Is Small Business a Job Generator?
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"Small business" may be crucial to the American ideal of small-town, independent entrepreneurship, but is it really the engine of job growth claimed by the President and Mitt Romney? We hear some contrasting opinions. Also, Secretary of State Clinto takes the blame for Benghazi security failure; and Facebook, YouTube and Twitter may be fragmenting America, but president debates still provide a common experience.
Banner image: Chicago Loop barber shop. Photo by John Picken
Making News
Hillary Clinton Takes Blame for Benghazi Security ()
On the eve of tonight's debate, Hillary Clinton has taken personal responsibility for a calamity Republicans have been making the most of: the deaths of Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and other diplomats. "I'm in charge of the State Department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The President and the Vice President certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals." The Secretary of State made that statement while on a trip to Peru. Dana Milbank is Op-Ed columnist for the Washington Post.
Guests:
- Dana Milbank: Washington Post, @Milbank
Main Topic
Small Business and Job Creation ()
While the President and Mitt Romney are in dispute over whose programs will do the most to help "small business" create new jobs, they agree that it's crucial to creating jobs. But is "small business" really the employment engine they claim it is? It's not even clear exactly what "small" really means, and there's evidence that age is more important than size when it comes to job creation. Are the candidates focused on real economics, or are they pandering to the obsolete American myth of "Mom and Pop" setting up shop on "Main Street."
Guests:
- Vanessa O'Connell: Wall Street Journal, @VanessaOConnell
- Robert Litan: Bloomberg Government
- John Arensmeyer: Small Business Majority
- Marc Levinson: economist, historian and journalist
Links:
- Start Up Act 2.0
- Kauffman Foundation on where new jobs will come from
- Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (Bayh–Dole Act)
- O'Connell on whether small businesses deserve their reputation as job creators
- Litan's 'Better Capitalism: Renewing the Entrepreneurial Strength of the American Economy'
- Levinson's 'The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America'
- Small Business Majority poll on the role of micro-businesses in our economy
Reporter's Notebook
TV Debates: Moving the Needle in an Age of Fragmentation ()
Despite $2.5 billion already spent on TV commercials, almost 70 million viewers tuned in to this year's first presidential debate, this year's biggest TV audience except for the Super Bowl. Given the recent hype, tonight's second confrontation might draw even more. In this fragmented age of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, what's the attraction? David Carr, business columnist and culture reporter at the New York Times, has some answers.
If you're tuning in to tonight's town hall debate, why not join KCRW's live chat?
Guests:
- David Carr: New York Times, @carr2n
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