White House Jobs Forum To Include Small Biz
Nov 16th, 2009 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: EconomyThe President is in Asia at the moment, doing unheard-of but very American things like holding town hall meetings in China and bringing his very own Obama-ness to the Pacific Rim. Of much more concern to us is the fact that, just before he left, he announced that he would be holding a forum on jobs and economic growth at the White House next month. The announcement came in the wake of some extremes of economic news, with the gross domestic product (GDP) growing at a surprising 3.5% in the third quarter this year while the economy lost another 119,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate rose to 10.3%. In his announcement, the President indicated that participants will be chosen from among “CEOs and small business owners, economists and financial experts, as well as representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups.”
The move is certainly consistent; President Obama has been talking about saving and generating jobs since before he was sworn in to his current office. In addition, his Administration sold the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to both doubtful Congressional Republicans and the general public as a measure to, among other things, save or create millions of jobs. It is encouraging that President Obama speaks of inviting actual small business owners, presumably in addition to representatives of small business organizations. However, it would be terribly unfortunate if there is no one available at this particular forum to draw the participants’ attention to the nation’s 21.7 million nonemployer businesses and to what all those firms represent in terms of self-created jobs.
Fact: According to NFIB Study..95% of self-employed small business owners have a home.
Fact: 80% of all Americans refijanced their homes during the Subprime Era when home values spiked.
Fact: Self-Employed small business owners were targeted by Lenders for Alt-A and Option ARMs Mortgages in 2004-2007
Fact: Alt-A and Option ARMs mortgages are due to reset and recast in 2009-2012
Fact: Fannie and Freddie hold vast amount of Alt-A and Option ARMs
Fact: Small and Medium sized banks hold “whole” loans consisting of Toxic Mortgages, Alt-A and Option ARMs
Fact: 80-94% of all Option ARMs were “Interest Only’ Negatively Amortizing Mortgages
Fact: Negative Equity is the leading cause of homeowners walking away from their homes
CONCLUSION: The US Economy and Small business owners are in for a wild ride