Podcast: Health Reform Focus Shifts to Micros and Self-Employed

Posted on | July 13, 2009 | 1 Comment

I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to get this podcast posted today but, in defiance of the odds, it’s a case of better late than never.

How was that? Enough cliches for you?

At the risk of seeming a bit Chicken Little-ish in reverse, I find myself wondering whether 2009 will become the year when the microbusiness arrived. Which is an odd thing to say, when microbusinesses arrived quite a long time ago.

So, maybe we should call it the year when somebody noticed that the microbusiness had arrived.

It is never a surprise when Kristie Arslan of the NASE discusses microbusinesses during a Congressional hearing or roundtable. It’s not even all that big a deal when Todd McCracken of the NSBA follows suit.

When the NFIB starts talking microbusinesses, that’s worth noting (right after I pick myself up off the floor).

And, of course, there is the study out of Massachusetts which concludes, among other things, that the surge in self-employment they are seeing there “signals a dramatic change in how America works,” as the press release put it.

That is exciting because it is the first time that I know about that anybody even somewhat “official” has made that connection between nonemployers (the self-employed) and the overarching goal of creating “jobs.”

Today, Essex County, Massachusetts. Tomorrow, the White House!

(Hey, I can dream, can’t I?)

But that Massachusetts study, as well as the undeniable trends that have caused everybody in Washington to suddenly start talking about microbusinesses, make it crystal clear that whatever small business support infrastructure we maintain as a matter of public policy needs to do a much better job of actually supporting small businesses.

Which, by the way, is the subject of this week’s Policy Matters column.

Listen to the Microbusiness News Briefs Podcast:

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For more information:

• Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship
• The Enterprise Center at Salem State College
• SBA Office of Advocacy

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