Small business

“ As small business owners and employees add to the vitality of our economy, they also inspire others to realize the full promise of our Nation. I join all Americans in celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit and hard work of our small business owners and employees. ”

“ The small business community constitutes the single most important segment of our free enterprise system. It accounts for forty-eight percent of our gross national product, more than half of the American labor force, and continues to be the major source of inventions and new jobs. 'Small business is truly the backbone of the American economy. ”

“ I urge all Americans who own or work in a small business to continue their resourcefulness and successes, for these efforts contribute so much to the entrepreneurial spirit which made this Nation great. It is with justifiable pride that the American small business man can point to himself as the backbone of our Nation. ”

“ Small business is the cornerstone of our free enterprise system and since the birth of this country has represented opportunity, independence, and the fulfillment of dreams for generations of Americans. ”

“ One of the striking features of our economic development is the disappearance of the small community and the small business, with the personal interest of each in all, employer and employed; and in its place we see the herding together of great masses of people in our large cities, each class by itself ”

“ When I talk about small businesses, similar to a great many Americans, the majority of Americans, it is not a hypothetical. I have grown up as the son of two small business owners, seeing the hard work, the challenges of trying to run a small business. In fact, I saw my parents’ business go bankrupt when I was in high school. I saw the up sides and the down sides of being in a small business. It ain’t easy. If my father had not been able to get that first job washing dishes and making 50 cents an hour, he never would have gotten his second job as a cook. ”

“ Small businesses employ more than 57 percent of the private U.S. work force, account for 54 percent of all sales, and generate half of the domestic private sector output.
As we move forward in a spirit of renewal and change, there is one constant that must prevail in the economy of the United States. Small business must continue to provide the solid foundation upon which this Nation builds its economic strength and maintains its character. Government, working hand in hand with entrepreneurs, must recognize these contributions and help small business create jobs and increase incomes. ”

“ More than 17 million Americans own a small business; and the rest of us benefit from their ingenuity, enterprise, and hard work. These entrepreneurs employ half of all Americans in the work force. These achievements and the American heritage of economic liberty that helps make them possible are truly fitting reasons for each of us to join in observance of Small Business Week. ”

“ This year, every small business man and woman and indeed, every American, should be giving serious thought to how we may best secure and expand the small business sector of our economy in the years ahead. ”

“ America's small business owners and their employees represent more than half of the private workforce. These entrepreneurs, who create more than 75 percent of the net new jobs nationwide and generate more than 50 percent of the Nation's gross domestic product, and the employees who work in small businesses, deserve our thanks. ”

“ As Americans observe Small Business Week, let us pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of small business owners across our Nation whose energy, innovative spirit, and faith in our system of free enterprise have done so much to generate the unprecedented prosperity and growth we enjoy today. ”

“ Small business has long played a vital role in our Nation's economy and way of life. This past January, I was honored to participate in the first White House Conference on Small Business. I had the opportunity to hear firsthand, the ideas, problems and aspirations of men and women from the small business community. ”

“ I call upon Government officials, industry leaders, and advocates across the Nation to encourage our citizens to celebrate the achievements of small business owners and encourage the creation of new businesses. ”

“ They also help enhance the lives of our citizens by improving our quality of life and creating personal wealth. Small businesses will lead the way to prosperity, particularly in today's challenging economic environment. ”

“ And often, whole new industries are created when entrepreneurs found new companies to bring new products and services to market. The drive that is required to begin and run a small business illustrates the determination, hard work, and community involvement that are so essential to our free enterprise system. ”

“ The Small Business Administration, through its vigorous lending and loan guaranty efforts, has improved access to capital so that small manufacturing firms and other small businesses can modernize, expand, and invest in worker training. ”

“ Combining the dynamic forces of individual initiative with an alertness to consumer needs, small business increases the flexibility of our economic system and is a leading source of innovation and technological advancement for much of our industry. ”

“ In the following branches of industry the small business rules almost exclusively, more than 97 per cent of all industries, while the great business with more than fifty laborers does not exist at all:
If we exclude painters, barbers, chimneysweeps, violin makers and, according to my opinion, also scavengers and bootblacks, this reduces the field of existing small businesses, in industries which are outside the field of competition of great industries, to practically nil. ”

“ During Small Business Week, we have a special opportunity-and obligation-to acknowledge the achievements of small business men and women and to express our appreciation for the vision, energy, and effort they bring to their enterprises. ”

“ The majority of jobs held by younger, older, minority, and female employees are in small business. In the next quarter-century, fully three-fourths of all new jobs created in America will have their genesis in small business. ”

“ Nine out of every ten concerns fall into this category, and 45 percent of all workers are employed by them. Between 30 and 40 percent of the total value of all business transactions are handled by small business.
It is obvious national policy to foster the sound development of small business. It helps to maintain high levels of employment and national income and consumption of the goods and services that the Nation can produce. It encourages the competition that keeps our free enterprise economy vigorous and expanding. ”

“ We are indebted to small business for its contributions to our success as a nation and dependent on its progress and vitality for our economic well-being. Small firms employ over half of the labor force and are leaders in employment creation and innovation ”

“ Small business has been a vital part of American life from the very beginning. The colonial traders, craftsmen and merchants of two centuries ago have been replaced by an enormous range of dealers in goods and services of all kinds, but the original opportunity, and the determination to excel, remain. ”

“ Our nation's small businesses employ 100 million Americans and produce nearly half of our gross business product. Small businesses remain healthy in an economic environment that equates size with success because they take an active interest in the customers and communities they serve. ”

“ Small factories, small shops, small processing plants attracting the ingenuity of individuals and the enterprise of small groups, are economically essential and socially desirable. I recommend that we establish, perhaps within the framework of a general Rehabilitation Authority, a small business division, the sole task of which will be to encourage and promote small business. ”

“ Everyone must have noticed of late years the enormous growth of firms whose main business seems to be to tempt people of small means to purchase things they do not want, or, at all events, cannot afford. Take up any newspaper or magazine circulating among the lower middle classes, or among working men, and you will find it crowded with advertisements of musical instruments, cycles, furniture on the hire system, packets of cutlery, all of which can be obtained by a small payment down and smaller instalments to follow. ”

“ Our communities depend on the success of small businesses. More than 99 percent of all employer firms in the country are small businesses and in recent years, too many of them have been crushed by overwhelming Federal regulations. ”

“ All these items are present in varying degree, whatever the size of the business, except where a merchant has capital enough of his own to carry on a small business and can attend to the wants of his customers alone or with the help of his family. The temptation of the merchant is strong to use every possible means to make a success of his business, paying wages as low as possible, in order to cut down expenses, and offering all kinds of inducements to customers in order to sell his goods. ”

“ The flexibility of small business people is exemplified by their willingness to adapt to change, their determination to test untapped markets for new products and services, and their ability to contribute to the competitive marketplace in such a way as to improve efficiency, thus benefitting the consumer and spurring economic growth. ”

“ Small businesses create many new jobs in the United States and are an important part of our Nation's international competitiveness. Today, America's 20 million small businesses remain at the heart of our economy. ”