A Proclamation on National Small Business Week, 2023
Over the years, I've had the pleasure of attending a lot of small business ribbon cuttings. As I write this blog post today, I'm filled with fond recollections of the joy my friends felt as their dreams came true.
Below is the statement by President Biden:
This week has been proclaimed National Small Business Week.
From barber shops, beauty salons, and pizza parlors to manufacturing companies and mom-and-pop shops, Americans have applied to form a record 10.5 million small businesses in the past two years.
This week, we celebrate the backbone of our economy and the glue of our communities: our small businesses, which help make our Nation strong.
Nearly half of all private sector workers in our country are employed by small businesses. These businesses also account for almost half of our Nation’s gross domestic product. They create many of the goods and services Americans rely on to sustain their everyday lives. For many families, owning a small business is also the fulfillment of their dreams, their path to a better life, their chance to build a family legacy, and a source of community enrichment. But as so many entrepreneurs know well, success can never be taken for granted.
Success requires access to capital to meet payroll, pay rent, buy inventory, and grow. Small businesses need resilient supply chains so products can get out the door and arrive on time, and they need high-speed Internet to process transactions and connect with customers around the world. They also need the confidence that, when the going gets tough, support is close by.
When companies were shuttering their doors and laying off workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Administration delivered a capital infusion of more than $450 billion to the small business sector to keep Main Streets across America operating and employees on the payroll. To create long-term benefits for our economy, I signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Together, these new laws are creating billions of dollars in contracting opportunities for America’s small businesses and investing hundreds of billions of Federal dollars to rebuild our infrastructure, bring manufacturing back to America, and launch a clean energy revolution right here in the United States.
Our historic investment in semiconductors — the tiny computer chips that power everything from smartphones to cars — will create a manufacturing boom, including for small businesses throughout the semiconductor supply chain. Record funding for clean energy development means small businesses have the opportunity to build electric and other fuel cell vehicles and charging stations. My Administration is committed to investing in America and empowering its small businesses to thrive. I underscored that during my State of the Union Address when I announced new standards that require all construction materials used in these new Federal infrastructure projects to be made in America — ensuring our country’s future is built right here at home.
We need to make sure all American small business owners benefit from these investments. That is why I am committed to improving access to capital, contracts, technical expertise, and financial and legal assistance for small business owners from historically underrepresented communities. Through our State Small Business Credit Initiative, States, territories, and Tribal governments are helping small business owners, including socially and economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs, access billions of dollars in loans and investments. The Small Business Administration is revamping its existing loan programs to expand access to small-dollar loans and increase the number of lenders that offer guaranteed loans, both of which can make a major difference for the smallest businesses and minority- and women-owned businesses that may have trouble accessing capital.
One of the first actions taken by my Administration was to make the Minority Business Development Agency a permanent part of the Department of Commerce. In March, I hosted the second annual Women’s Small Business Summit at the White House, where I announced the establishment of the largest network of Women’s Business Centers ever across America. My Administration has invested nearly $70 million in this network, expanding it to all 50 States for the first time in our history. The centers offer training and mentoring to help women entrepreneurs develop business plans, launch new businesses, and access credit and capital.
Vice President Kamala Harris has convened small business owners and entrepreneurs across our Nation to inform them about the resources, capital, and support we are offering them. Last year she announced the formation of the new Economic Opportunity Coalition, an alliance of private sector companies and nonprofits committing tens of billions of dollars of investments in community financial institutions and small businesses. In April of this year, she and the Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo announced our new $1.73 billion investment in the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which provides historically underserved and often low-income communities access to credit, capital, and financial support to grow their businesses.
We are making progress, but I know there is more we can do. I have set a goal to award 15 percent of all Federal contracts to small disadvantaged businesses by 2025, which will bring an estimated additional $100 billion in Federal contracting money to these companies.
The Full Text of President Biden's Proclamation on National Small Business Week, 2023 may be downloaded in the pdf file below:
May 03, 2023
Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement
For release at 2:00 p.m. EDT
Economic activity expanded at a modest pace in the first quarter. Job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation remains elevated. The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient. Tighter credit conditions for households and businesses are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects remains uncertain. The Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.
The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 5 to 5-1/4 percent. The Committee will closely monitor incoming information and assess the implications for monetary policy. In determining the extent to which additional policy firming may be appropriate to return inflation to 2 percent over time, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, as described in its previously announced plans. The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.
In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals. The Committee's assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments.
Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michael S. Barr; Michelle W. Bowman; Lisa D. Cook; Austan D. Goolsbee; Patrick Harker; Philip N. Jefferson; Neel Kashkari; Lorie K. Logan; and Christopher J. Waller.
