How the Presidential Candidates Would Help Entrepreneurs


This week I am blogging about ideas from the three leading presidential candidates that should help entrepreneurs. I want to keep this non-partisan, so I am only mentioning one good policy from each of the candidates; and I am listing them in alphabetical order.

Clinton
The Clinton for President web site explains, “Hillary would give tax credits to small businesses that provide health care to their workers to help defray their coverage costs.”

This is a good idea because failure to fix the health care problem handicaps our entrepreneurs. Academic research shows that men who work for others are three times as likely to have health insurance as men who work for themselves, and women who work for others are five times more likely than women who work for themselves to have health insurance.

Moreover, the employees in new companies are less likely to have health insurance than people working for large, established companies. According to preliminary data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, in 2004, only 23.2 percent of new businesses offered health insurance to their full time employees. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, small businesses are much less likely to provide health insurance to their employees than large businesses.

McCain
The McCain for President web site says, McCain would “establish [a] permanent tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.”

This is a good idea because small, start-up companies under invest in R&D because it is costly and uncertain. But successful R&D leads to the creation of products and services that help society (e.g., artificial skin; web browsers), as well as generate sustainable competitive advantages for companies. Moreover, start-ups in high tech industries are much more likely than those in low tech industries to create jobs and contribute to GDP growth.

Obama
The Obama for President web site says, “Obama will create a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund to fill a critical gap in U.S. technology development….The fund will partner with existing investment funds and our National Laboratories to ensure that promising technologies move beyond the lab and are commercialized in the U.S.”

This is a good idea because high tech businesses create more jobs and have higher growth than low tech businesses. Moreover, many good technologies with commercial potential are created in our national laboratories. (RFID is a good example; it was originally developed to keep track of nuclear weapons). Furthermore, venture capitalists are very good at identifying high potential companies so increasing the pool of venture capital going into clean technology will help us to further develop that technology.

If any of you have identified particular policies of the presidential candidates that would be good for entrepreneurs, I’d like to hear them. But let’s keep this non-partisan and avoid knocking anyone’s policies.

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About the Author: Scott Shane is A. Malachi Mixon III, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of seven books, the latest of which is Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By. He is also a member of the Northcoast Angel Fund in the Cleveland area and is always interested in hearing about great start-ups. Take the entrepreneurship quiz.

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Scott Shane Scott Shane is A. Malachi Mixon III, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of nine books, including Fool's Gold: The Truth Behind Angel Investing in America ; Illusions of Entrepreneurship: and The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By.

7 Reactions
  1. Scott,

    The Clinton idea on Health care is a critical decision that many Small Business owners like myself, are facing evryday. In the past several weeks we have been seriously hampered in our efforts to attract and retain top notch candidates due to the very high cost of providing Health Insurance for them.Since many of them are married with children the problem then becomes a major barrier to our growth.

    This issue,critical for all Small Business owners, has been, with the exception of Hillary Clinton, not been given serious attention by the other candidates. And in our opinion even Clinton’s idea does go far enough.

    The problem, in our opinion, is that Health Care is STILL regarded as a PRIVILEGE in this country not a basic human need and right that should be applied to all who needed NOT just those lucky enough to be able to afforded it!!!

  2. Raymonda,

    Very good points to make. I couldn’t agree more.

  3. Health care is a big issue, has been for years and will continue to be so for years too come—sad—isn’t it!

  4. I think it is time for the candidates to learn a lesson from Sweden. Please stand up for a free choice in medicine. I recommend you to check out Americans for Free Choice in Medicine:

    http://afcm.org

    Best Premises,

    Martin Lindeskog – American in Spirit.
    Gothenburg, Sweden.

  5. Scott Hepburn - Small Business Marketing. Simplified.

    Excellent post, Scott. And I really appreciate the comments from raymonda, too. Too little attention has been paid to the candidates’ platforms for promoting the growth of Small Business America.

    Raymonda, I published a post a few days ago about attracting top talent to your company. Your comments about the impact of health care costs on recruiting make a good point. Mr. and Mrs. Small Business Owner are at a disadvantage when it comes to offering employment incentives.

    I’m fascinated by how the candidates posture themselves. Small business owners could pick up some tips for positioning their companies by watching how the candidates posture themselves. Obama, Clinton, McCain — which one best reflects how YOU’D run the country?

    Keep up the good stuff, Scott. Look forward to your next post.

  6. Health Care for ALL Americans should be a given.

  7. I think the Democrats will help the Business start up guys better.
    This may be suprising, but many will not leave a job to start a business because of health care.
    Some would be business owners have pre existing medical conditions, and can ONLY get health insurance as part of a large group.
    With mandatory health care for ALL Americans, one can feel free to leave a job to start a business.