Advise the Advisor: What I’m Hearing About Small Business

Good afternoon,

What's it like to have President Obama drop in on your web chat? Well, on Tuesday, I found out.

During the Winning the Future Forum on Small Business in Cleveland, Ohio, we held an online discussion to go over the answers to discussion questions I posed on WhiteHouse.gov as part of our new "Advise the Advisor" program. The President joined us towards the end to respond to a few ideas.

I've posted some of your ideas, my responses and the video of yesterday's event which you can view at http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/02/23/president-obama-drops-online-forum-small-business?utm_source=email99&utm_medium=image&utm_campaign=advise.

Did you know that small businesses are the backbone of our economy, creating two out of every three new jobs in America?

President Obama is committed to helping small businesses succeed by making America the best place in the world to do business. He has signed into law 17 new tax cuts for small businesses. He launched the National Wireless Initiative to help bring high-speed wireless Internet access to 98 percent of Americans. And he launched Startup America, an initiative to celebrate, inspire and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation.

It's also important to take the time to listen to folks on the ground about the challenges they face every day. That's why we went to Cleveland this week to talk directly with small business owners, and it's why your "Advise the Advisor" feedback is so important.

If we out-innovate, out-educate and out-build our global competitors, the future is ours to win. That's a challenge that we will tackle together, and I look forward to the work ahead.

Sincerely,

Austan Goolsbee

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers