HRC ROOM-Hillary Clinton's plan for small business contains a potentially huge idea

[hrmjustin]

HILLARY CLINTON ROOM

Matthew Yglesias

Being for small business in American politics is like having a favorable attitude toward Mom or apple pie. But campaigning in Iowa this week, Hillary Clinton's thus-far policy-light campaign rolled out the germ of a small-business idea that has big implications: the federal government should help smaller businesses by showing more favorable treatment to small banks.

Unlike giant companies, small businesses can't raise money by issuing bonds and tapping public debt markets. They need to rely on loans for banks.

"For many small businesses," Clinton argued at a Tuesday event at a Des Moines bike shop, "these loans have always come from community banks with deep local ties. But today those same local banks are being squeezed by regulations that don't make sense for their size and mission."


http://www.vox.com/2015/5/20/8630515/hillary-clinton-community-bank

[Wilms]

1. Interesting article.

They mention Community banks. I wonder if credit unions should be included.

Fact is, these smaller banks are NOT the ones that wrecked the economy.

So I'd be OK with easing up on them...as has argued Elizabeth Warren...as mentioned in the article.

Oh, and everyone, please quit the big banks if you can.

[yallerdawg]

2. Community banks were the backbone of small business.

National bank chains don't care about little people. I remember the first time Wells Fargo specified they would charge me extra for each human contact with them. Everything I could need was at the ATM.

When I was a teller at a bank, we used to sort and count the customer's change for free! We wanted their business.

Now a human teller is sitting behind bullet-proof glass at the end of a vacuum tube waiting on multiple lanes of traffic.

"...the basic principle Clinton outlined — tougher rules on Wall Street combined with generous exemptions for smaller banks — is the most politically plausible vision for bringing megabanks to heel."