Press Releases
In the News
- The Hill: Frank Knapp, Who owns the economy?
8/2/10 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek: No lobbying help for the little guys
7/29/10 - Portfolio: Small Businesses Face Dire Times With Little Support
7/27/10 - Washington Post: Chamber of Commerce losing battles
7/22/10 - New York Times: Small Businesses Go After Offshore Tax Havens
7/20/10 - Reuters: U.S. could lose $37 billion a year to tax havens
7/20/10 - Dow Jones: Sen Levin Seeks To Add Anti-Tax Haven Measure To Lending Bill
7/20/10 - Inc: Small Businesses Fight Offshore Tax Havens
7/19/10 - Huffington Post: How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sells Out Small Businesses and Local Communities
7/19/10 - Huffington Post: Bank Reform Groups Celebrate Final Passage
7/16/10
Resource Spotlight
American Prospect: Businesses Should (And Do) Like Financial Reform
By Tim Fernholz
American Prospect, May 11, 2010
There's a bit of a lost message in the financial-reform debate right now: American businesses will benefit from the Wall Street overhaul currently before Congress. Time's Barbara Kiviat looks at why the Consumer Financial Protection Agency will help firms:
Time: Is financial reform good or bad for business?
By Barbara Kiviat
Time, May 10, 2010
As the Senate continues debating financial-industry reform this week, I'd like to re-iterate a point I first made in a Time.com article: lots of businessmen are in favor of a sweeping overhaul.
You wouldn't necessarily know that from reading the headlines, since headlines tend to capture the highest profile lobbying—like what comes from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Those stories usually say that companies are wary of financial-industry reform, typically because of the fear that the cost of doing business will rise.
New York Times: To Protect Consumers, Who Will Be Regulated?
By Edward Wyatt and Sewell Chan
New York Times, May 1, 2010
WASHINGTON — An unlikely new tenant in the halls of the Federal Reserve would set out sweeping rules on a wide swath of consumer transactions, possibly making it one of the most powerful new federal agencies in a generation.
The proposed agency is causing concern and confusion, however, among owners of small businesses — drug stores, jewelers, pawnbrokers and car dealers — who fear that by allowing any customers to buy on credit, their businesses could be subject to significant new regulations.
The Hill: Margot Dorfman, A fully independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency is vital
By Margot Dorfman
The Hill, 4/29/10
Wall Street firms have become disconnected from our Main Street communities and from the good old-fashioned American values and work ethic that made America the greatest economic force in the world.
America’s small businesses have been crippled by an unbridled financial system led by Wall Street gamblers who don’t care who they hurt or how they contort our economy just as long as their bonuses and bailouts keep their own pockets fat with cash.
Main Street Business Leaders Say Pass Financial Reform Now
*** Available for Interview ***
CONTACT: Bob Keener, 617-610-6766, bobkeener [at] businessforsharedprosperity [dot] org
Washington, DC, April 28, 2010 — While Wall Street and big business lobbyists work to scuttle or weaken financial reforms, Main Street business leaders throughout the nation support strong reform as essential for small businesses, consumers and a healthy economy.
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Hills and Lent, Does the U.S. need a consumer financial protection agency?
YES: Greater transparency will help prevent future economic meltdowns.
By David Hills and Michael Lent
Atlanta Journal Constitution, April 28, 2010
Millions of America’s small business owners suffer from bad practices on Wall Street — something often given short shrift in debate about creation of a consumer financial protection agency.
American Prospect: Coalition of the Unwilling
Diverse individuals and businesses are hurt by the financial system. Can they coalesce?
By Heather McGhee
American Prospect, April 26, 2010
In theory, financial reform should dismantle the same deregulated system that produced toxic credit-default swaps and toxic credit cards. But on every aspect of financial reform except perhaps for basic consumer protection, the necessary structural reforms won't be passed in 2010. If the greatest financial-market meltdown in history couldn't spur deep, structural reform, what will?
S. Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce: Statement by CEO Frank Knapp at Senate Press Conf. on Financial Reform
Statement of Frank Knapp, Jr., president and CEO, The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Senate Press Conference, April 21, 2010
I am Frank Knapp, president, CEO and co-founder of The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. That’s right, South Carolina—not a bastion of liberal politics.
Let me tell you why we support financial/Wall Street reform.
How many Small Business Administration loans do you think South Carolina community banks made in the first 3 months of this year?----29. That’s less than 10 a month.
U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce: Statement by CEO Margot Dorfman at Senate Press Conf. on Financial Reform
Support America’s Small Businesses and Communities; Pass Comprehensive Financial Reform
Margot Dorfman, CEO, U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C, April 21, 2010
Small Business Leaders Join Senators In Calling For Financial Reform and Wall Street Accountability
U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce CEO, S. Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO and Small Business Owners Join Senators Durbin, Reed and Bennet at U.S. Capitol to Discuss Small Business Protections In Wall Street Reform Bill
CONTACT: Bob Keener, 617-610-6766, bobkeener [at] businessforsharedprosperity [dot] org.