The Small Business Administration will always fail the people it’s meant to help.
by Veronique de Rugy
Reason.com
There’s an old saying: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For Congress, that hammer is the Small Business Administration (SBA). And every economic crisis is a nail.
Whenever the country is hit by a hurricane, an earthquake, or a terrorist attack, the government instructs the owners of small businesses that have been hurt to turn to the SBA for help. The agency was originally conceived in 1953 to provide guidance and aid to small businesses. Today, its mission statement also includes efforts “to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.” But in recent decades, it has become the federal government’s all-purpose tool for promoting economic recovery.