Obama vs. Small Business?

Donald Danner, NFIB CEO

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) President and CEO Donald Danner accused the government of making it more difficult to start a business. This came after President Obama made a controversial comment in a campaign speech over the weekend.

In a speech for small business owners, President Obama highlighted the power of hard workers and government initiatives. He pointed to roads and the internet as government-made resources used by people who have become successful.

But one phrase rubbed Danner the wrong way: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that,” Obama said.

In response to the president’s comment, Danner told CNBC, “I think it’s a slap in the face of every entrepreneur out there who had a dream and risked everything he or she had to build a business.”

“Entrepreneurs are special people,” he added. “Not everybody works 15 or 16 hours every day. Not everybody is willing to risk everything they have to see their dreams come true.”

Danner argued that entrepreneurs need to be encouraged and less government is the solution.

“The president doesn’t understand that the government doesn’t create jobs—individuals do,” Danner said adding that the people who struggle and take risks to build businesses are the ones who create jobs.

Danner said that Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney will make it easier for people to start businesses and get jobs.

“We fundamentally don’t believe raising the top rate on S-Corps and LLCs is going to help create jobs. It’s going to cause people in small businesses to not invest and lose jobs,” Danner said adding that President Obama supports raising the top rate while Romney does not.

However, Danner agreed that the president’s comment is legitimate when put in context. He acknowledged that it is, in fact, harder to start a business in a country without a government that has invested in infrastructure such as roads and education—the context behind Obama’s comment.

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