorne Auto Clinic, as well as a representative from Senator Jeff Merkley’s office.

Senator Merkley has emerged as a champion of financial reform and will continue fighting for comprehensive financial reform that works for Main Street, not Wall Street. His statement praised the report as reinforcing what he has heard from small business owners from across the nation.

The Oregon Small Business Council looks forward to partnering with Senator Merkley to pass a strong financial reform bill with a Consumer Financial Protection Agency this Congress.

View the report here.

View Oregon’s snapshot here.

Rep. Brian Baird

The grant is estimated to train and educate approximately 1,700 dislocated and unemployed Washington and Oregon workers to meet the needs of employers in renewable technology.

Rep. Baird had this to say:

Investing in renewable technologies not only stimulates new domestic industries but also promotes economic development and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. During tough economic times and record unemployment in Southwest Washington, projects like ReNW help bring quality, up-to-date energy training and education to our workers.

Read the full release at Natural Resource Report.

Weak public oversight allowed Wall Street’s risky and complex “financial innovations” to threaten the real economy the financial sector is supposed to support. Empty storefronts on Main Street reflect the consequences small businesses face as a result – including the disappearance of customers and dried up lines of credit. Meanwhile, large financial institutions receive public bail-outs, yet remain unaccountable. Main Street’s small businesses need financial reform to restore the stable economic foundation we need to thrive.

How will financial reform benefit small business?

By keeping an eye on systemic risks

· Loopholes in the regulatory system should be closed to ensure soundness, fairness and transparency. Agencies should receive the resources they need and be held accountable for fulfilling their missions.

· A central authority should oversee the multiple, separate regulatory agencies and watch for systemic risks to the broader economy.

· The current practice where regulatory agencies compete with each other to attract financial institutions to watch over should be stopped. This creates a conflict of interest where institutions shop around for the agencies with the weakest oversight, creating a “race to the bottom” that threatens transparency and protections.

By protecting consumers and small businesses

· Strong consumer protections go hand-in-hand with ensuring a more solid foundation for our economy, yet no central authority devoted to protecting consumers and small businesses exists. One should be created and empowered to put a stop to unfair, deceptive or abusive products and practices that harm small businesses.

· Federal laws should create minimum, not maximum, consumer protections. States should supplement federal laws and be able to protect their residents and local businesses. Federal agencies and courts should not preemptively prohibit states from creating protections that meet local needs.

By supporting communities

· The foreclosure crisis has led to a broad depression of property values and has prolonged the larger financial crisis. Small businesses are impacted both by the steep decline in business activity as families struggle to make their mortgage payments and by the decline in the commercial real estate market. In order to promote economic recovery that benefits small businesses, public policies must address the foreclosure crisis and free up disposable income for spending in local economies.

· The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) encourages banks to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. However, the CRA overlooks neighborhoods where banks make loans but do not have physical branches. In addition, regulators are prohibited from collecting data related to gender, race and ethnicity, allowing discriminatory lending and residential segregation practices to continue. The CRA should be modernized so as to encourage loans and investments in neighborhoods where they are needed the most.

From the letter:

I don’t relish paying taxes; nobody does. But I consider them a fair price for doing business in a state that values education. I’m in the communications business, so I depend on educated readers. I wouldn’t do well in a state that didn’t care about its schools.

I believe most business owners would agree that educated, trained, skilled citizens are essential to a strong economy and an attractive quality of life.

Read the rest of Gail’s letter here.