Raw Voice (owners of Blubrry.com, the podcast network to which the Microbusiness News Briefs belongs) and several other podcasting companies have joined with The Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) on the “Consumers Attitudes on Advertising & Sponsorship in Audio and Video Podcasts” research project.

The project is a survey that should take about 10 minutes to complete and does NOT ask for personal contact information. The survey will record audience reactions to topics such as ad style, delivery and placement. The research will help podcast producers best fulfill the expectations of their listeners and viewers.

If you are willing to take a few minutes to complete the survey (and I hope you will), please visit http://www.takethesurvey.com/rawvoice. And thank you for your help!

Health care reform is back and the number one topic of the week, with two of our three stories focusing on that very interesting topic. The Senate Small Business Committee leadership (Landrieu and Snowe) are concerned about some of the issues facing the self-employed that are not addressed in proposed reform legislation. The NASE is concerned about that, too.

I don’t know why but … you’d think that eventually people would get it that they don’t get it, wouldn’t you? Personal paradigms are powerful persuaders.

Rounding out the weeks news is a recent proposal that says to businesses, “We don’t need you to site your factory or call center in our community. We just need you to hire our rural and small town constituents to telework for you. Isn’t technology wonderful?” New wrinkle on an old economic development tactic.

For more information:

• Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)
• (THOMAS) Rural and Small Town Telework Tax Credit Act of 2009 (H.R. 3627)

This weekly ritual small business groveling that emerges from Washington every year is always a time of profound irony for me. It’s tough to take policy makers seriously when they spout off about the manifold wonderfulnesses of small businesses, when the actual economic policies they craft say something very different.

Or, to put it another way, if I had a choice between $787 billion and a proclamation from President Obama about how wonderful I am, I’d take the money. In a heartbeat.

There is good news for microbusinesses coming out of the Senate Small Business Committee, in the form of the open-mindedness of Chairwoman Mary Landrieu. Every time I have an opportunity to watch her in that capacity, she sounds as if she is prepared to do things differently, to seek alternatives when programs and services are not reaching segments of their target populations, to listen to innovative ways to get things done.

All of which is very encouraging. Granted, it’s not the first time I’ve heard stuff that seemed encouraging coming from the lips of lawmakers and I am usually disappointed. So, the jury is still out on Landrieu but … it does look promising.

For more information

• Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• National Small Business Association
• House Committee on Small Business
• National Association for the Self-Employed

Let’s hear it for evergreen stories.

Truth to tell, it wouldn’t be accurate to call these evergreen stories. They are a couple of heavy hitters, which is the primary reason why I thought it made sense not to search too hard for a bit of fluff to insert as my third article. It’s not really necessary.

Heavy hitters = the Employee Free Choice Act and the tax gap. ‘Nuff said.

For more information:

Hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, “Rebuilding Economic Security: Empowering Workers To Restore The Middle Class” (Hearing Archive)
Peter Orzag, OMB Director, Transcript of 3/25 Teleconference with Press (PDF)
National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)

Last week, everybody seemed to have lost their minds, didn’t they? Most of the PR pros of my acquaintance would have called the AIG bonus debacle a case of tone-deaf company creating a Wiley Coyote public relations moment for themselves.

It was revealing, though, for some reasons I expect to be speculating about later this week over at The Journal Blog and maybe elsewhere. Having had my thoughts provoked, I also expect I’ll enjoy myself.

Last week’s microbusiness news is an exercise in the virtues of patience. Ever so slowly, Washington is taking up the microbusiness people’s business, although they continue to be hampered by the lack of leadership over at the SBA.

And what’s up with that, anyway?

It’s difficult to say whether its a good thing or not that these to important microbusiness bills — the standard home office deduction and the permission for Schedule C filers to deduct health insurance premiums before calculating FICA taxes — have been introduced so early.

It’s nice to know that they’re thinking about us, isn’t it?

On the other hand, past experience shows that legislation introduced this early (especially small business legislation) has a tendency to get buried and forgotten in the pending tray.

As to that, we shall see.

For more information

President’s Remarks to Small Business Owners (video)
Home Office Deduction Simplification Act of 2009 (THOMAS)
Equity for Our Nation’s Self Employed Act of 2009 (THOMAS)
National Association for the Self-Employed

One of the odd things about covering Congress at about this point in the peaceful transition of power — especially in a situation like this one, in which an incumbent president isn’t simply waiting for the formality of being sworn back in to serve a second term — is how disorganized everything seems.

There’s a limit to the number of “they’re getting their act together” articles you can write.

So, I guess it’s a good thing that both the House and the Senate seem to be scrambling to get as much done before Inauguration Day as possible. My only complaint is that the same sense of urgency does not seem to have gripped either the House or the Senate Small Business Committees.

The good news is that, over in the House, the first Small Business Committee hearing of the 111th Congress will take place later this week. By then, they might even have finalized which Members of the House will actually be sitting on that Committee.

For more information:

National Small Business Association
Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
National Association for the Self-Employed
Innovation Economics: Economic Profile Test

It’s always fun to talk to Keith, even about such a dry topic as taxes, but it was pretty clear during this conversation that he is feeling just a bit nervous about what that Obama guy and his Democratic friends in Congress are going to do with the tax code. I thought it was pretty significant that this is the first time in any of my interviews with him that he advised microbusiness owners to get active about advocating for advantageous tax policies.

I think that tells its own tale.

The Microbusiness News Briefs is sponsored by GoToMyPC.

Access Your PC from Anywhere with GoToMyPC. Try it FREE for 30 days!
www.GoToMyPC.com/podcast

For more information:

National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)

As I mentioned in the podcast, a lot has happened since this interview was recorded just a few days after Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States.

All things considered, it’s kind of silly to start complaining about him when he hasn’t even been sworn in yet. There are question marks about his choice for SBA Administrator and how in-touch she really is with small businesses (as opposed to entrepreneurial gazelles).

For that matter, I’m wondering how in touch Mr. Obama is when he keeps talking about jobs and wages (as opposed to work and income). In some ways, some of the languages he uses seems to indicate quite a bit of 30-year-old thinking.

The Microbusiness News Briefs is sponsored by GoToMyPC.

Access Your PC from Anywhere with GoToMyPC. Try it FREE for 30 days!
www.GoToMyPC.com/podcast

More to the point, as I discussed with Kristie, the new Congress will be interesting to watch. “Ever time there’s an election, it’s a whole new ball game,” and since Committee assignments haven’t happened yet, we don’t know what we’re working with yet.

Plenty of time to really start complaining down the road, right?

For more information:

National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)

You go, girl!

The Microbusiness News Briefs is sponsored by GoToMyPC.

Access Your PC from Anywhere with GoToMyPC. Try it FREE for 30 days!
www.GoToMyPC.com/podcast

Things aren’t so cheerful when we turn to our top story this week. And while I have no inclination to question the methodological rigor of the NASE research, my natural journalistic skepticism tends to rear its head when people start predicting that one or another sort of apocalypse. To tell you the truth, I do hope things don’t get as bad as this research seems to indicate because I don’t have a lot of faith in the government’s willingness to do anything about it — or even their ability to move that fast.

Any online retailers out there? Today is Cyber Monday, the online equivalent of Black Friday. Today, folks head back to the office where (it is said) they go online from the cubicle to do a bit of holiday shopping. Shop.org is predicting good things; you’ll have to let us know how it goes for you.

For more information:

National Association for the Self-Employed
Bureal of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce
The Conference Board
National Retail Federation
Treasured Locks