Congress is not in session today so the schedule for committee hearings next week is already published here. Two we find of immediate interest.
- Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: October 6, Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion, to hold hearings to examine promoting export success for small and medium-sized businesses, 2:30 p.m., SR-253.
- Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,October 9, Subcommittee on Economic Policy, to hold hearings to examine restoring credit to manufacturers, 9:30 a.m., SD-538.
A topic of much concern, the credit issue. From Bloomberg today, “Whitney Says U.S. Rebound Hampered by Small-Business Loan Curbs“:
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. recovery will falter as banks continue to curb lending to small companies, said Meredith Whitney, whose 2007 prediction that Citigroup Inc. would cut its dividend triggered a plunge in the bank’s stock.
“Access to credit is being denied at an accelerating pace,” Whitney said in a commentary in the Wall Street Journal. While large companies have no problem obtaining loans, small businesses “have never had a harder time,” she said in the article, dated yesterday.
