Olympia Snowe (small biz advocate?) call for immediate end of SBA ARC Loan

On Monday, Senator Snow, a self-proclaimed advocate of small business and the ranking member of the small biz committee, quietly slipped a proposal in to immediately end the $35k ARC Loan and return the remaining $125 million to the Treasury as soon as the legisliation is signed.  Even if you approved but haven't received the loan, your not going to get it if Snowe can keep it from you.   This is your small business advocate.

Snowe's reasoning is that the default rate is hovering near 60%.  What Snowe doesn't bother to say in that convenient soundbite - 

1) The 56% projected default rate was published by the SBA long before the program even started - Snowe was well aware of it and supported the program fully then, blowing her pro-small business horn all the way.

2) Not a single loan from this program is even any where near default - not one.

3) The bank's qualifications requirements have been so stringent that the true expected default rate from the ARC loan process will likely be lower than any loan program in decades - probably in the 5% range if even that.

Snowe's real motivation is two fold:

1) She, as w/ all Senators, are beholden to the big banks who hate this program and are getting killed in the court of public opinion for making it almost impossible for any businesses that actually need this loan to get it.  They are putting pressure on her and their pockets provide more campaign funds for her than small business.

2) Karen Mills, the head of the SBA, is from Maine and the SBA is also getting killed for their demand that businesses submit the same onerous paperwork for the $35k ARC loan as for a $5 million 7(a) loan.  Her buddy Karen is whining in her ear.

Snowe has built a long standing reputation for pretending to help small businesses, and this exposes her real loyalties.  As long as standing up for small business doesn't get in the way of her true loyalty to big business, big banks, and big government, she'll 'support' us.  The minute she has to make a choice - well - you see here who her real handlers are.