According to a recent Rasmussen Report, small-business owners are the most highly ranked group in terms of favorability among American adults. Small-business owners (92 percent ) and people who start their own business (88 percent) comprise two of the only three groups to garner a majority of positive ratings, with pastors and local religious leaders receiving 72 percent favorability rating.

At the bottom of the list: heads of the nation’s largest corporations received a meager 22 percent favorability rating. Stockbrokers and financial analysts were given a 37 percent rating while journalists were received a 38 percent favorability rating. Despite growing concern over banks’ lending standards and capabilities, bankers received a 44 percent favorability rating and came in as the fourth-highest rated group.

According to the report, politics played a significant role. Forty-one percent of Democrats view members of Congress favorably while just 15 percent say the same about corporate CEOs. Conversely, 31 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of CEOs, but only 14 percent feel the same way about those in Congress. Independents didn’t rate either group highly.

The Rasmussen Report further validates the high level of trust and confidence in America’s small-business leaders. According to the Harris Interactive Poll, “Confidence in Leaders of Major Institutions,” which is compiled annually, small-business owners continually rank number one or two among the most highly-trusted groups in the U.S.

President Barack Obama recently unveiled a $75 billion plan to mitigate foreclosures. The plan aims to keep between 7 million and 9 million people from foreclosure. There are nearly 52 million homeowners in the United States, according to Moody’s Economy.com, and about 13.8 million (27 percent) owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. The largest participants in the mortgage industry halted foreclosures pending the announcement.

In last year’s annual, nationwide NSBA survey of small- and mid- sized businesses, 18 percent of the entrepreneurs who reported having a business loan leveraged their loans with a second mortgage on their home. This was the third largest leverage vehicle, trailing only credit cards and personal savings. In the last eleven months, approximately 1.5 million homes have been foreclosed on and another three million are expected this year. Without aggressive intervention, some analysts have predicted that an additional eight to ten million foreclosures could occur if the job-market continues to deteriorate.

A key component of the plan is the Homeowner Stability Initiative, which seeks to provide mortgage lenders with incentives to cut the monthly mortgage payments of up to 4 million borrowers on the verge of foreclosure. Under the plan, lenders would take the loss on mortgage payments lowered to 38 percent of a borrower's income and the government would make up part of the difference between the original monthly payment and the new monthly payment. Lenders and loan servicers also would be eligible for thousands of dollars in bonuses for successfully modifying loans. The program would be funded by the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

The plan would not cover those who have lost their jobs and are unable to afford even the new, lower monthly payments. It also does not cover investors—including those homeowners who have rented their homes in an effort to make payments they could no longer afford. Obama conceded, ““This plan will not save every home.”

Another key component of the plan is the effort to help refinance the loans of the four to five million borrowers who dwellings are now worth less than the principle still owed on them and whose mortgages are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Such mortgages traditionally have been virtually impossible to refinance.

In an accompanying announcement, the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) announced that it was doubling the size of its assistance to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and would continue to purchase mortgage-backed securities from them in an effort to provide stability and liquidity in the marketplace. Treasury stressed that this new commitment was an effort to bolster confidence in the firms and did not reflect projected losses, which currently are projected to need a combined government subsidy of about $66 billion, well short of the new promise of up to $400 billion.
The administration’s plan also details uniform guidelines for modifying a loan and a standard formula for estimating the value of a home in a falling market. This is an effort to protect lenders and servicers, who have claimed that they fear lawsuits from mortgage-securitization investors if they modified loans and accepted less money.

The Administration also announced that it would continue to pursue reforms which would allow bankruptcy judges to modify existing mortgage loans on primary residences, including reducing the principal of a mortgage, so the borrower could stay in the home—as long as the borrower stuck to a court-ordered repayment plan.

For the past four years, this award has recognized outstanding small-business owners who have demonstrated a commitment to small-business advocacy, a proven history of volunteer activism on behalf of the small-business community to improve the conditions for entrepreneurs, and success as small-business owners.

The Lewis I. Shattuck Small Business Advocate of the Year Award provides not only public recognition of outstanding small-business owners but also highlights the many ways in which small businesses are making a difference. NSBA will choose five finalists and one award winner who will be recognized at the annual Advocate of the Year Award Luncheon on June 9, 2009 in conjunction with the NSBA Washington Presentation in Washington, D.C.

Past winners include:
Joseph Melookaran CPA, founder of JMA Chartered in Overland Park, Kansas, a professional services firm specializing in public assurance, IT, and network design and security.

Scott Hauge, president of Cal Insurance and Associates and executive director of Small Business California, a grassroots organization with significant influence in California;

Robert Schmidt, founder of Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. and Orbital Research Inc., an active voice in state and national politics on taxation and commercialization; and

Valerie W. Perlowitz founder and CEO of Reliable Integration Services, Inc., a leader in technology issues serving on President George W. Bush’s IT Advisory Council.

The nomination deadline is April 10, 2009, and nominations can be mailed to:
Small Business Advocate of the Year Award
National Small Business Association
1156 15th Street NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005-1711

Please click here for additional information and to download an electronic nomination form. Please feel free to e-mail press@nsba.biz with any questions.