Treasury Secretary voices support for small business owners

3/24/2011

Small business owners are getting even more vocal support from the federal government, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asserting that federal programs need to do a better job to nurture healthy small business lending practices, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The financial crisis affected a number of small businesses in 2008 as lenders began tightening access to commercial loans. While the economy is improving, lenders are slow to react in fear that another recession would put them in even worse shape. This has a detrimental effect on small businesses, which is why Geithner thinks the federal government should become more involved.

"The financial crisis caused a great deal of damage to the capacity of innovators to access capital, and we can't promote innovation and investment in the United States unless we help innovative companies get the funding they need to succeed," Geithner told the source.

As many as 80 percent of small business owners still rate accessing credit as one of the top challenges they will face in 2011, according to a new report from Office Depot.