Hilarious Misguided US Official Warns Watchdog Journalist

Best story of the month. Ms. Teasley joins teachers, politicians, and other misguided officials who lack common sense. Proving once again having common sense is not a gift but a punishment, because you have to live with people who do not have it. The email exchange is hilarious.



[From article]

Following our investigative series about a bizarre government lending program, the Small Business Administration threatened Watchdog.org with Department of Justice legal action — for misuse of the SBA logo.



“By federal law, the official seal of a federal agency cannot be used in a news publication, online or in print. Neither can our SBA logo be replicated,” June Teasley, the SBA’s communications director in Kansas City, Missouri, said Thursday in an email to Watchdog.org. “Please remove the seal from your website. This happens frequently enough that we usually just email when an infraction is noticed, rather than turning cases over to the Department of Justice. Most offending companies comply.”
Watchdog.org reporters have revealed that so-called small-business loans in several states – including Vermont, Mississippi, Virginia, Wisconsin – went to large financial institutions, luxury golf courses and major hotel chains, and that all were hidden from public inspection.

http://watchdog.org/207465/small-business-administration-2/

Hands off our logo, Small Business Administration says
By Will Swaim

March 20, 2015

Minimum Wages Hurt Small Businesses

[From article]
“If the restaurant suddenly has to pay for something it didn’t have to pay before, one way to cover that cost is to raise menu prices,” Kevin Connelly says. “So we are probably going to have to pay more for that shrimp.”
And that, says Eve Connelly, will have a ripple effect. Higher prices mean people go out less often, which means less in tips for the wait staff at Leonardo’s II. “I wonder if this is something the politicians understand,” she says.
[. . .]

"What I keep trying to drive home is that we are forced into paying costs we never had to cover before in addition to the minimum wage increase that is already in motion,” he says. “This will cripple the restaurant industry. This is especially true for start-ups and other borderline businesses operating at the margins.”
[. . .]

“This is an easy issue to demagogue,” he says. “If this bill does go through it will mean higher consumer costs and less business in restaurants, which works to the disadvantage of the very workers the politicians say they are trying to help.”

http://dailysignal.com/2014/10/01/new-jersey-minimum-wage-proposals/

Mom-and-Pop Restaurants Feel Pinch of Minimum Wage Hike



Kevin Mooney / @KevinMooneyDC / October 01, 2014 /

Small Business Loans Through Retailers

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38093389/page/2/

Retailers Launch Their Own Stimulus Packages

By: Stephanie Clifford
The New York Times

Published: Monday, 5 Jul 2010 | 7:27 AM ET