In May of this year, The (Memphis) Daily News ran an article entitled Obama Focuses On Small Biz Job Creation in which Dotty Summerfield, the chair of the Small business Council for the Greater Memphis Chamber, praised the government of any step they were taking to help small businesses get back on their feet. She said “Small businesses are what are going to put this country back on its feet again. More recently, earlier this month, the Memphis Business Journal published an article in which they address the SBJ Act and question it’s effectiveness in creating jobs. The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 focuses on reducing fees, increasing limits, and guaranteeing large percentages of loans taken out to start new businesses. Although its effectiveness has yet to be seen, the Act seems to have a narrow focus on loans and does not address other aspects of small business start-up and success. Coming from a slightly different direction, Bates article The Urban Development Potential of Black-Owned Businesses seems to be particularly relevant to Memphis. (1) Do you believe some of the solutions he proposes would help spur job growth and economic stability in Memphis? (2) How do the goals and solutions that Bates proposes complement or clash with the solutions chosen by the small business jobs act? (3) Based on the perspectives of both Bates and the information provided in these articles on the SBJ act, how do you think Memphis should proceed to create more jobs for its residents?
Here are the links to the articles I referenced. They’re pretty short if you have a chance to check them out. Also, I threw out some questions above to spark your writing if you want to respond to them!
http://memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=50270
http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2010/10/11/story3.html
it sounds as though the people of Tennessee are concerned that they will not benefit from the money that is being set aside for small businesses because of the banks in Tennessee. I think that the building of small businesses in Tennessee and Memphis in particular is a good idea and the banks need to cooperate with the plans and initiatives being taken by small businesses.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think small businesses are always a good idea in cities, I'm not sure that it would exactly solve Memphis's economic problems or promote job growth. Yes, it will open more jobs in the market, but the jobs will be for people who are willing to work and enter the workforce and much of the Memphis population for various reasons does not fall in to these categories.
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ReplyDeleteI fear that the creation of many more small businesses will in time simply lead to the failure of many small businesses. This is a general trend that follows job formation. It just seems to me that instead of blindly giving start-up cost money to people, an integrated training program could potentially lead to job growth that ultimately benefits people for the long run. Without the necessary training on how to operate a small business, or any business for that matter, it is hard for me to see how the ordinary citizen is qualified to undertake such an endeavor.
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