This is kathleen from minnesota. Good morning. What is the state of Small Business in your Small Community . Everything is drivethru, but you cannot go in and sit down and eat. Its at disney had 30 two thousand jobs, so everything brickandmortar, you have to wear masks if youre going into the store. We are barely hanging on. The United States department of agriculture stopped giving out School Buses School lunches out on the buses. Host as we look at the state of Small Business including mississippi, what is your message to washington at this point . Where is Mitch Mcconnell . He put the bill on the table to be passed and he left town. Nancy pelosi put up the heroes act, and nobody is talking about recession. Nobody talking about people in the hospital that need ppe. This is dire. Just sitting at home ever since january of 2020, when the first covid19 came into mississippi. Ost thank you we want to hear from Small Business owners, employees, shoppers, folks like kathleen who live in mississippi we went to hear from you about the state of Small Business in your community. According to the Small Business association, Small Businesses generally nearly 40 four percent of economic output and account for two thirds of new hiring, and in terms of the definition of Small Business, they are generally considered employing more than about 500 workers. Ller said where is Mitch Mcconnell . Here he is come up a couple of comments on capital hill regarding the stimulus talks. Ive seen no evidence that several of my colleagues have suggested that they are open to it. Mcconnell talking about pandemic aid. Congress comes back next week and we will see what happens. We are trying to tie all of this to the state of Small Business in your community. This is Small Business saturday, all of this against this backdrop of this headline, nearly 100,000 establishments could temporarily shut down because of the pandemic, now out of business. Kevin is calling from texas. Good morning. Caller Small Businesses here at the beginning were really hit. Ard and now everything is starting to get back up again. People are out shopping and in restaurants. We have to wear a mask when we distance. We socially people are doing the responsible thing. They do not need government to tell them how to do everything in their lives. I shop just as much as i did before the pandemic, the same amount. At first all of the businesses were closed, but now in the last few months, we go in, and you got to wear a mask and Everything Else and keep your distance. There are locations on the floor to stand if youre waiting in line and everyone recognize everyone elses space, so it is polite,ryone is being and the one thing i have noticed about the pandemic is that people are a lot more courteous towards each other, as far as the distance and Everything Else. , do it because i really dont i am not in a health group that is in danger. Keep mye mask on and distance so that other people that might be more worried about it are more comfortable. You mentioned you dont think you necessarily need government telling you what to do. Federalyour take on government aid, the Paycheck Protection Program in place and other forms of government aid for Small Businesses. Is it helpful . What is your take on what role is . Ns caller that is a good question. I am a 20 year veteran that just retired last year, so now i am getting back into the workforce again. I talked to a lot of Business Owners, because a lot of them teaching the classes because they are trying to get workers, they areed them, having a problem getting workers, and i ask a lot of retail managers when i am in i aming, gas stations, if in there, i asked them the same because that our help wanted signs everywhere. The one consistent statement that they say is we have workers, and when they begin getting the extra 600 a month on top of their unemployment, and this is texas, they do not want to come back to work until they have to. Host thank you. Kentucky, what kind of work do you do . Caller electronic technician. Host how is business these days . Caller there is none. I want to talk about mr. Mcconnell because he has really tried to get the stimulus plan, but the democrats wants to support like california, new other states out where they are wasting the money, and i can understand what mcconnell has done, and it should be for the people and not for the state. What would federalaid mean for your business . I think it would boost us. Ifwould really believe everybody would come together and vote on this package, but mcconnell has got a plan, and there is no support, and the democrats spike everything that the republicans want to put out. Caller even though our town has only 5000 people, getting ready year,ents happening next when everybody has been vaccinated, maybe not everybody, but the vast majority, what bothers me, what concerns me is something i have never asked for from anybody else and i am a little bit disturbed that even though, people who have started these funds are extremely generous and kind spirited, it is the Charity Model for helping until oldbusinesses Mitch Mcconnell and nancy pelosi come together on agreements to ,ssist the Small Business had e has already these were started out, kickstarter and so forth back in 2008 to a cyst to assist us, and i am more than grateful for these, but i feel as though over one million groups, colleges and universities, research charities, all of them are just grabbing at me, shouting give me. I know that is not the case, but these which are designed, like small works i have forgotten the name, a tv commercial where they ask you to donate, and some of these funds for small gofundme, theye are not as frivolous as some of those that we had in the past decade. Generalists generously so i can go to the larry fromis california. How would you describe the state of Small Business . Caller everything looks really slow. I think the