A press release that was sent out by the American Small Business League (ASBL) in late December 2007 is pitting American small businesses against the interests of large and wealthy venture capitalists. The press release states that indicated potential policy changes and Obama administrative appointments are sending a clear message that when it comes to government monies, small businesses should brace themselves for being left out in the cold.

The PR Newswire press release, which I encountered at the Las Vegas Business Press website, claims that potential Obama policy seeks to rewrite the federal definition of a small business. Currently, that definition describes small businesses as being independently owned. The release indicates a belief that by changing that technical definition, the doors shall then be thrown open for a small group of wealthy venture capital firms to compete head to head against small businesses in bidding on billions of dollars worth of contracts which have traditionally been reserved specifically for small businesses. Additionally, the ASBL release hints at some favorable reductions in capital gains taxation for these venture capital firms.

The ASBL press release states, in part: "The Obama Administration's new pro-venture capital policy could virtually repeal the Small Business Act for legitimate American small businesses... Under the proposed Obama Administration policy, "independently owned" will be changed to include firms that are not independently owned, but are actually controlled by wealthy investors and possibly some of the nation's largest venture capital firms."

It remains to be seen whether or not ASBL advocates are indeed correctly interpreting these potentially devastating changes. However, one thing appears to be quite clear already; with President-elect Obama's appointment of wealthy venture capitalist Karen Mills to the lead position of the Small Business Administration, it would appear that Mr. Obama intends to put small businesses well under the thumb of big business. This revelation certainly shall not make many of our next president's middle class supporters very happy.

Source:  http://www.bloggingstocks.com