As the job market sinks and the number of unemployed continues to rise, it is time for the administration to consider a Cash for Commerce Program. It would operate with a similar methodology as Cash for Clunkers.
The small business sector has always been the engine of growth in this economy, so let us give $3,500 to $4,500 in cash to companies that sell machinery and equipment to startups, enabling them to get off the ground. The business owner must have a certain amount in matching funds. The program must target microbusiness, enabling people who have been shut out by the Small Business Administration and the banks to finally get their dreams off the ground.
These startups would have to have airtight business plans, viable business models and ready markets. The equipment would become a form of collateral for the business and the money would have to be repaid with flexible terms at a low interest rate over, say five years.
The government needs to deploy 'jobmobiles' in every city and town in America to get a birds eye view of the challenges of the unemployed and help generate economic activity through a thorough analysis of the possibilities for economic growth and revenue generation, starting with the hardest hit areas of the country.
On this Labor Day, the government must come up with some ideas that can reawaken the entrepreneural spirit which has been stymied by bad economic policies, bad leadership and poor trade practices.