small businesses

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Starting a Business? Best and Worst States

You might want to head West to Utah

(Newser) - If you want to hang your shingle and start up a small business, there are certain states that are more willing to help out your dreams of a dog-treat bakery or fly-fishing shop. Wallethub crunched the numbers, looking at metrics that included business environment (growth in the number of startups,...

Looking to Start a Biz? Check Out These Cities

Orlando tops WalletHub's ranking of America's most startup-friendly places

(Newser) - It's been a tough few years for business owners across the nation, from the pandemic to rising prices due to inflation. However, current challenges haven't stopped some from mulling over launching their own business—a sign of what WalletHub calls Americans' unstoppable "entrepreneurial streak." In an...

Restaurant Owner's Survival: Working 72-Hour Weeks

Half of small businesses say their rent has increased in the last 6 months

(Newser) - The rent has come due for America’s small businesses and at a very inopportune time. Landlords were lenient about rent payments during the first two years of the pandemic. Now, many are asking for back rent, and some are raising the current rent as well. Meanwhile, most of the...

Florida's Newest Business Owner: Casey Anthony

Woman acquitted of killing toddler daughter in 2011 has opened a private investigation firm

(Newser) - While it's been a tough year for small businesses, a new one has just popped up in Florida. Per Fox News , state records show that paperwork for Case Research & Consulting Services, LLC, was filed Dec. 14, and the private investigation firm has a well-known name as its owner:...

Mnuchin: Let's Forgive Those Small-Business Loans

The treasury secretary echoes a proposal made by banks and trade associations

(Newser) - Good news for small-business owners: You might not have to pay back that federal loan. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said as much Friday in a House committee meeting where he pushed for another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans to struggling businesses, the Wall Street Journal reports. "One of...

Some PPP Loan Recipients Are a Little Surprising
Some PPP Loan Recipients
Are a Little Surprising
the rundown

Some PPP Loan Recipients Are a Little Surprising

Kanye West, sculptor Jeff Koons, and the Church of Scientology are on the list

(Newser) - The Treasury Department has released the names of everyone who got a loan bigger than $150,000 through the PPP—the Paycheck Protection Program designed to help businesses weather the pandemic. While millions of small companies were helped by the loans, which can be forgiven if the money is used...

Shake Shack Is Returning Its $10M Government Loan

In the wake of the news that the Paycheck Protection Program is out of money

(Newser) - Last week brought the news that the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program set up to help small businesses amidst the coronavirus pandemic had already run dry . Now its balance apparently sits at $10 million, thanks to ... Shake Shack. The burger chain late Sunday announced that it would "immediately return"...

White House, Congress 'Very Close' to $450B Deal

Aid package will offer billions for hospitals, testing

(Newser) - The Trump administration and Congress are nearing an agreement as early as Sunday on an aid package of up to $450 billion to boost a small-business loan program that has run out of money and add funds for hospitals and COVID-19 testing, the AP reports. With small-business owners reeling during...

Small Businesses Looking for Help Get Bad News

Fund established by Congress runs out of money, and lawmakers can't agree on next steps

(Newser) - Owners of small businesses who are turning to a government website for help in the coronavirus outbreak now see the worst possible update: "SBA is unable to accept new applications at this time ... based on available appropriations funding," reads the notice by the Small Business Administration. The problem...

Small-Business Owners Run Into Huge 'Bottleneck'

Federal loan programs are deluged and running low on funds

(Newser) - Millions of small businesses are barely staying afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the feds are offering help—but getting that help is another thing, the New York Times reports. Two federal efforts, the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, are both low on funds and...

Fed Chief: Economy's Rebound May Be 'Robust'

Agency unveils $2.3T loan program to help small businesses, cities

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is taking additional steps to provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy, per the AP . The money will target American households and businesses, as well as local governments besieged by the coronavirus outbreak. The Fed said Thursday that it's activating a...

10 Best US Cities for Business Startups

Orlando tops WalletHub's list

(Newser) - Anyone stuck in a cubicle at a dead-end job has dreamed of either hitting it big in the lottery or of starting a business—and for the latter, there are certain US cities that may be just the ticket to making that dream become reality. WalletHub examined startup opportunities in...

Obama Eases Health Care Mandate for Employers

Small businesses will have another year to give workers coverage

(Newser) - Trying to limit election-year damage on health care, the Obama administration today granted business groups another delay in a much-criticized requirement that larger firms cover their workers or face fines. In one of several concessions in a complex Treasury Department regulation, the administration said companies with 50 to 99 employees...

Romney to Bosses: Tell Workers How to Vote

 Romney to 
 Bosses: Tell 
 Workers How 
 to Vote 
CONFERENCE CALL TAPE

Romney to Bosses: Tell Workers How to Vote

Tape sheds light on headlines about businesses doing just that

(Newser) - In a conference call earlier this year Mitt Romney urged small-business owners to tell their employees how to vote. "I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future," Romney...

'You Didn't Build That' Attacks Are Working
'You Didn't Build That'
Attacks Are Working
OPINION

'You Didn't Build That' Attacks Are Working

One columnist thinks it's all about race

(Newser) - President Obama's campaign is looking "rattled" these days, and it's because of his "you didn't build that" comment regarding small businesses, argues conservative columnist Kimberly Strassel in the Wall Street Journal . Obama says it was taken out of context, but Mitt Romney and Republicans are...

Occupy Side Effect: 21 Cafe Workers Lose Jobs

Protests damaging small business, Milk Street Cafe owner says

(Newser) - Is Occupy Wall Street inadvertently hurting the little guy? That’s what Marc Epstein, owner of Wall Street’s Milk Street Cafe, claims. Thanks to the protests—and the resulting police barricades that line Wall Street, which he says somewhat hide his eatery and make it difficult for people to...

Tea Partier's Protest Plan: No More Hiring

She encourages small-business owners to go 'on strike'

(Newser) - Well, here’s one idea for small businesses to help get us out of this economic mess we’re in: Stop hiring people! That’s the proposal from Tea Party Nation member Melissa Brookstone in a manifesto picked up (and derided) by Gawker and Wonkette . Brookstone’s post accuses the...

AOL Co-Founder to Head 'Startup America'

Steve Case to lead White House's pro-entrepreneurship campaign

(Newser) - President Obama's entrepreneurship campaign is getting a helping hand from the tech industry. AOL co-founder Steve Case will lead the "Startup America Partnership," a drive to increase investments in startups and small businesses, Bloomberg reports. The initiative already has the backing of a number of tech giants: Intel...

Senate Clears $30B Small-Business Measure

Dems overcome months of opposition

(Newser) - The Senate passed long-delayed legislation today designed to open up credit to small businesses and award them with other incentives to expand and hire new workers. Democrats won a 61-38 vote to pass the legislation, joined by two Republicans (George Voinovich and George LeMieux). The measure would establish a $30...

Democrats Break Filibuster on Small-Business Bill

George Voinovich crosses the aisle

(Newser) - Republicans George Voinovich and George LeMieux crossed the aisle to help Senate Democrats break a Republican filibuster on their small-business aid bill. The bill will create a $30 billion credit fund to help banks lend to small businesses, and provide a variety of tax cuts, the AP reports. Republicans have...

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