WIPP President’s Column, March 2009
There is a lot At Stake For Us Now
Barbara Kasoff
Lots of action in Washington and across the country, with an awful lot at stake for women business owners. There are a lot of initiatives, generating both from Congress and the White House that impact you. Please check the News on WIPP’s new Home Page for up to date information on legislative and White House initiatives so that you can keep abreast of the issues. If an issue is not up there that you require some information about, please email Oriana Camacho, to check on it. More than likely, we are working on the issue, but are not quite ready to report back to you. We always take the time to do our homework and thoroughly analyze the issues first, before reporting back to you, or issuing a statement.
There were two important meetings held at the White House this week that we have reported on. Today, we attended a White House meeting, where President Obama and Secretary Geithner today outlined a package to help small businesses. The administration’s plan includes using TARP funds to purchase as much as $15 billion SBA-backed 7(a) and 504 loans,with the purpose of unfreezing the secondary credit market. In addition, the measure includes $730 million from the stimulus plan directedto increase the SBA loan guarantee to 90% and temporarily eliminate fees on 7(a) and 504 loans. The administration hopes that the combination of reducing fees, buying up existing loans and increasing loan guarantees will result in increased small business lending by banks and credit unions. The administration will now require the 21 largestbanks receiving government money to report monthly on how much money they are lending to small businesses. All other banksreceivingtaxpayer money will be asked to make quarterly reports on their small business lending. Finally, the plan includes a series of tax provisions designed to help small businesses. For instance, businesses earning up to $15 million will be allowed to claim losses for the past five years in the current tax year; small businesses may write off up to $250,000 in investments this year; and investors in small businesses will see 75% of capital gains excluded. Please check the website for more details.
You must mark down May 21st on your calendars. In addition to it being the day scheduled for our Nationwide Instant Impact Team meeting, we are going to be holding a regional meeting in Chicago, IL and will broadcast a segment of it to all the local teams who are meeting on that day. The focus of the Chicago meeting will be on Economic Opportunity. Not only are we going to bring the experts in to discuss the economic opportunities at play now as a result of the Stimulus Package, but how you can organize your company and build your strategy to take advantage of this. Look for a day that will bring you a strong ROI. May 18th we will be holding a similar meeting in New Orleans. If you would like to help us put either of these meetings together, please let Oriana know and we’ll bring you in.
Our website has been operational for the past two weeks. We have had so much positive feedback from you and are so pleased with it! We are still updating information, but it is virtually complete from our end. Now it is up to you. Please make sure your listing is current and that you are registered for the committees and boards that you serve on. The site will serve as our central communication engine – so you need tobe properly listed.