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It’s Time for Us to End Public Corruption |
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President Elect Obama has a Big Challenge with the SBA |
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President Elect Obama has a Big Challenge with the SBA On January 20, 2009, President Obama will receive management of a federal agency that is in complete shambles. The Small Business Administration has been on a downgrade since the mid 1990’s. It is at a state of life support and our new administration must address it immediately as the status of small and minority business has been greatly suffering. When the National Black Chamber of Commerce was incorporated in May, 1993, there were over 5,000 SBA employees and its budget was about $1 billion annually. Erskine Bowles was the Administrator and the management of the agency was extremely motivated. President Clinton and Congress sponsored the White House Conference on Small Business and the whole nation was pumped up about new procurement opportunities. Then something happened along the way. Vice President Gore introduced his “Reinventing Government” program and big business started eating up the opportunities that small business was use to. Giants like Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Halliburton, etc. started getting into the janitorial business, landscaping, trash removal, housing construction, IT, etc. The new event called “Bundling” came in and predatory practices to the detriment of small business began to happen. At the start of the second Clinton Administration, the SBA was on its third Administrator, Aida Alvarez. Deputies started realizing that if they would not fill employee attrition their budgets would shrink and they would be rewarded with annual bonuses. Personal greed led to the start of starving the field offices of vital personnel. The SBA was shrinking and the managers in DC were mysteriously happy. The district and regional offices could no longer adequately serve their constituency. 8a, minority business, volume started dropping at a rate of over $1 billion per year. The party was indeed over. When the Bush – Gore campaign got started we found a one sided advocacy. Bush was talking about revitalizing the SBA and putting more attention toward small business development. Gore would not even give it lip service. It was obvious which side small business associations would support. The new Bush Administration put Angela Styles at the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, and there she would craft a great strategy for improving the small business outreach and procurement activity. But, oh the “wolves” were of another mind. She would be dismissed for her aggressive effort and replaced with a crook (he is in prison today). Halliburton, sole sourcing big businesses, and other friends of Vice President Cheney took over Department of Defense procurements and then the other agencies. Minority and other small business were for the most part on the outside looking in. It really showed when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Prior to the hurricane the SBA district office in New Orleans had 39 personnel and the Jackson, MS office had approximately 24. When the disaster occurred we discovered that there were only 9 staffers in New Orleans and 6 in Jackson. They were helpless in the recovery and still are. Today, the SBA has less than 2,300 employees and its budget is about $400 million. That makes it inoperable from an efficiency perspective. The budget needs to be immediately increased to $1 billion. That isn’t asking for much in the atmosphere of $700 billion bailouts and saving our bungling auto industry. We need to return the staffing to over 5,000 once again and begin servicing our small businesses throughout the land. The federal government needs to return to offering small business a chance to compete for its procurement opportunities and that alone will decrease the costs and increase the competition and jobs. The more that small business is in the mix, the greater the economy will be as 70% of all new jobs come from small business. That will also mean a big increase in Black owned businesses. President Elect Obama has already nominated his Administrator for SBA, Karen Mills, a venture capitalist from Maine with an impressive resume. That is a big improvement from President George W. Bush who took over six months to fill the position. The focus must be to give her Cabinet like authority and pump the funding into the SBA as soon as possible. As we gear up for the Economic Stimulus, the SBA should be a major player in this. We must all get involved in this effort. Send resumes for empty desks at your local district level. Let’s recruit good talent to fill the high level positions and may our Congress give the SBA strong support like it use to. Big business is not going to be the salvation for the economic development of our communities. It is going to be the growth of small business and we need an SBA that can do the job it once did – provide capital access, technical assistance and procurement opportunities for ready and willing small businesses throughout the land. May President Obama lead us on to better days. Mr. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. |
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An Opportunity to Build a New Workforce |
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An Opportunity to Build a New Workforce Our economy is in dire straits. The employment levels are hitting new lows and no end is in sight. The one thing we have going for us is a Visionary who will become President of the United States on January 20, 2009. This provides us with hope and motivation for positive change. One of his biggest challenges will be putting people back to work. The only way this is going to happen is for us to innovate and spring new opportunities because business as usual will no longer work. We must first recognize the fact that the US Auto Industry will no longer be the same. Chrysler will probably go under and Ford and GM will shrink to small entities. Toyota will be king and Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, etc. will not be far behind. A layman may say that the jobs will simply shift over to the Asian companies. The fact is they won’t. Asian automakers do not hold a permanent workforce. Most of their hourly workers are managed by staffing agencies. That’s right, they work for independent contractors and are, thus, tenuous. The Asian firms don’t even have to account for payroll, social security taxes and reports to the IRS. Thus, there are no retirement benefits for these workers as opposed to the good UAW agreements for US auto workers. My cousin worked over 16 years for Toyota as a construction manager. All the while she was an independent contractor. When she left all she had was what she alone saved as there was no company participation. While US auto companies shrink the Asian counterparts are having “their cake and eating it too”. Another big factor that is shrinking the American workforce is outsourcing to foreign shores. Corporate America is turning its back on the American worker. Even if the work is not outsourced many of the jobs go to illegal immigrants or H-1B visa holders. This accounts for millions of jobs. The nation of Mexico receives over $29 billion annually from its citizens who are working in the United States – legally or illegally. That’s a lot of money that is being pulled away from American households. What we need