{"id":6307,"date":"2008-01-17T07:10:05","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T07:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/e-commerce\/politicians-ignoring-small-business.html"},"modified":"2008-01-17T07:10:05","modified_gmt":"2008-01-17T07:10:05","slug":"politicians-ignoring-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/personal\/politicians-ignoring-small-business.html","title":{"rendered":"Politicians Ignoring Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just received this e-mail from <\/span><\/font>John Cpin, <\/span><\/font><\/st1:personname><\/span><\/font>VP of Communications, Westin Rinehart and I thought it worth passing along as it makes some good points.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

—
\n<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\nJanuary 16, 2008<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

John Cpin<\/span><\/font><\/st1:personname><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

202.466.3050<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

George Cloutier Statement<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n 
\n <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

A Call for Change is Meaningless to Small Business Owners<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

It’s Time for the Politicians to Put Up…<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Politicians are Worried About Every Voter Block Except Small Businesses<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n

As the presidential campaign season gets busier and busier, candidates are talking about illegal immigration and the 11 million illegals in this country.<\/span><\/font> B<\/span>ut<\/font>,<\/span><\/font> no one is talking about the issues that directly affect and concern the 23 million small business owners in the US<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>. Small businesses are being neglected and left out of the political process and my question to all the candidates is where’s the beef? Isn’t it about time that we had some specific plans and proposals on how our presidential candidates will be trying to help out small business owners. I think its about time that we heard some real solutions to real problems that our small business owners are dealing with on a day to day basis. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

With the results in for the first few primaries, one thing is clear –there’s going to be a contest on both sides of the isle for the 2008 presidential nominee.  This means more campaigning, more rhetoric, and more speculating on whose base is being shored up.  The focus on change and which candidate is truly apt to deliver is thinly veiled; talk of change is cheap and now is the time to challenge both sides to spell it out.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The latest job report released showed unemployment at a two-year high, with Democrats blaming Bush and the Republicans blaming the Democratic-majority, neither side is taking action.   <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Regardless of whose fault it is –the nation’s 23 million small business owners are bearing the brunt.  Now is the time to ask the tough questions like why the Small Business Administration’s budget has been cut by 31% since 2000. Now is the time to ask what’s next.    <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Neither party is doing anything about the current situation. As a result, unemployment numbers are at a two year high and small business owners are suffering and feeling the financial impact of a poor economy and yet nothing is being done. Small business owners are feeling squeezed from all directions, yet no solutions are being provided. Instead of empty talk and rhetoric, its time that all parties offered specific solutions on how to help small business owners all around the country. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Change may be a great slogan, but go ask the 23 million small business owners if they are feeling any change in their day to day living situation. Small business owners will tell you that they are feeling change, but the direction of change for small business owners is going down and not up. Its time that small business owners be taken seriously. We can’t wait until after the 2008 elections. Everyday small business owners around the country are struggling to make ends meet and it’s about time that change really did occur for small business owners in 2008. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Before the primary season even began, American Management Services and Suffolk<\/st1:placename> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> released a poll confirming that small business felt alienated from the 2008 Presidential election by both major parties, with 66% of respondents unable to identify a single policy proposal targeted for the nation’s small business owners.<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The economy has already proven to be a hot-button issue, in Iowa<\/st1:state> and New Hampshire<\/st1:state> where it was second only to Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>. In Michigan<\/st1:state>, the economy is tied with Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>, in terms of issues that concern voters the most. With small business serving as the backbone of our economy, supplying 99.6% of all employer units, how and why have candidates been able to skate by this long without addressing our plight in this country?  <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Small businesses are probably the most essential building block of communities in both rural and urban areas and will ultimately prove to be an important voting segment as this race continues to ramp-up.  As Super Tuesday approaches it’s not just democrats vs. republicans, with 33% of small business owners identifying as Independents we have the makings of a wild card across the board.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

A call for change is not enough we need to challenge the candidates to speak our language, we need to hold them be accountable now for what they have and haven’t done.  We can’t wait any longer, small business owners need help as soon as possible, before it’s too late. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Instead of a call for change, its time for a call to action. <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

George Cloutier is founder, Chairman and CEO of American Management Services and Chairman of Partner America™. American Management Services specializes in the implementation of turnaround and profit improvement programs for small and mid-sized companies. For more information, please contact American Management Services at (877) 778-6726 or visit the website at www.amserv.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/a><\/span>.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

John Cpin<\/span><\/font><\/st1:personname>
\n<\/span><\/font>VP of Communications| Westin Rinehart
\n2001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW<\/st1:address><\/st1:street> | Suite<\/st1:street> 250<\/st1:address>
\nWashington<\/st1:city>, DC<\/st1:state> 20006<\/st1:postalcode><\/st1:place>
\n202.466.3050 ph | 202.466.0777 fax
\nwww.westinrinehart.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/a><\/span> <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just received this e-mail from John Cpin, VP of Communications, Westin Rinehart and I thought it worth passing along as it makes some good points. — January 16, 2008 John Cpin 202.466.3050 George Cloutier Statement       A Call for Change is Meaningless to Small Business Owners It’s Time for the Politicians to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.tmcnet.com\/blog\/rich-tehrani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}