people need a stimulus, but i wanted to comment on when they say help bail out the states, i am from california, born and raised. A lot of people are here not ,rom california, but california when donald trump did not have a National Plan for this virus, which we knew was coming. I have worked for the government , and everybody knew it was coming sooner or later. Donaldelosi got with trump and said testing and treatment in isolation, give the people that money, stay home and tell the people to wear a mask, all of the above, and he did not. He did not want to do anything. Hurtingfornia, we are but we do everything. Our amusement parks are down, we do not have baseball, football, we cannot go to any sports. It is like a prison. Lockdown host let me ask you a question, you mentioned all the things that are closed, those bigger enterprises, how about the Small Businesses . You said things are slow. I things closed . What do you see when you go out . Palms, in twentynine people do not want to go into little restaurants and eat. There are only a couple set up oncede to eat, and we go in a while. Mostly everything is the get and go. All of the little stores, people do not want to go in the stores. The ventilation is bad. Everything is old here. Everybody is scared. Host thank you for calling. Hearing your stories this morning about the state of Small Business. We want to hear from you, if you are a shopper or a Small Business owner or an employee. Saidis a text sent in by a i run my own Small Business and i know people who ran Small Businesses in my city of philadelphia. They are all gone. No one, politician created politician created this virus, but we will never forget. This is samuel from philadelphia. At the same time we know that Small Business saturday follows black friday in the wall street journal headline says that shoppers and discounts are scant. They showed some photos. Not looking terribly busy, at least at the time they took the photo. Here is a line at game stop store in pennsylvania, before the Early Morning opening, stocking up at the glendale galleria, but they point out the pandemic has reshaped the shopping season with many retail chains holding the line on discounts because they are sitting on lead inventory. Back to the Small Business discussion. Egina from kentucky. Caller i am calling as a customer. I relocated, and i just find it tragic, what has happening with Small Businesses because that is what i do, i prefer to be a patron of, Small Businesss pit i come from the hospitality world, and it has been kicked speak, and a lot of these businesses are not coming back at all. I would like to piggyback on what someone said about the people not wanting to go back to work because of the stimulus. The Service Workers are underpaid. Many are underpaid, and if anything this pandemic has shown getting an appointment, you make more money than going to work, and that mean something is really wrong with the system. , but the heartbreaking pandemic is real. I have lost relatives. Theve loved ones in hospital right now on ventilators. We do need to take it seriously. I wish washington would get it together. It hurts seeing the Small Businesses, no matter what, they are not coming back. The only ones i know staying afloat including like restaurants are people who had wealth in the beginning. Host thank you. Small business closures during the pandemic, fortunate rights ace on some Research Done by , they write that on the onset of the pandemic, 140,000 business were marked temporally closed on yelp, but by august that number had fallen to 65,000. That drop is not even by reopening. Many have simply gone under. More than 97,000 businesses firmly shut down during the thismic according to impact report. Vick is calling from florida. Caller i see where mcconnell is putting out more propaganda that he cannot get anything past because his colleagues will not support any more than 500 billion where as close he came down from 3. 4 billion to 2. 1 billion. [standby] what part of the state is windemere . Caller i live outside orlando. Unemployment, there is a lot of people that do not have food, we have run out of food, so the food banks are running out of food. People are being impacted, and mitch is sitting up there, when it came time to pass the tax cut for the top 1 and a tax cut for the corporations, he can get that through really easily. Host what would a stimulus bill mean to windemere . Caller should not be voting republican, that is my comment. Thank you. From virginia. On tell us your situation, what kind of business you have. Caller business has never been better. We are setting new sales records all the time, and i am a Small Business guy, in business for about 20 years. Unlike what they said a while ago, i had no money. My father was a truck driver. I got lucky and got into a business. We work it hard, and my son helps me. The only problems i see are the businesses that the government will not let reopen. I went out to eat twice this week, restaurants are busy. I do not know of anyone with covid. Know of anyone who knows anyone with covid. Host what kind of business are you in . Caller automotive repair. Things are going great. We are setting records all the time. For give any kind of need a federal stimulus . Caller we got the stimulus. We didnt need it. But it was free money, so we took it. Host what did you do with the money . Caller it is still sitting in the bank. I am waiting to see how i got to pay it back. The government, they have changed it a few times already. First it was free, and they will not let us even pay on it at this point, so who knows how that will work out, but a lot of people do not need the money. There are people out there that do need money because the government is holding them down. Mitch mcconnell is right, they. O not need 3 trillion you just do not need it. If they would target the money and put it where it needs to be, it would be great. As far as hiring people, i got people coming in and applying for jobs all the time that work a day or two and then go file for an employment. One guy said he shot himself and could not come back and try to draw unemployment. Another guy, they just leave and do not show up and then they try to draw unemployment. That is crazy. 