Are governments really interested in helping small business or is it all just political sound bytes for votes?

No, Big business, I mean governments (same thing?)are not really interested in the small business man. They just blow smoke for votes. Where did all the “bailout” money go?

I absolutely don’t believe that governments as a whole are interested in saving small businesses. Not for one second. That’s why I’m so against subsidies, including farming subsidies. It’s a trickle down distribution system, which makes no **atpoundollar** sense. The folks who need assistance most get the least amount of tax payer money—- and no matter what is supposed to happen, it’s not proportional. Meaning, it’s not just that the small farms get less money because they have less expenses, it’s that they don’t get enough, when gigantic farm corporations receive ass loads of money and it’s owners fly private jets. So, even when they say “Increase farm subsidies!” it doesn’t mean helping your local farmer, it means helping the richest ones, like the guy in this documentary whose name is escaping me. Very good 20/20 with John Stossel. I would marry that man… anyway, this is just 1 part out of 6, and I think the farmer is in one of the middle parts.

I have little faith that governments anywhere have the “little people’s” best interest in mind. After all, how would that benefit them? Obama himself is in that 20/20 episode going on about saving America’s farmers at a photo op, bottle feeding a baby calf or some shit… is he just completely stupid and really believes that we need more subsidies, or is he just doing it to reinforce his image? Either way, he’s not trustworthy (just like any other person who will ever hold a government office) it’s bad news for the rest of us.

The problem is that it’s much easier for a politician to give one big handout to one big corporation than it is for a politician to give ten thousand big handouts to the ten thousand small businesses that contribute as much to the economy as the one big corporation. And the politician can then go back to that same one corporation and count on it for a large donation, while getting ten thousand smaller donations from ten thousand smaller businesses is considerably more work.

And one of the reasons that small businesses are good for the economy because they don’t all fail simultaneously, if they fail. If a business with under 20 employees fails, there’s a good chance that the local economy will be able to absorb that loss and find positions for those other employees. So there’s no reason for the government to prop up failing small businesses. But if a large corporation fails, that’s hundreds to thousands of people out of work simultaneously, and the cost of subsidizing the large corporation is probably less than dealing with the ramifications of all those out of work people.

I don’t believe they truly care – I don’t believe many politicians truly care about much

Government cares about small business in the abstract because without small business the economy really wouldn’t work. However, government does not care about any particular individual small business because that one business doesn’t have enough power or clout to do anything for government or to government, and the failure of one such business really affects only a small local population.

Like others have said, small business, when it comes to the economy, are usually off the radar. They don’t trade stocks, some don’t even report all their employees, the list goes on. So when it comes to stimulating the economy, logistically and logically, it makes sense to help the hand full of big guys, as opposed to the flood of little guys. But, being that the politicians are Americans, and the idea of starting a business and growing it into a successful business is the foundation of American values, its hard to imagine that the government does not care about small business. I mean just look at all the tax write offs and little loop holes that are available to a small business to help it get off its feet. If you know what you are doing and are small enough you would barely pay any taxes at all. The government helps small business by making it easy to start and cuts a lot of slack for it.