Feds’ Financial Crisis Mismanagement Risks Shuttering Small Businesses

Feb. 28, 2013 - PRLog -- Washington’s latest fumbling of the taxpayers’ finances will shut down small businesses if the scheduled Sequestration Budget takes effect March 1st, says veteran small business owner Michael S. Robinson.  

         The author of the just-published “One Hundred Pennies” (Microbin) will be discussing his ideas on the rocky relationship between small business and all levels of government at a book signing and networking event at Barnes & Noble’s, 555 Fifth Ave. and E. 46th St., New York, March 14th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

         “If I ran my staffing services business in a constant crisis mode, I wouldn’t have survived two months, much less for more than 21-years and counting. This isn’t boasting on my part. It’s the voice of experience in learning how to manage and resolve day-to-day crisis commonplace to the country’s nearly 28 million small businesses that employ 99.7%* of Americans,” says Robinson who founded New York Staffing Services, Inc. in 1992 after a career on Wall Street.  Today, his multi-million dollar business has a presence in over 12 states and provides employment for thousands of people annually.      

         “While resolving the latest Congressional stand-off over much-needed budget cuts to start reducing the Federal deficit is critical, doing so at the expense of low-level and middle management government employees and the millions of small businesses dependent upon their patronage is yet another example of the government’s unspoken ‘too small to matter’ mentality. Legislators have to start acting more in the interest of their constituents and less in the interest of party politics.”  

While President Obama was visiting Newport News Shipbuilding to dramatize Washington’s latest budget crisis, Robinson was focusing on the myriad of small businesses that surround the shipbuilding yard. “Do elected officials in Washington think about all of the small local businesses around the shipyard and how they will be impacted? The Colony Restaurant, T.J.’s, the Apollo Barber Shop, the Newport Market, and all the other local merchants who provide lunch, cut hair, and are there with last-minute school supplies or cough syrup for an ailing child and, most importantly, jobs for locals. Newport News’ engineers and welders and pipefitters and financial analysts and quality inspectors and all its other employees rely on these small businesses to fulfill the ordinary needs of everyday life.  But if there is a dramatic reduction in this customer base, how are these small local businesses expected to remain open?”

         Robinson acknowledged that in the high-drama of Washington politics, the Sequestration Budget crisis will likely be resolved by the deadline or shortly thereafter, “followed by a lot of self-congratulatory pats on the back for having reached a compromise.  But then what? The Fiscal Cliff crisis of January was only averted for two months.  That led us to the Sequestration Budget.  What will the next temporary fix bring us?  Elected officials have to start remembering that that their jobs are temporary, too.”

         One Hundred Pennies is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Microbin publishing.  Robinson is available for book signings and speaking engagements by calling 1-212-425-2979.