Has federal stimulus money helped minority-owned businesses?
It has not. African-American firms had less than 1 percent of the stimulus money contracts, Hispanic firms less than 1.7 percent, women-owned firms maybe 3 percent – that’s not a big help. We’re more than 1 percent of the universe. What happened with the stimulus money is that they rushed it out there, didn’t think through the process, and you have the big hogs around the trough and little hogs back there trying to get in and can’t get in. They just ran to the trough and dumped more feed into the trough. The same hogs are there. It didn’t make a difference. The way they did it – giving it to states in massive amounts and to cities in massive amounts – they just kept their good-ol’-boy system going, so minorities and women were on the outside looking in. Q: Has availability of credit for small businesses improved? A: The smart guy goes to his uncle and to his friends or sells equity into his company to create cash, or reduces spending and tightens the belt. They have to be very creative