600 extra unemployment a week is crazy. Host we mentioned the Paycheck Protection Program earlier. The Small Business administration, some details on the program, it provided over 600 billion in federal aid. More than five. 2 million loans approved and originated by over five thousand lenders nationwide. It provided grants and loans to businesses with fewer than ive hundred employees. Each loan capped at 10 million and fully forgiven if funds used for at least 75 of payroll, interest on mortgages and utilities, selfemployed and contract workers were also eligible. A snapshot of that program. We have tommy on the line from virginia. This is a town with a lot of Small Businesses, convenience stores, laundromats, and they seem to be doing well. Town, for a while this against like some of the large businesses, coming in, so most of them are mom and pop stores could i do not see too much of a problem. I agree with the previous caller. Are a lot of new cars in my community. Hasonly thing is the covid spiked. I disagree with him on that. I am not sure where people are being hurt. Ive seen construction in this area. I did receive the stimulus, and i have it in the bank. I do not spend it. Sure ifpoint, i am not the communities need more consumer, at i am a patron, and i do not see where we are hurting. Thank you for taking my call. Host this is jeff from chicago. Generally Small Businesses suffer under capital, almost no line of credit, improper insurance coverage, little accounting systems, failure to have legal representation, no knowledge of computers and another fewer texts, i am retired, but my kids moved in after they lost their jobs. What happened to our country . Stop the congress from getting paid. Scott fromm tom and washington writes democrats interfered with businesses, thanks to pelosi, ha ha. The New York Times business section, a few long lines, black friday traditions, deals and earlybird trips to the malls were subdued as the public shopped online. These are pictures from one of the malls in california. That is in the New York Times. Washington post this morning, lighter crowds as traffic moves online. Here is a couple of shoppers at a target store in virginia. Just sort of the Bigger Picture there on the economy. What we have been talking about with Small Businesses, some say they have been hurting quite a bit. In york times reports that amazon is hiring at a record. Lip that is one of the largest in the world, and in the wall street journal they tell us inzon is paying 500 million holiday bonuses. From indiana, a Small Business owner. I have an electric ill heating and air business and i also have a wedding venue. The heating and air business is doing ok. A lot of people have to get financed because no one has much savings, at least in my area. As for the wedding venue, i shut it down. Im not getting any revenue from it. That kind of stinks because i just started it and spent about 30,000 in it and not able to get anything back. Besides that, i would say that my Small Business, one is doing good and one is doing bad. Wedding are close the business or just put it on pause . To see ifst waiting this vaccination takes place next year so it is on pause. Host did you take any of the federal money this year . Caller every bit of it and that is the only way i have not had to take from my electrical business. I just paid the loan off that i had on the wedding venue and now i have a loan with the Small Business association. I am a Sole Proprietor so it is all just me, but it helped out tremendously. I do not have any worries because i have money in my savings now. I have to pay it back, but i got a cheaper Interest Rate on that then i do my student loans. T would you take mont more money if it were available . Caller i do not need it. I would not take anymore. I have enough. Governmentk that the , everybody says they need to put it here or there. I do not know why the government is not come up with some kind of algorithm that knows. The government cannot seem to get it right. Sometimes i wonder why, but certain people need it and certain people dont. I would say target restaurants and people who are waitresses, cooks, things like that, that would probably help. Host this is deborah from mississippi. Consumer, so i can only speak from that perspective. I do not own or operate a business. I am terrified to go into a restaurant, having been have not been in one in since march i am afraid to go to the doctor or the auto mechanic. I am afraid to go inside in the business because of covid. As for the gentleman that took the stimulus money that he did not need, he is no different than the one free money is free money, but that money is needed. Deborah, doctor visits a, those are very important, but in terms of shopping, have you gone shopping, oryour how else are you getting the materials you need . Caller i will go online, but then i am afraid to bring the packages in the house. I leave them in the garage for two weeks and then i sprayed all down and disinfect. I am terrified. Host anything else . Caller thats it. Host this is from twitter, Small Businesses are struggling in north carolina. A lot have them have not been able to adapt to the rules. The federal government really has helped the state come and the government could only give so much. Another text message, ignorance is bliss. Do Business Owners who have seen an increase in traffic understand that those customers come from other businesses that have closed . Taking your calls on this Small Business saturday, learning about the state of Small Business business