is a big fix or alternatives to the above. One huge opportunity is right before our eyes. American communities are in need of updating and repair. Our infrastructure is outdated and unsafe. The bridge that fell in Minneapolis was a superb wake up call. House Majority Whip James Clyburn stated a couple of weeks ago, “In South Carolina alone we have over 6000 bridges in need of repair. That’s South Carolina alone”. Bridges, roads, government buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. must be repaired and that is going to demand millions of new jobs in construction, design and engineering. We are going to have to train a lot of citizens and we must start doing this now. In addition, utility companies such as electricity, gas, water, telephone, cable, broad band etc. are in the same state. These private/public repairs are going to start now and last for the next couple of decades. It is an excellent opportunity to get our workers prepared and assist them in the integration of this new workforce. A good model for this is what was done after the Katrina debacle. We trained thousands of people who are now in the construction or ship building industry via full time and permanent positions. (www.imgreat.org) In addition to the infrastructure needs, is the demand for Green Industry innovation. The Obama Administration is going to demand a new focus on alternative energy production and increased independence on oil, gas, coal, etc. Nuclear energy plants will soon populate our land. An average job at a nuclear energy plant is $150,000 per year. This is phenomenal and we must prepare a ready workforce to meet the demand. Solar energy, windmill energy, alternative fuel, traditional drilling and pumping are going to bring jobs that will support a family very well. African Americans must ensure that we are there when these doors of opportunity open. Let’s go to work! We must also demand that construction unions finally start to integrate their roles via affirmative action and equal opportunity. Executive Order 11246 is over 46 years old and the Civil Rights Act is more than 43 years old. The time has come for us to confront construction unions and demand a level playing field. Let’s not fall for that old game known as “pre-apprentice programs”. No, every new hire must become a full time apprentice with all the normal benefits. African Americans are going to integrate these unions from top to bottom or any such union defying this responsibility must be decertified. Community activists, organizers, associations, elected officials now is the time to start preparing for these new opportunities. We can’t be traditional and wait and see what happens. We must be at the forefront and advocate for our chances. YES WE CAN! Mr. Alford is the co-founder, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Website: www.nationalbcc.org. |
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Do We Save the Auto Industry? |
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Do We Save the Auto Industry? We have just witnessed one of the most daring schemes and hustles in modern history. The Secretary of Treasury forces Congress and the President to fork over nearly $1 trillion dollars that we really didn’t have under the perception that it was going to save millions from losing their homes. As Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D – Ohio) put it, “It was simply a bait and switch game”. People in danger of losing their homes are no better off and the money went in various directions other than what Secretary Paulson claimed it would be used for. Yes, Wall St. had a new fast stash of money and it got drunk again. Big banks took a lot and went shopping like Sarah Palin in Neiman Marcus. Bonuses were paid wherever they could quickly do it and the culprits of the financial crisis received no bid federal contracts to clean up their own mess. The common tax payer was indeed exploited one more time and it appears that they will be coming back for more. Our treasury is in the hands of incompetent, greedy and selfish individuals who don’t give a damn about the common citizen or state of the future. Such is the saga of the Bailout Crisis. It is a disaster turning into a tragedy. Now, we have another big problem to deal with. This problem has been festering for nearly forty years. It is the US automobile industry. The Big 3 have had a history of paying wages that are too high; making cars that are ugly and not economical and reacting to changes in the market way too slow. Japanese and Korean automakers are pulling way in front of them when it comes to technology, environmental accountability. Yes, the days of Henry Ford are long gone and our auto industry is fast becoming a “dinosaur” – a very broke dinosaur. The Big 3 (Chrysler, General Motors and Ford) want at least a $25 billion loan from the federal government. Yes, they want their own customized bailout. Why $25 billion? Basically, it sounds nice but they really don’t know what their actual condition is. No one knows if this would actually save them or stall the inevitable – bankruptcy. One thing is for sure: there are a lot of jobs and American families at stake here. I guess the most important issue is how can we make it right? For too many years, we have allowed this industry to make gas guzzling machines that break down almost as soon as they leave the lot. We have drifted to foreign made cars at record rates and have fallen in love with their economy and efficiency. Cars like Ford (F.O.R.D. – fix or repair daily) have become a world laughing stock. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, etc. are leading the fields in almost every category. What our auto industry needs to do now is become competitive. We must have reliability and they must start addressing the demand for fuel efficiency. President Elect Obama is correct in stating that if we give the auto industry this loan they must apply it to new technology and come out of their Neanderthal mindset. Mileage, alternative fuel and reliability must be addressed if the American auto industry is to survive and these many precious jobs are to remain under our control. Detroit must change its ways and it must do it now. We are at a crossroads and it is time for strong leadership and courage. There must be a cleansing at the top of auto management. We need fresh leaders with new ideas and an aggressive vision for the future. The unions, UAW, must understand that pay is way out of line and they must step back in order to save their careers. The pension demands are ridiculous and they must be adjusted. All the technology that we have and have been too shy to introduce it must now be utilized and new, better products have to hit the road. The Big 3 have maybe two years to turn this around and they must begin immediately. Let’s carefully give them a proper loan but the stipulations must be clear and they must be monitored at all times. If they decide to continue this state of denial then perhaps we all have to “bite the bullet” and watch them die. American Auto Industry it is time for you to “sink or swim”; “do or die”. You have been stalling for too long and America is suffering because of it.
Let’s show the world that American ingenuity and courage have not left the scene. Let this be just another big challenge for the greatest nation on earth. A challenge that we can brag to our grandchildren about in the near future. Mr. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc. Website: www.nationalbcc.org.
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