Who Bails Out Small Business?

Eve Tahmincioglu writes in MSNBC Your Biz that first it was Bear Stearns, then Fannie and Freddie. The government seems to have bailout boogie fever these days, but no one is asking small businesses to dance.

When a small business owner screws up and their business tanks you know who typically bails them out? The small business owner.

Take Maureen Borzacchiello, who owns trade show products company Creative Display Solutions along with her husband Frank. Borzachiello's brother-in-law died suddenly in the winter of 2005 when he was 47 years old. The shock of the loss had an impact on her entire family and the business ended up at the brink of failure.

"We hit this wall in June of 2006 when we were out of money," Borzachiello recalled. "I said, 'Oh my God. I'm going to close my business.'"

It's not an unusual story. Small businesses have a high failure rate, and when things go bad there are few options open to entrepreneurs, especially in today's tight credit market. "The government talks out of both sides of its mouth," Borzacchiello said. "Small businesses make up 84 percent of the businesses in this country, but somehow the top tier gets bailed out. Small businesses can't even get a small business loan there's so much red tape.”