in your community. Later we will talk with Amanda Ballantyne from the main street alliance, executive director there and more about the impact on Small Business and what can be done to help. Bill is calling now from upstate new york. Caller good morning. Comment is i am a retired person, 80 years old, and i go to the store with a mask once a week, i go to a couple of meetings. It works out fine. It is an art that you never had to use before of trying to keep the economy going and trying to keep everybody safe and nobody dying of covid19. I do not know the answer, but i ifthat both sides everybody keeps cool, follows canrules to the extent they , things will work out. If we can wait, if we really do a 100 lockdown and enforce the laws, because some people just do not like to follow the laws, and with every other law, if you do not follow the mandate, you get fined. Youif you are persistent, get put in jail. Host this is steve from georgia, another Small Business owner. This paycheck protect and stuff, when the pandemic i wascame into being, pulling in about 20,000 a month , and that drop down to zero really for about five months. ,hings are beginning to pick up and i did not get any paycheck protection because when this stuff kick in, i had use my. Redit cards and stuff score dropped quite a bit. Host what kind of business do you have . Caller i am in the infrastructure business for Small Businesses. Host how long have you on the business . Business have been in and we last seven years, did not get an appointment. [indiscernible] now we are beginning to make some money. Ive got my business back to about 60 of my earlier income and now everything is going to be closed down again. This is frustrating. I do not care about the money. I can work, the problem is if you are going to shut me down and give me money, that just keeps causing it. I have not got a dime from the state. Ost thank you from florida, employee. Where you work . Caller good morning. I have been working at my company for 13 years. Host what are conditions like right now. Caller it is terrible. The industry is really down and people do not realize, we had the red tide come for a long time, the longest in my time that i have lived here. I have lived here pretty much all of my life. Host has your paper and reduce during this time . Caller i would say up to 85 reduced. Host how are you getting by . Aller Social Security i had to start drying it when the red tide hit because i did not have the funds to make the money. I turned 62 a couple of years ago. Host have you had to look for ends meet . To make i am just trying to wait until things pick back up. Host thank you for your call. Heres a story from the New York Times, the president in pennsylvania in a blistering decision, a court ruled on friday the campaign could not stop or attempt to reverse certification of the results in pennsylvania, reprimanding the president s team. It was a 21 page ruling. A complete repudiation of the legal effort to halt the certification process. That is in the New York Times. Aboutve probably heard that Nuclear Scientist killed in the ambush in iran. Tehran blames israel. This underscores one of the challenges ahead for the Biden Administration as it looks to refit u. S. Policies after the maximum pressure campaign. The foreign minister in iran describe the work as a state terror. Officials had no comment. A top scientist killed in an ambush come is that headline this morning. Back to your calls on the state of Small Business. This is albert from their water. Caller good morning. I am in the entertainment business, and we have taken a huge hit down here in florida, from the first time they even shut down. Us, i am 60 years old, disabled, not able to work no regular job, sitting here playing guitar and entertaining people on a friday or saturday night after they have been working. Is there any value in that . We have been completely shut down and some have been able to get back to work a little bit with some of the restaurants that were serving food that could stay open. Own people that they have known from the past that would ring their friends or a crowd with them to help the business along a little. The more popular groups have been able to sustain, but not really that much. Popularity is everything. Notice, even with the gentleman from new york was saying about people not obeying laws or the mandates, the biggest culprit in that is the tv commercials, advertisers. Name one that shows people Wearing Masks and doing with the mandates require pretty we watch the news, national news, local mandatesling us about into wear a mask, but then theres these commercials giving us a different input. We are bombarded by commercials daily every day in between the news and it is giving us a mixed message. Host thank you. L from raleigh, north carolina. Youre not able to keep up with your bills, and if you yout have the education, will fail. We are not going to be the most the world. Ople in the system is failing, education, and the delivery of the product, and everybody is fearful, not like out of the roosevelt days, about anything but fear itself would get in your way. Host do you get out much to shop at Small Businesses in raleigh . Caller no. Im not at risk because my family are grown because i am 90. When you complete that, you are looking for Better Things for your kids. More, i have more empathy for people, we have lost our way, we do not have the , a godly the drive like situation. You have to have god around to know what is right or wrong, but we do not have proper education here. I was a slow learner. I did not care to spend time in class, and now when i am going along the way of 90 years, i feel like the old dog can be taught new tricks. I Start Talking sometimes if people say you are talking like a professor. Host thank you for calling this morning. A from maine. S caller i work in the old port. Host how is business . Caller before the pandemic, we were doing pretty well. When the pandemic hit, it has been killing the old part, which is the major area for Small Businesses in portland. Host have there been many layoffs . Caller there have been. We have half of the employees like we once had. Host what do you do . Forer ivan manager there five i have been manager there for five years now and i manage their web presence. Host how hopeful are you that things will improve . Have you received any federal government aid . Caller i would like to say i am optimistic, but i would like to say that Small Businesses have gotten the short end of the stick. I know a lot of employees have been nervous. It was nerveracking when we first reopened, so it is scary. Washington is waiting for congress to come back again to decide whether there will be another stimulus. Does your shop need more help . Caller we definitely need more help, especially where we just saw the minimum wage go up for january 1 in portland, as well hourproposition for 18 an hazard pay. For calling. Ou we have time for a few more calls. We wanted to bring you an update on one of the federal programs designed to help people during this time. Ffcra, called the nearing the sunset date. This is meant to address the needs of employees during a pandemic. It is set to expire december 30 first and the law provides workers at businesses with fewer than 500 employees, paid sick leave and another for emergency leave and in addition to providing flexibility, it may be preventing covid spread. The authors found that states where workers need access to paid sick leave saw a significant confirmed cases per day, or roughly one prevented case per day per teen hundred workers. The extension of the provision ,as been proposed in congress which we have heard about. The house passed the bill in may. The senate has yet to take up the legislation. That is part of the ongoing debate right now. E from houston. I work for a small Entertainment Company that rents out equipment to other small work for a i also larger venue. The entertainment business has taken a hard hit. Tell us more. Caller there are 12 million of us out of work. I work at the house of blues also, and we have been out of work since march 15. The entire building is shut down. Weve been out of work the whole time. Host have you gotten any kind of financial compensation during this time . Unemployment, and i did get the stimulus, but i only get one hundred 22 unemployment without any stimulus. What can i do with that . Host how long can you hang on . Caller i dont know. I am in the hospital with cancer now. I am 60. Ive been doing this for 30 years. What else am i going to do . Get the buildings open, we could go back to work. All of us want to go back to work. Host thank you for calling. This is mike from pennsylvania. For thethank you opportunity to be on. The bottom line, we need money for the people, not the states. The democrats seem to want to states andey for the the republicans seem to want to go ahead and get the money to the people, but they do not want to give it to the states to bailout bad Business Practices in the past. People are being scared by the media on the covid, and it people would use common sense, we take people out shopping and gambling. The casinos are packed, and of how theis a deal whoa scares, like that lady had not been to a doctor are out to do anything. She is being, common sense has to prevail, and that is about it. There is a lot to be said on the subject, but i guess it depends on what side of the fence you are on. Host this is greg from alabama. Businesses here and alabama. Employees,t 27 in total. This is killing us. I think we have all had a l. A. Full of partisan politics from both sides poor leadership. I hope we get better leadership. Trump fan. Leadership,d better but im not sure joe is a better man for the job. Host tell us about your finances. Boomingwe are in a economy here, we are really growing. Untsville is a hightech area the area is growing. The market is good for the business. E were declared essential let me give you a quick take, we cannot get parts. It has been painful. Manufactureas one for a lot of our parts and they shut down and hid in their closet. Mexico shut down. A lot of places shut down instead of taking low risk workers and letting them work socially distance. Downuick word on this shut , we do not even need to hear the word shut down. We are the leader of the free world. This country will pale in comparison if you kill this economy, you are talking a t, bot a b. Duty, if youotic are a low risk person, get to work. People got to eat pretty got to keep weaving forward. The world depends on us. Good leadership, a complete shut down, being essential is a problem because the nonessential, the support that supply shingles, look at lumber prices per how can you build a house right now . You cannot shut down supply and demand. No one can afford it. It has affected us tremendously. We have not had one person in the organization that has had covid. We socially distance. This is our patriotic duty, because we are intelligent enough to know that we want to protect who we work for, and we want to take care of our country could we want to be patriotic and do what it takes to keep this thing rolling, not democrat, not republican, they and took butt to work care of business. If you are over 60 five, sit at home. If you have a preexisting condition, stayathome. If you are healthy, strap on your boots and support the country and keep this world safe. Host thank you. We will do this a little bit later as well. We will take more of your calls and how things are going in your community. We will take a short break. It is 8 00 here in the east. Coming up, the push to legalize marijuana got a major boost this past election could we will talk about where that issue is going at the state level and potentially at the federal level with joh