small business

Also see: Big Interview: Goolsbee Defends Obama Record on Business - Real Time Economics

There were three pieces of data today that give the complete picture for the consumer economy right now. My read of the data says we are now in a holding pattern awaiting more concrete evidence that the technical recovery which began last…

CNBC discusses the small tick up in the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index with William Dunkelberg, Chief Economist for the National Federation of Independent Business. Note that despite the uptick, small businesses are not saying they plan…

In a recent post on the money multiplier, a reader Luis Enrique asked about bank lending and capital constraints. Anecdotally, much of the reduction in credit is supply-constrained as well as demand-constrained. That means it's a matter of…

Meredith Whitney sounds off in today's Wall Street Journal about small businesses. She is worried about the lack of credit they are getting and its effect on the tenuous economic recovery in keeping the unemployment rate high. She writes:…

The video below from the Wall Street Journal gets at the heart of why the bailouts have been so toxic for the economy. Banks, still laden with existing bad loans to small businesses, are unwilling to make new ones. Businesses, unable to…

Today, I received a press release from the complete list of federal government regulators of the financial industry which all but ordering banks to lend to small businesses. Clearly, regulators are concerned as comments by Marc Chandler…

This clip will give you a better indicator of small lenders’ agenda as they met with the President to talk about expanding lending. The only commentary I would note is the desire by the IBCA President to allow the FDIC to keep its…

From the FDIC (emphasis added): The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved the payout of the insured deposits of RockBridge Commercial Bank, Atlanta, Georgia. The bank was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking…

There has been quite a lot of hub-bub today about President Obama’s fat cat remarks and his meeting with bankers exhorting them to lend. Let me tie these events in with a few other themes into a comprehensive picture of what is happening in…