The Debate Nobody Won

If I had to give points on Wednesday's presidential debate, I would say Obama 501/2 Romney 491/2.

In football terms Obama scored on a safety, got two points at the end of the first half and spent the rest of the game in prevent defense. He had a shot when Romney said he got the help of the Democrats in Massachusetts when they passed the Health Care law. Obama answered that if the Republican Congress had given him any help we would be
well on the way to recovery . He just threw that line out as if it did not matter.

Romney on the other hand could have made points if he just once explained how he could do what he said his plan was, with a Democratic Senate. What if the Republicans lost the House? This is a possibility.

Too much time was spent on the issue of the small business community and how they make jobs. Ever since I was a small kid, I have heard speeches as to how the small business community makes jobs, and how each and every president takes credit for it.


Actually they do almost nothing in that area. If Congress does not allocate funds for loans there is very little the government can do to help small businesses. When I was 24  I went into my first small business, and was a minimum success. I borrowed $10,000 dollars from the bank that my father guaranteed. When I went for more capital to the Small Business Administration, I was turned down. Many years later when I was president of the Record Dealers Association I wrote President Nixon about the small business problem and he said I should join SCORE or become an ACE counsellor. That was 42 years ago. 

At that time the SBA was in the loan business and indeed we helped small business. Congress then decided to go out of the small business loan business, saying the banks could do a better job. As it turned out, the banks were interested in the mortgage business
and did not do a better job when it came to small business loans. The situation was further aggravated by states and cities taxing small businesses with taxes like the Gross
Receipts Tax. The cities and states do very little to help small businesses.

The president had one other good point when he said he would fight for tax relief for small businesses if the businesses keep the jobs in this country. Except no one really defines what  a small business is. Some businesses would blackmail the government by claiming to take their entire business abroad unless the government gave them tax benefits. That is what big
corporations have done.