Press Release from the Treasury:
Quarterly Refunding Statement of Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets
May 3, 2023
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of the Treasury is offering $96 billion of Treasury securities to refund approximately $75.2 billion of privately-held Treasury notes maturing on May 15, 2023. This issuance will raise new cash from private investors of approximately $20.8 billion. The securities are:
A 3-year note in the amount of $40 billion, maturing May 15, 2026;
A 10-year note in the amount of $35 billion, maturing May 15, 2033; and
A 30-year bond in the amount of $21 billion, maturing May 15, 2053.
The 3-year note will be auctioned at 1:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The 10-year note will be auctioned at 1:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. The 30-year bond will be auctioned at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 11, 2023. All of these auctions will take place on a yield basis and will settle on Monday, May 15, 2023. The balance of Treasury financing requirements over the quarter will be met with regular weekly bill auctions, cash management bills (CMBs), and monthly note, bond, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), and 2-year Floating Rate Note (FRN) auctions.
PROJECTED FINANCING NEEDS AND ISSUANCE PLANS Treasury believes that current issuance sizes leave it well-positioned for its near-term borrowing needs, and as such, intends to keep nominal coupon and FRN new issue and reopening auction sizes unchanged during the May 2023 – July 2023 quarter. However, based on projected intermediate- to long-term borrowing needs, Treasury may need to modestly increase auction sizes later this year, potentially as soon as the August 2023 refunding announcement. The table below presents the anticipated auction sizes in billions of dollars for the May 2023 – July 2023 quarter:
Treasury plans to address any seasonal or unexpected variations in borrowing needs over the next quarter through changes in regular bill auction sizes and/or CMBs.
TIPS FINANCING
Over the May 2023 – July 2023 quarter, Treasury intends to maintain the May 10-year TIPS reopening auction size at $15 billion, maintain the June 5-year TIPS reopening auction size at $19 billion, and maintain the July 10-year TIPS new issue auction size at $17 billion. Treasury will continue to monitor TIPS market conditions and consider whether modest increases would be appropriate in future quarters.
DEBT LIMIT
Since January 19, 2023, Treasury has been using extraordinary measures to finance the government on a temporary basis.[1] As Secretary Yellen outlined in her recent letter to Congress, our best estimate is that we will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time. This estimate is based on currently available data, as federal receipts and outlays are inherently variable, and the actual date that Treasury exhausts extraordinary measures could be a number of weeks later than these estimates. It is impossible to predict with certainty the exact date when Treasury will be unable to pay the government’s bills, and Treasury will continue to update Congress in the coming weeks as more information becomes available. Given the current projections, it is imperative that Congress act as soon as possible to increase or suspend the debt limit in a way that provides longer-term certainty that the government will continue to make its payments.
Until the debt limit is suspended or increased, debt limit-related constraints will lead to greater-than-normal variability in benchmark bill issuance and significant usage of CMBs.
BUYBACKS
Based on feedback from a broad variety of market participants, including the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee and primary dealers, Treasury believes it would be beneficial to conduct regular buyback operations for cash management and liquidity support purposes. Treasury anticipates designing a buyback program that will be conducted in a regular and predictable manner, initially sized conservatively, and not intended to meaningfully change the overall maturity profile of marketable debt outstanding.
Given various operational and design considerations, Treasury expects to begin a regular buyback program in calendar year 2024. Treasury will continue to engage with market participants as it designs the specific buyback program details and will provide further updates to the public on its implementation plans in future quarterly refunding announcements.
LARGE POSITION REPORT (LPR) CALL
Sometime over the next three months, Treasury intends to issue an LPR call.[2]Treasury last conducted an LPR call on July 12, 2022.
Additionally, Treasury is offering a free virtual workshop on June 9, 2023, regarding Treasury’s LPR rules, which apply to all U.S. and foreign entities that may control a large position in a specified Treasury security. More information about the workshop is available via the following link.
Please send comments or suggestions on these subjects or other subjects related to debt management to debt.management@treasury.gov.
The next quarterly refunding announcement will take place on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.
The FDIC Report Bank Failures in Brief clearly shows that the failures in 2023 held combined
assets of $548.5 Billion. Compare that amount to the total of $373.6 Billion held by 25 banks in the 2008 banking failure that included Lehman.
2008 saw the peak in terms of asset-size for bank failures ($373.6 billion with 'only' 25 failures), while 2010 saw the peak in number of banks failing (157 vs 25 in 2008).
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