Trickle Up Or Trickle Down -- They Are Equally Lousy Business Finance Ideas

Do you remember Bush's famous "trickle down" theory? This is the theory that said if you give money to rich corporations and rich people that it will "trickle down" to the poor folks. Personally I always felt that idea to be insulting. Small business finance doesn't mean "pennies"; it means real financing for real companies.

Well, now there is another -- equally insulting -- theory floating around: the "trickle up" theory.

Members of Congress and the Administration, minority and small business owners, and leaders in venture capital and private equity advocated a "trickle up theory" to jump start the economy during a gathering in Washington this week to discuss access to capital for minority and small businesses. The National Capital Access Forum, presented by the U.S. Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency, Capital Access Forum, LLC, and George Washington University addressed strategies to improve the collective and individual economic circumstances of minorities.

"The forum addresses the frustrations of the small business community whose lines of credit have been pulled out from underneath them due to irresponsible actions on Wall Street," said Michael Granger, Chairman of the Capital Access Forum.

OK. I understand the frustration of small business owners. Wall Street has not been kind to Main Street. And I too would like to slug someone because they done did this thing to some of my favorite small businesses.

But trickling up isn't the answer.

Business financing needs to flow, not trickle. And it needs to flow to all businesses, large and small alike. Excluding either type of business rings the death knell on our recovery process. A versatile economy like our thrives on all sizes of business.

(As an aside, I truly hope those !@#%#*&^! on Wall Street get their fancy cars turned into VWs, and their bonuses cut to a dime a year for the next 100 years.)