Tag: stimulus package
Leadership, Obama Style: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator | Drew Weston, PhD
Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process.
Meet the new boss…same as the old boss…
Landrieu, Snowe Bill to Create Jobs and Increase Small Business Lending
For those of us treading water, this is a hopeful sign.
the “Small Business Job Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009” would increase the small business loan limit to as high as $5.5 million and extend for a year the fee eliminations and increased guarantee set to expire under the Recovery Act.
Specifically, the “Small Business Job Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009” would:
- Increase the loan limit on 7(a) loans from $2 million to $5 million;
- Increase the loan limit on 504 loans from $1.5 million to $5.5 million;
- Increase the loan limit on microloans from $35,000 to $50,000 and increase the maximum loan made to a microloan intermediary from $3.5 million to $5 million;
- Allow the 504 loan program to refinance short-term commercial real estate debt into, long-term, fixed rate loans;
- Extend the authorization to provide 90 percent guarantees on 7(a) loans and fee elimination for borrowers on 7(a) and 504 loans through December 31, 2010; and
- Direct the SBA to create a website where small businesses can identify lenders in their communities.
Stimulus News Digest #10 – November 2009 | California Office of the Small Business Advocate
The Office of the Small Business Advocate has this news:
Continue reading “Stimulus News Digest #10 – November 2009 | California Office of the Small Business Advocate”
Judge blasts bad bank, erases 525G debt | NYPOST.com
The government has been backing up to the back doors of these institutions, unloading truckloads of cash. Many have used the funds to purchase other banks or shore up their balance sheets; few have passed any relief to their customers. The backlash against them has primarily been debt repudiation (bankruptcy and foreclosure) and now, debt cancellation.
Spinner excoriated OneWest for repeatedly refusing to work out a deal, for misleading him about the dollar amounts at stake in the case, and for its treatment of the couple over months of hearings.
OneWest’s conduct was “inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious,” Spinner wrote.
He canceled the debt because the bank “must be appropriately sanctioned so as to deter it from imposing further mortifying abuse against [the couple].”
The bank is involved in a similar case in California, where it’s trying to foreclose on an 89-year-old woman, despite two court orders telling it to stop.
Recovery Task Force Announces $156 Million in Recovery Act Funds Now Available for Energy Efficiency and Solar Projects
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Task Force today announced that more than $156 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funds are now available for application for energy efficiency and solar projects in California. A package of options under the State Energy Program (SEP) and the Energy Efficient and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) Program offer local jurisdictions, non-profits and private organizations the opportunity to invest in energy efficiency and photovoltaic energy projects – while helping to stimulate their local economies. Governor Schwarzenegger announced that California was the first state in the nation to apply federally for SEP funding available under the Recovery Act.
Stimulus News Digest #6 | California Office of Small Business Advocate
Good news: Some money is flowing. Bad news: The funding doesn’t look like it’s all that small business oriented.
After reading this, I recall Jeff Goldblum’s famous line from ‘Jurassic Park’.
Headlines from the piece:
Kaiser Permanente Wins $54 Million in NIH Grants for Genetic, Other Research.
Region Gears Up for Possible $260M in Solar Power Projects.
Teachers Most Helped by Early Stimulus Funding.
Struggling Santa Cruz County Steelhead Get Bump from Federal Stimulus.
Berkeley Study Says Energy Bill to Create 1.9 Million Jobs.
California Stimulus Saved or Created 100,000 Jobs: More than 100,000 jobs have been saved or created in California.
Shasta County Nonprofit Group Wins $2.6 Million in Stimulus Funds.
California Wants $4.7 Billion in High-Speed Rail Stimulus.
Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Award of $27 Million to Fuel Nation’s Largest State-Sponsored Clean Energy Jobs Training Program
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the 34 recipients of $27 million in grants jump-starting the California Clean Energy Workforce Training Program (CEWTP), the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation announced by the Governor on August 31, 2009. Under the this first phase of the program, anticipated to train 5,600 participants, workers will be prepared for hands-on jobs, such as installing solar panels and maintaining electric vehicles to computer programming and researching fuel cell technologies, to help develop the state’s low-carbon, clean energy economy of tomorrow.
“California’s goals in renewable energy development, climate change reduction, clean transportation and green building are driving green job growth – and these funds are pivotal to building a workforce to meet that demand,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This program represents the kind of innovative thinking needed to steer our economy toward a greener future while targeting the unemployed, underemployed and new workforce members at a time when we must do everything possible to help Californians return to work.”
U.S. Department of Energy Announce SBIRs Grants |U.S. Department of Energy
DOE Announces $37 Million for
Small Business Research and Technology
Funding Emphasizes Investment in Clean Energy Technologies and Job Creation
Washington, DC— U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that $37 million in funding from the Recovery Act will be made available to qualified small businesses through the Department’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Today’s funding announcement emphasizes the Department’s commitment to developing near-term, clean energy technologies while allowing small businesses take part in the new industrial revolution that the sustainable energy economy will bring.
Continue reading “U.S. Department of Energy Announce SBIRs Grants |U.S. Department of Energy”
SBA Chief Karen G. Mills: I Know ‘What It Will Take’ – WSJ.com
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an interview with the new head of SBA, Karen G. Mills. To get an idea where the SBA is headed, this is a good article to read.
Dispatches From The Front 