Obama Makes the Case to Small Business for Health Care Reform by John Tozzi

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This week small business is a big part of the health care narrative the White House is pushing. Over the weekend the White House Council of Economic Advisers released its take on how health care reform will effect small businesses and their employees. President Obama made the case directly to small business owners in his weekly YouTube address below.

And on Wednesday, Christina Romer, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, will answer questions submitted by small business owners during a live chat at 3 p.m. ET. (You can submit questions here or on this LinkedIn discussion thread.)

Separately, Senate Democrats will hold a press conference Wednesday morning in Washington to make the case that health reform benefits small businesses. Members from the committees on Small Business (Mary Landrieu, D-La.); Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.); and Finance (Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.) will be there. The HELP and Finance committees are drafting the two main proposals in the Senate. Politico reports that the Finance committee plan may drop the requirement for all employers to provide insurance. That would go a long way toward appeasing critics of the bill who say it’s too burdensome on business, like the NFIB.

It’s worth noting that in the YouTube address, Obama doesn’t touch on the employer mandate. Here’s how he describes the plan (starting about 2:10):

Under the reform plans in Congress, small businesses will be able to purchase health insurance through an “insurance exchange,” a marketplace where they can compare the price, quality and services of a wide variety of plans, many of which will provide better coverage at lower costs than the plans they have now. They can then pick the one that works best for them and their employees.

Small businesses that choose to insure their employees will also receive a tax credit to help them pay for it. If a small business chooses not to provide coverage, its employees can purchase high quality, affordable coverage through the insurance exchange on their own.

That doesn’t sound like the proposals already out from the Senate HELP committee and the House, which require companies over a certain size (either 25 employees or $250,000 in payroll) to buy insurance or pay penalties. It sounds a lot like a description of the forthcoming Finance bill in today’s Times:

The Senate [Finance] group also seems prepared to drop a requirement, included in other versions of the legislation, that employers offer coverage to their workers. “We don’t mandate employer coverage,” Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine and one of the six, said Monday. Employers that do not offer coverage may instead have to pay the cost of any government subsidies for which their workers qualify.

It sure sounds like Obama’s signaling that he’d sign a bill without an employer mandate, and that would help bring moderate Republicans like Snowe on board. (She’s also the ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee — Landrieu is the chair.) The question then is how much push back from liberal Dems the plan would face, and that would likely hinge on other factors like whether or not there’s a public insurance option.

But for right now, at least, policy makers are focused on small businesses’ stake in health care reform, and the discussions this week may be crucial in shaping small business provisions in a final bill.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2009/07/obama_makes_the.html

Also: Don’t miss this excellent graphic from the NY Times on how the proposals would effect different types of workers and business owners.

A checklist for starting a small business by Jamie Downey

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• Research the product or service you want to sell. Determine who your customers will be and how you will make a profit.

• Create a business plan. For many this is a difficult task. However, it is probably not as difficult as you think. You can search around the web for examples or shoot me an email and I can help you get a sample business plan to work from.

• Create a budget (this may be included in the business plan).

• Determine your capital needs (see your budget) and find the necessary financing to get the business up and running. For many start-up businesses, friends, family, home equity and your own checking account are often a significant source of their financing needs.

• Choose your business name and register it. Consider a trademark if you want to protect the name of your business.

• Open a company checking account. Contact the bank and make sure their requirements simple and their fees are low. I recommend contacting a local bank as they seem to work more closely with small businesses.

• Choose what type of legal entity you want to use; corporation, limited liability company, partnership or sole proprietorship.

• Determine if you need any federal, state or local licenses / permits.

• Obtain an Employer Identification Number. This may not be necessary if you are going to operate as a sole proprietorship and you have no employees.

• Obtain a sales tax number, if needed. This obviously depends on the product or service you plan on selling.

• Set up your record-keeping system. Your business will need to maintain adequate financial books and records. Small businesses often fail to devote the necessary time to this process and it comes back to haunt them in many ways; including on your taxes, payroll tax filings, obtaining credit from banks, etc.

• Choose a location for your business. A home office is very inexpensive to start and you will likely receive some tax benefits.

• Talk to your insurance agent and obtain adequate business coverage. Also consider your health insurance requirements.

• Create a marketing plan.

• Set up professional relationships. May be not at first, but over time you will need an attorney, a Certified Public Accountant, insurance agent and a banker.

• Obtain a business email address.

• Obtain your web domain and set up the website. If you have never set up a website, you might consider WYSIWYG software. It makes creating websites much easier and it only cost $40. Furthermore, you can try for free for 30 days.

• Find a mentor. SCORE is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to educating and assisting entrepreneurs on the growth of small businesses. They will team you up with a mentor to help you facilitate your business.

Hacker jailbreaks the Iphone 3GS by Nick Farrell

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THE TEEN HACKER who unlocked the original Iphone claims to have created an app that can 'jailbreak' Apple's recently released Iphone 3GS.

George Hotz, 19, wrote a program called "purplera1n" which he says can install third-party software on an Iphone 3GS, even if that software is not approved by Apple.

It didn't take him very long to hack the device, which has only been available since June 19.

This shows that it isn't impossible to bypass Apple's wonderful built-in security features for the Iphone and it makes a mockery of the outfit's autocractic control of users.

It also means that users can run whatever they like on the gizmo rather than only what Steve Jobs says they are allowed.

Hotz released software that works with Windows-based computers and the latest version of Itunes, as well as the Iphone 3GS running Apple's latest Iphone 3.0 software. Over the weekend he released a Mac version, too.

Hotz got his first 15 minutes of fame two years ago when, at the age of 17, he became the first hacker to crack the Iphone's security so it could run unauthorised apps.

Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1432758/hacker-jailbreaks-iphone-3gs

Companies recall products linked to milk processor

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Food distributors across the country announced on Thursday they are recalling nonfat dry milk, cocoa and other products that are linked to a possible salmonella contamination at a Plainview, Minn., milk processor.

The Food and Drug Administration said late last month that Plainview Milk Products Cooperative was recalling instant nonfat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers and food thickening agents that it made over the past two years because they might be contaminated with salmonella.

Salmonella can cause serious infections, especially in children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek said on Thursday "there are no illnesses that we are aware of" and the agency is tracking distribution of the products.

The FDA has said none of Plainview's products were sold directly to the public. But the company sold their products to other distributors, who distributed them further, and also to manufacturers, who may have used them in their products, Kwisnek said.

Retailer Meijer Inc. announced on Thursday it was recalling one type of its Meijer Brand Instant Nonfat Dry Milk. The product was sold in Meijer stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

CPI Foods Inc., of Dallas, recalled about 15,000 packets of nonfat dry milk. The company said the packets are parts of CPI Foods shelf-stable meal kits distributed to community service companies in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, West Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada and Kentucky.

Precision Foods Inc., of St. Louis, said it was recalling certain Madagascar Vanilla cocoa. The recalled cocoa product is labeled as Land O Lakes International Drinking Cocoa "Madagascar Vanilla." It was distributed nationally in retail stores and through mail orders, the company said.

Also announced Thursday was a recall by NOW Foods for products containing whey protein concentrate. McClancy Seasoning Co. recalled Alba instant nonfat dry milk products and various Alba snack shake mixes.

On Wednesday, East Coast grocery chains Giant Food and Stop & Shop also issued recalls of some of their dried milk products.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iQJ6l3Y38myc2dnLRiOOWWGOPWYQD996ML202